Only the little people pay for lunch
by digby
This new Pew Poll showing that there isn't a majority for reducing spending on anything but foreign aid is the perfect illustration of just what a quixotic political enterprise the Democrats have embarked upon in trying to show how "tough" they are by cutting specific programs.
People like the idea of cutting spending, but only about a quarter of them at most are willing to cut specifics. So actually doing it means that people will be hurt but there will be no political benefit to the politicians whose constituents care about people getting hurt. (Hint: it's not the Republicans.) And for a look at how austerity is working out economically, take a look at Europe.
The only up side to all this seems to be that Obama might be able to appease the petulant princes of Wall Street enough to give him money for his re-election campaign. But I'm guessing it won't work unless he comes up with a bipartisan agreement to really stick it to the common folk hard. They need to be taught a lesson --- don't ever think of holding the Big Money Boyz responsible for anything ever again. Even talking about it will bring a world of hurt.
Apparently, Obama is going to try to thread the needle by talking about how he wants to spend money and also cut spending. It's going to take all of his rhetorical skills to make sense of that once the sausage making starts. WTF!
(h/t to Greg Sargent)
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