I was struck by these words by Greg Sargent. This is insane.
According to a Dem leadership aide, Senate Democrats have decided, as expected, to proceed with a vote tomorrow on a resolution that would declare that it is the “sense of the senate” that those who make $1 million or more per year should “make a more meaningful contribution to the deficit reduction effort.”
~snip~
That this vote is happening at all perfectly captures just how surreal this debate has become. Democrats have agreed to over $1 trillion in spending cuts, and have reportedly agreed to tens of billions in Medicare cuts as part of that package. The American people have declared in poll after poll after poll that they think the deficit should be addressed through a combination of spending cuts and tax hikes. Yet Republicans are simply refusing to entertain the possibility of any revenue increases of any kind — to the point where even conservative columnists like David Brooks are growing seriously alarmed by the anti-tax fanaticism that’s on display.
The notion that the wealthy should sacrifice anything at all in the way of higher taxes or revenues is now such a nonstarter that Dems are finding themselves forced to hold a vote on the general concept that the rich should contribute something “meaningful” to deficit reduction.
This is insane.
Plumline
Yes, this is insane.
It is liking watching a bad movie.
Yesterday, Millionaire and Senator Jefferson Beauregard "Jeff" Sessions the Third had a hissy fit when approcahed with the idea that the rich should pay a little more to fix the disaster they created on Wall Street. Senator Sessions said that people who dare to raise such notions are "pathetic"
Of course, since 2009 Senator Sessions has gone from Millionaire to Multi-millionaire, so is it any surprise that Senator Millionaire is against raising taxes on Millionaires?
Roll Call reports 2009 was a good year for U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Mobile.
~snip~
The newspaper estimates Sessions' minimum net worth increased 124 percent in 2009, from $1 million to $2.2 million, after the senator reported the value of those land parcels rising.
Sarah Haley, a spokeswoman for Sessions, said Thursday afternoon the increase was due to an inheritance.
blog.al.com
Whoever guesses first who wants to eliminate the inheritance tax wins a free corporate tax cut.
And there we have it. The Republic party is dominated by Corporate power and greedy Millionaires. Either they are millionaires themselves or fanatics who the Billionaire's have groomed and funded to do their bidding, and they whole-heartedly believe that if they are Randian superpeople who create jobs and spread freedom and if only these fucking peasants would stop whining and sacrifice more my palace of skulls would be finished by now.
The Republic Party is fucknuts insane, they believe that everything is the fault of lazy poor people and greedy union workers with pensions and the rich should not sacrifice a hair for the rest of society.
Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) commented, “Apparently, nothing irritates Republicans more than the prospect that millionaires and billionaires might be asked to share in the burden of deficit reduction.”
ThinkProgress.org
The other day I read a sigline at DailyKos that said "There are two things Republicans hate; being called racist and black people." I'd like to add to that, and anyone who isn't at least a millionaire.
More below the fold
More from Plumline">Greg Sargent
UPDATE: Senator Debbie Stabenow, a prime mover of this initiative, sends over this comment:
“The differences in this debate could not be clearer. Republicans want to end Medicare and target the middle class while protecting millionaires and billionaires. We are focused on cutting wasteful spending and ending special treatment for the wealthy elite and the well-connected. That’s what this debate is all about.”
There is a serious failure of Democracy when the majority of people want tax increases on the rich and there is no possibility it will happen. Of course, The Republic party doesn't believe in Democracy, it is just a tool they use to get elected.
In Ohio, The GOP Weakens the Election Law By Allowing Poll Workers To Refuse To Inform Voters Where They Can Vote. This isn't a problem in big rural districts, more of an inner city issue where highly populated areas require multiple locations to vote. Yeah, making it harder for people to vote is undemocratic and unAmerican. There, I said it, and anyone who disagrees is insane.
Of course, that is the heart of Shock Doctrine class warfare, there is no way you could get the majority of working class people to vote to make life harder for themselves so it can be easier for the rich, so you get your hard core Dittoheads and Fox Viewers to vote and you do everything you can to make it harder for anyone else to vote, because not only are you dependent on the billionaire funded propaganda club for men, your also a client, and the trick to this scam is to get enough peasants to vote for an easy life for the rich, and the amount of lying that it takes to pull this off comes off as insane to anyone who can see through it. It's a shitty deal.
The fact that Senate Republicans are ready to go on record stating their bizarre Randian beliefs that the rich owe society NOTHING during a disaster of their own making is fucking insane. The idea that we can't help people who are struck by a natural disaster without making offsetting spending cuts first is fucking insane. The idea that if we give rich people all the money we will get some back via "trickle down" is insane. Republicans are robbing us, their misinformed voters are robbing us and themselves, and I am fucking sick of it.
My hope is that this is exploited for all it's worth come election time. If the Democratic Party can not effectively explain to Americans that the GOP is totally in service to the millionaires who wrecked the economy, if the Democratic Party can not effectively argue that the rich MUST pay more in taxes in order to maintain a 1st world country, well then, Great Depression 2.0 here we come.
Hell, we are damn near already there, only this time, the rich are Too Big To Fail and the party of Herbert Hoover has gone insane.
Peace and love to all
Yours truly, MoT
You can follow me on Twitter @JesseLaGreca