This is good. Boehner is working it overtime to spin the failure of the deal and blame President Obama:
Speaker John Boehner, using his harshest tone of the fiscal cliff debate, said the White House has “done nothing” since he relented on letting low tax rates lapse on wealthy Americans.
“For weeks the White House said if I moved on rates, that they would make substantial concessions on spending cuts and entitlement reform,” Boehner said in an afternoon news conference. “I did my part, they’ve done nothing.”
Politico
I think chained cpi is a concession too far, but to say it was nothing is just bullshit.
It's over the cliff (this is all to spin to blame Obama or somehow pressure him to make even more concessions).
The more bile from Boehner the better.
The cliff will cause great pain (over time), but it is better than even more concessions to Boehner.
For all the yelling about what is on or off the table, right now nothing has been given and after January 1, 2013, there will be no deficit problem. The sequester and tax raises essentially solve it for years (yes, there may be a defict but it makes a big difference). If there is a middle class tax cut, we must get a debt ceiling vote with it and show people that we have to borrow money to pay for their tax cut.
It's a teachable moment and there are two big speeches coming up next year (the innauguration and state of the union).
There is going to be pain going forward, but I believe the cliff is better than the alternatives. And no negotiating on the debt ceiling.