It's a political disaster, too
by David Atkins
Digby highlighted Paul Krugman's excellent piece immediately below, but I just wanted to reinforce this bit with emphasis:
Barring an upset, however, that environment will come to an end on Nov. 6. This election is, as I said, shaping up as a referendum on our social insurance system, and it looks as if Mr. Obama will emerge with a clear mandate for preserving and extending that system. It would be a terrible mistake, both politically and for the nation’s future, for him to let himself be talked into snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.
Sounds like something I said the other day:
If the Congress and the President take up Simpson-Bowles during the lame duck session or the new year and enact minor tip money tax increases for the wealthy in exchange for cuts to the most vulnerable, a majority of Republicans will oppose the deal. Democrats will be left holding the bag, insisting on being the "bipartisan adults in the room."
Voters will hate the deal. Republicans will run successfully against Democrats for the next twenty years, accusing us of cutting Medicare and raising taxes. And when Republicans easily win that argument and gain Executive and Legislative power, President Christie and Speaker Ryan will voucherize Medicare, restore the funding for current seniors, and act as the cavalry riding to America's and Medicare's rescue.
The Village Consensus is awful, immoral policy. It's also suicidal politics.
Krugman is right, of course. But the fix is in. Everyone knows what cuts are coming down the pipe, because the only thing that would prevent those cuts is a reorientation of the economy that would make the plutocrats a little uncomfortable.
And we can't have that, now, can we?
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