No more hostage taking. No more playing a Republican game that causes so many people pain. The so called "Fiscal Cliff" is drama speak, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.
Those two words do make a handy drama drum beating phrase that serves Main Stream Media's need for selling Network air time and anti-math, anti-government, Republicans well, but then there is reality. That reality is one of Republicans blowing up the economy under George W. Bush and then taking the economy and our people hostage under President Obama.
Given how Congressional Republicans have shown no qualms in taking America hostage, time and again, I'm more than willing to have us go off the so called Fiscal Cliff in order to set the captives free.
I'm tired of Republicans inflicting harm on our people in order to further their own ideological ambitions.
Whether it's the taking of the American Jobs Act, the Veteran's Job Corps Bill, the Bring American Jobs Home Act, the Debt Ceiling, and the renewal of the Violence Against Women Act hostage, or the so-called Fiscal Cliff, it's all part of the whole - Republicans taking the American people and the economy prisoner.
They've taken all of us hostage to get what they want - tax breaks for the wealthiest while impoverishing the rest of us, especially our most vulnerable.
And of course that includes their attacks on Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.
None should be on the table for this so called "deal." Our most vulnerable deserve better than to be held hostage yet again. We ALL deserve better. This isn't necessary. None of it.
The reality is there would be NO fiscal cliff if not for Republican hostage taking. What there is a plenty is fear mongering used to manipulate us into an ill considered, hasty decision that does not serve the American people well, only the wealthy and connected few.
The Center for Budget and Political Policy stated in their September 12 paper -
MISGUIDED “FISCAL CLIFF” FEARS POSE CHALLENGES
TO PRODUCTIVE BUDGET NEGOTIATIONS
Failure to Extend Tax Cuts Before January Will Not Plunge Economy
into Immediate Recession
By Chad Stone
To be sure, no one should aspire to a debate that extends into January or early February. That will not engender confidence in our political system, and the onset of tax increases and spending cuts whose duration appears uncertain will cause confusion on the part of many taxpayers, businesses, and beneficiaries of federal benefits and services.......
......Nevertheless, a relatively brief implementation of the tax and spending changes required by current law should cause little short-term damage to the economy as a whole, since policymakers would surely make whatever tax and other agreements they worked out in January or early February retroactive to January 1. Thus, the delay would withdraw little aggregate demand from the economy.
The greater danger is that misguided fears about the economy going over a “fiscal cliff” into another Great Recession will lead policymakers to believe they have to take some action, no matter how ill-conceived and damaging to long-term deficit reduction, before the end of the year, rather than craft a balanced plan that supports the economic recovery in the short term and promotes fiscal stabilization in the intermediate and longer run
You should know this, Mr. President. Every member of Congress should know this. Every American should know this. You can make that happen. You can explain why there is no deal with hostage takers for multiple reasons. They're all there in the Congressional Record. They're all there in the collapse of the economy and in the suffering of our people.
We don't have to make a deal. We don't have to be rushed into short sighted decisions that cause more harm.
No deal, Mr. President. No deal with hostage takers.
Lets call them out. Let's jump.
12:34 PM PT: Update:
Just to be clear, I will not tolerate racist BS, name calling or bashing of the President. If a point can't be made without doing so, then there is no point to be made. Stick to policy points please.
We know damn well who the enemy is, and it is those who repeatedly take our nation hostage.
2:32 PM PT: Update:
I'm not one who views the President as "selling us out."
Never have been.
He inherited a nightmare, one the Republicans created and are continuing.
I wrote this diary out of deep frustration with Republican hostage taking and a desperate hope that there was something, anything, we could do to stop them from continuing to do so.
My issue is with them. The President, all of us, are in an untenable position due to Republican malfeasance and willingness to do harm.
5:35 PM PT: Update: Several commenters have raised important points.
If we do go over the fiscal cliff there will be 8% cuts across the board. Unless the "new" Congress immediately takes steps to counter act those cuts, millions will be affected. The same holds true for the millions on unemployment insurance who will see their UI lapse.
The big question is, would the new Congress actually undo those 8% cuts and renew unemployment insurance?
I do not know.
I don't have an answer to what must be done to prevent what would come into play if we do go over the so called Fiscal Cliff. What I do know is that leaving these facts out of the discussion seems myopic and cruel.
As much as I do not want to give the Republicans the satisfaction of playing their hostage taking game, even more do I not want to see those already hurting suffer even more.
If you have an answer to this nightmare, I'd love to hear it.