Extending the Kabuki
by digby
All the chatter this morning is about Axelrod officially signaling the cave on permanently extending the Bush tax cuts (which he seems to have tried to walk back this morning.) If you read this blog, you were not surprised.
People much more connected than I say that the Republicans are going to hold out for permanent tax cuts because they say they really don't want to have the fight again in 2012. Perhaps they are right. But I suspect we are watching some kabuki here and that the fix is in for a temporary extension of the tax cuts for the wealthy, which Obama will now get to call a "victory" --- and which the Republicans will enjoy using as a cudgel to beat the Democrats over the head the next two years. After all, it would be a shame to lose their position as the only thing standing between their wealthy friends and Obama's plan to confiscate all their money. It would certainly be less lucrative.
I simply do not believe they are worried one bit about "uncertainty" in the business world or have the slightest doubt that these tax cuts will be extended permanently. Tax hikes (which is what they will now be known as) are never easy, and right now they are almost impossible, despite deficit fever. And yet, the "threat" is very useful to illustrate how the socialist Democrats want to destroy capitalism and turn America into Bulgaria ca 1954.
It wouldn't be the first time I misread a dynamic like this. And these things often take on a life of their own. But I continue to think we'll end up with Obama claiming victory for only agreeing to a temporary extension and Republicans accepting it with a vow to extend them permanently and turn economy around when the American people send Obama and the Dems packing in 2012. We'll see.
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