By now, various news outlets are talking about the end of the shutdown and how the federal government will be funded, at least for a few months. On the one side, thank goodness. Maybe now the national parks can be reopened, food safety inspectors can get back to work, and a few pieces of long-term research could maybe possibly hopefully be salvaged. Oh, and maybe we can do disaster relief again.
On the other hand, Whee. Uncertainty again in 90 days. And maybe yet another hit to the economy.
The talk in the reports say that the Republicans got "practically nothing." All they got were tightened screening for income requirements for the Affordable Care Act and a continuation of sequester-level funding.
All they got.
I'm glad that the Democrats played it straight and mostly kept their backbone, but let's face it. The Republicans keep clawing at us--clawing at government employees, clawing at Medicare and Social Security, clawing at personal liberties, clawing at the environment, clawing at the ever-shrinking middle class and poor. No, they didn't get the ACA defunded or pushed off by a year. They didn't get most of the things they came up with while they trolled around the House floor, thinking of more and more goodies they wanted the Democrats to spinelessly concede like they have so often the past couple of decades. But they still got something, and they will point to it as a success.
If the Republican leadership is stupid enough to do this again--and remember, you don't go broke betting on stupidity here--I want pushback from the Democrats.
I want to hear the Democrats say, "OK, we have a little laundry list of our own. Since you started this shutdown, we'll agree to put government back on track if you generate some new funding. How about we tax capital gains as normal income, cut Social Security tax rates back to let's say 4% and end its ceiling, give all former and current college students with federally subsidized loans from the past two decades a $5,000 refund check, and put a public option in the Affordable Care Act up on the exchanges? Oh, and a 0.1% federal transaction tax on stocks, bonds and futures?"
I want Democrats to show backbone and to start pushing for progressive liberal demands.
Can you imagine Republican apoplexy? "Tax and spend Democrats!" "Arm-twisting of the worst sort!" "Socialism!" "Crazy people who are out of touch--"
To which I say, you started it, and these are things we need. The transaction tax would easily bring the government at least 12 figures over ten years and would cool down the volatile financial markets. Cutting Social Security taxes while also lifting the cap would be revenue neutral with the right percentage point, and it would save the ever-increasing number of 1099-ers an ever-increasing amount of money. Taxing capital gains as normal income? We could still put in the house sales exemption and the government would massively close the deficit gap.
And a public option? Sign me up!
I'm not saying we'd get much of these things. Maybe we wouldn't get anything at all. But at the very least, by having our own demands and tugging from the left, we can keep the country from getting pulled even incrementally closer to the right-wing cliff.
