Emergencies (perceived or manufactured) are the pretext and cover of the worst evils in recent memory.
The invasion of Iraq is the premier example, sold as if a dire emergency, a threat to national security.
Then came the enormous bailouts of Wall Street firms responsible for economic crisis. Global economic collapse was used as justification for giving those same firms huge amounts of money with little to no strings attached.
Now we have a tax emergency... a financial HOSTAGE CRISIS...
Because, OMG, rates will return to Clinton-era levels if the saviors of the nation do not act NOW. That would be a disaster.
Here's a graph (from CNN Money; h/t Eclectablog) that ably illustrates THE LIES.
So let's see, the WH/Democratic negotiating position was:
- the Bush tax cuts (except the top 2% part)
- a payroll tax holiday for employees
- unemployment benefits
- extra tax credits (for Children, Earned Income, and Tuition)
While the Republican negotiating position was:
- the top 2% of earners under the Bush tax cuts
Hmm... Something sounds fishy here. Something tells me I'm being lied to...
LIE 1. The Bush Tax Cuts are a Democratic negotiating position. What? So Republicans don't want tax cuts for incomes under 250k? Of course they do. They are simply refusing to disentangle those cuts from the rest of the Bush cuts. The big blue ball on the left should be Red. Heck, its even being branded, conceded and promoted by the WH itself as the politically-popular Bush tax cuts.
LIE 2. A Payroll Tax Holiday for Employees is a Democratic negotiating position. What? Democrats want to overturn a precedent going back to FDR, starting a new one proposed by the enemies of Social Security--a precedent to defund Social Security by lowering employee contributions? As others have noted, this precedent may be impossible to uproot once in place. It could turn out to be a "poison pill" that leads quickly to the sickness of insolvency, destroying Social Security as we know it. The President who ran as a new FDR may be planting the seeds of the New Deal's destruction. The 2nd blue ball should be nuclear red.
LIE 3. Estate Tax Compromise is completely left out of the graph. Certainly, the graph was not the creation of the WH, but it is being used by defenders of the WH's current position. More than that, it is left entirely out of the WH fact sheet (linked below). This is enormously dishonest. It shows us that the WH is trying to sell us a bill of goods. The WH compromise is more regressive than compromise measures ALREADY PASSED by the House, and utterly indefensible given that DOING NOTHING will lead to the return of a truly Progressive Estate Tax. There's a big red ball missing somewhere.
More lies (off the chart)...
LIE 4. The Republicans are an immovable object. In Obama's own words,
I have not been able to budge them. And I don't think there's any suggestion anybody in this room thinks, realistically, that we can budge them right now.
So, Republicans will absolutely not budge on Unemployment Insurance or any of Obama's tax cuts enacted in the stimulus. That's certainly how they undermined your Presidency over the last two years. But, the way to move an immovable object is not by trying to pull it, but by refusing to budge yourself. It is to force them into action by shaming them for their inaction.
Rule one of addiction treatment: don't enable addicts. Make them deal with the consequences of their actions. Hold them to their responsibility to the American people; don't be responsible in their place. Don't do their job for them. It's not YOUR problem alone; it's the entire Government's problem; it's OUR problem. Trust US, trust the people to hold our representatives accountable for their actions and punish them when they are not doing their job.
LIE 5. The job of the President is to negotiate legislation. That's the main fallacy embedded in the wrongheaded "Hostage Crisis" analogy used by Obama. Apparently, our President sees himself as Negotiator-in-Chief, not Executive-in-Chief. By acting as the negotiator, rather than a party to the negotiations (or, even better, the one who, with the veto pen, defines the acceptable outcomes of the negotiation in advance), the President is playing his old role as Senate Dealmaker-in-Chief, Problem-Solver-in-Chief. We need him, now more than ever, to be our Executive-in-Chief. This means NOT MICROMANAGING legislation.
Negotiating and problem solving skills are good. But right now, we need our President to be our Leader. We need him to identify with us... not a certain political clique, but with most Americans who are having a really hard time right now. Be angry with us. Speak for us. Listen to us. Don't let the Tea Party, a front group for corporate interests, channel this anger against you. Channel our anger YOURSELF and fight for US. We have sacrificed and we will sacrifice, but we need you to fight FOR US, NOT FOR THEM.
LIE 6. This is just temporary, a one time thing. The real fight is to come. No--right now, each and every moment--this is the real fight. If you can't fight now, with superior numbers and broad public support (as reflecting in the polling), you will not fight for the next two years. You will be pegged as a coward and you will be defeated as a coward, and this country will suffer for it. TRY RUNNING ON THIS SLOGAN, "I campaigned against the Bush tax cuts until I helped pass them again, only later to run against them." It's 2004 all over again, with brooms and chants of flip-flopping.
LIE 7. This "[d]oes not worsen the medium and long term deficit." WH Fact Sheet
Nearly a trillion dollars in cuts and credits is immediately added to the debt, and this debt will not disappear magically. Most of that trillion has a minimal stimulative effect on the economy. It will have minimal short-term effects on GDP and on job retention and creation, and therefore minimal long-term benefits for the economy. The extra trillion in debt will stay, and its effects will linger in the form of reducing domestic spending and increasing inflation.
LIE 8. Silence on the Unending War. Recent revelations have shown as never before how completely overextended the US military is. War and Poverty are inextricably linked. Unending War and the Growing Gap between Rich and Poor are two sides of the same coin. The Unending Wars and a lack of funds to deal with domestic issues are part and parcel of each other.
The President could, with a single declaration, end the wars and start restoring our country and economy. But he won't so long as he continues to put the interests of the rich and the military-industrial establishment ahead of the well-being of the country as a whole.
(UPDATE:) In conclusion, believe the lies, repeat the disasters.
Deep Thought, by Bush 2.0
"Fool me once... shame on you. You fool me... can't get fooled again."
A REQUEST: I don't have the artistic skills for it. But I would be grateful if somebody with the skills could draw a different graph with a more accurate representation of the RED elements. I'll be sure to give you credit in the entry if you allow me to include it, or to reference your entry if you include it there.
(UPDATEx2:) As noted in Pollwatcher's diary, Larry Summers is warning us of IMPENDING EMERGENCY, a double-dip recession, if DEMOCRATS DON'T ACT NOW. Where have I heard this before?