Economy

They Aren’t Serious

If you can actually watch the whole thing without falling asleep, here's Senator Orrin Hatch (R-Keebler Elf Tree) being shamelessly dishonest.

The president said he wants a so-called balanced approach to solve this crisis, but what he proposed this week was a classic bait-and-switch on the American people. A tax increase double the size of what he campaigned on, billions of dollars in new stimulus spending, and an unlimited unchecked authority to borrow from the Chinese.

Maybe I missed it, but I don’t recall him asking for any of that during the presidential campaign. These ideas are so radical that they have already been rejected on a bipartisan basis by Congress.

I probably don't need to tell you that the president didn't ask for "an unlimited unchecked authority to borrow from the Chinese," which is a reference to the debt ceiling, so I will just point out that what President Obama has proposed is almost exactly what he campaigned on.

The president's proposal includes taxes hikes on the wealthy, new stimulus spending, an extension of payroll tax cuts, an extension of tax cuts for lower-income brackets, and $4 billion in deficit reduction over 10 years. In other words -- a balanced approach.

Meanwhile, the Republicans are proposing the same thing they've been selling for the past several years; new tax cuts for the rich, deep cuts to social programs, and "new revenue" through Tax Cut Magic. They're proposing the Romney/Ryan budget. And I'm old enough to remember when the Republicans said we would have to wait until after the election for details on their budget proposal.

What the Republicans are proposing is equivalent to going over the "fiscal cliff" without the expiration of the Bush Tax Cuts. They want all the cuts to social programs and none of the tax hikes. They want to have their cake and eat it too.

The White House is playing hardball now and they have no reason not to. They just won reelection and public opinion is on their side. And according to the Wall Street Journal, the White House does not intend to make any more proposals until the Republicans agree to budge on taxes.