CBS Lobby, NYC
Republicans, Democrats reach agreement: “we’ll raise taxes on “the rich” now, cut spending uh, … later!” This whole thing has never been about revenue – the tax increases on a select few won’t make a dent – and it’s certainly never been about cutting spending, which will never happen, so why have we gone through this exercise? It’s all part of the circus: the two political parties pretend to govern and the media pretends there are principles and genuine issues at stake. Which there are, but none that were addressed by anyone in Washington. I hate to sound gloomy on the cusp of a new year, but we don’t seem to be headed in a good direction.
For What It's Worth 
The star performer of this circus is the clown named Obama.
So we will not go “ over the cliff” yay…. and as there were NO cuts, ( great compromising Dems) we are continuing to borrow $4million a MINUTE to fund our entitlement programs to be paid, for plus interest, by our children. greaaaaaat.
serious inquiry : what will obama do after his presidency?
You’re assuming it’s going to end.
I will gladly pay you Tuesday for a Hamburger today….
I think everyone can agree (Republicans and Democrats alike) that Obama failed to show any leadership during these negotiations
I dunno, Anon. I think that the stars of the circus may be We, The People. After all – we’re the ones who don’t (somehow) get responsible people into office….
Yes Peg. You are right.
Dollar Bill is more right than Peg. Defense spending is down as a percentage of the budget, but it is still way too high. The US spends 40 cents on the dollar of every defense expenditure in the world. That is more tan the next 14 countries combined. And despite all this money we couldn’t help out in an eight-hour assault on a consulate in Benghazi despite having real time drone surveillance. Pitiful, why spend these trillions? To mount wars to being democracy (aka radical political Islam) to benighted places like Iraq and Afghanistan? Going over the Cliff would have been worth it just to get defense cuts.
Inagua – several issues here. One can argue that we are spending too much on defense. Nevertheless, even with gigantic cuts in defense, we are still in deep doo doo fiscally – and no way that “tax hikes on the rich” can begin to pay for it.
And how much we are spending on defense can’t overcome a president who doesn’t seem to really want to do what presidents are supposed to do – nor do it very well. He’s a great campaigner and lies more deftly than most. But that doesn’t mean that he’s running the country very well. Hell; I’d settle for mediocre! That would be a major improvement!
Peg – Everything you say is correct, which is why I do not believe that there will be any significant control of federal spending until the feds can’t sell bonds, like NYC in 1975.
Happy New Year.
There’s a USAF base in Aviano Italy that could easily have responded to the attack in Benghazi:
http://www.aviano.af.mil/
Barry was advised of this option but decided against it, as it would have been “a violation of Libyan sovereignty”. I guess he forgot that the consulate is American soil.
I guess that’s also why he decided against a punitive strike against the terrorist’s base camp, even though it’s location was known and well outside the city.
Richard – So Barry decided and people died.
I also liked your point about the modern desire to banish evil from the popular lexicon.
bought and stockpiled today-past decade
-for future use, especially when bonds cant be sold.
@ not so anonymouse: to be paid, for plus interest, by our children.
With what money? Yuan? Never mind, when we belly up, so will the Chicoms.
Change is hard. So can you go back to the older comments first scheme? Pretty please.
ok
Amen,
That’s what happens when you’re playing with OPM – other people’s money.
Regardless whether or not we go over the cliff, we still face a one trillion dollar tax bill to pay for Obummercare.
Talk about entitlements, God forbid we cut a dime out of our bloated trillion dollar defense spending, the biggest entitlement item in our budget. That would hurt the fee fees of our tea party pals.
I’ve got a great idea! Let’s take up a pool to send Obummer back to Hawaii to join his family, for four years. One-way ticket.
Actually – defense spending has shrunk over the years. And, it’s one of the major items in our budget that actually is required in the Constitution!
But – I’m sure that’s all irrelevant to $Bill.
http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2012/05/14/152671813/50-years-of-government-spending-in-1-graph
Folks like $Bill don’t get the fact we are a constitutional republic with limited federal government. In his mind, and many of the population, we are a democracy. Only problem is it will not last, unless you want to ignore the debt racked up by the federal government. When the population can vote for more, they will.
Fiscal cliff = tax hikes for all (or elimination of Bush cuts) and spending cuts across the board (defence etc), with the exception of entitlements. The penalty was an advantage on the Democrat side.
From any way you look at this, the Republican’s will lose PR wise. One might say they are fighting to avoid tax cuts for all, but the reality is filibustering and avoiding votes on anything is not a positive.
Prediction, once everyone keeps there jobs (speaker mainly) and the new congress is in….deal will be struck. My bet, republican’s should have taken the tax on 1M and above offer.
Kim Kardashian is pregnant from some rap cretin and you are wasting ink on this nonsense! I say these two tools split within a year and they’ll name the kid Ketchup.
A-men. Still hold out hope for holdouts by conservative Republicans to put us over the cliff.
Is it true Harry Reid suffers from dementia and that is why he has been unable to develop a budget the last 3.5 years.
Is there a web-site that show the national budget and where all the money actually goes?
Andy – here’s a bunch of charts for ya.
Click to access all-budget-chart-book-2012.pdf