The very serious people in the eyes of pundits are worried suddenly about the federal budget deficit. Most Americans are rightly worried about jobs knowing that job creation will help the deficit a lot, in and of itself. At a time of high unemployment with tepid job growth, federal investment is good and federal budget deficits are not a high priority. But whatever - but fine let's talk about that.
3 percent is below the squiggle
Where were these deficit hawks during the Bush years ? Truly I think that they simply love their overlords and hate the rest of us. However, I am astounded by their innumeracy. The deficit came from Bush's Great Recession, the resultant TARP bailout (nice economy that you have there - sure would be a shame if anything were to happen to it), thè tax cuts for the wealthy, Medicare part D, and our love for war and killing.
The simple fact is (source is Paul Krugman and his blog - linked on my previous diary on this topic) that raising the eligibility age for Medicare from 65 to 67 and reducing the cost of living adjustments for Social Security would only reduce the federal budget deficit 3 Percent. Let me say that again - those two moves would only save 3%.
And for that tiny amount , what would we get? Many seniors would be absolutely crushed by these barbaric moves.
On the other hand, the wealthy are wealthy. They can sustain a raise on marginal tax rates to 39.6% on income over 250K with no problem. 97% of all small businesses earn less than 250K profit and those that earn more would still get a lower rate on all income before that. If tax cuts for the wealthy (and deregulation) create jobs, what happened during Shrub's Presidency?
The claim that one can raise revenue without hurting the middle class simply by closing tax loopholes is fatuous. Their magic dust theory was tested and proven false. To raise real revenue, one must raise the marginal rates on income above 250K back to 39.6%. That raises 1.6 Trillion dollars over a decade. That makes a serious impact on our debt. It is more humane and rational. The wealthy benefit from the infrastructure we all built together .
Tax rates on that income should, must, and will go up. Our President got the most votes ever for anyone not named Barack Hussein Obama. He ran on this issue it and spoke plainly on the matter. The republican who opposed his position lost and lost badly- in an era of close elections with an economy like this , 4 % is a landslide. Public polling shows we are on the correct side of the issue in the eyes of the public.
If Boehner cannot agree to these terms because the republicans simply will not vote for it, then we must go over the cliff , imposing more damage on their brand. Boehner is in an impossible situation since his caucus will not back any deal he makes that is at all reasonable , but it does not matter. Over the cliff we go !