After eight years of systematically destroying the U.S. economy, it looks like Republicans aren’t satisfied with the damage. The cause isn’t hard to figure out: Spending that would make a drunken sailor on liberty blush, combined with massive tax cuts for the top 1% of earners and businesses will break the bank every time. -Duh.
And now that the country is in a financial crisis, Republicans’ idea of addressing some very specific problems, namely liquidity among banks and the related credit crunch, is to what? You guessed it, more tax reduction.
From the NY Times:
The lawmakers were gambling that the tax package would appeal to lawmakers who helped sink the measure in the House on Monday, without driving off Democrats who have opposed extending the tax incentives without offsetting spending cuts elsewhere…But House Republican leaders, who said they had been advised about the Senate plan, said the new elements would appeal to their rank-and-file, which voted strongly against the legislation Monday. A spokesman for Representative John A. Boehner of Ohio, the Republican leader, said that “Mr. Boehner was consulted and gave the green light.”
Pelosi and Reid: Democrats have a majority in both houses of congress and the President is desperate for a bailout. Load that sucker with the things that will make your rank and file happy and pass it on a party-line vote. Dare the president to veto it.
If the Republicans are going to dick around with tax cuts in order to “play ball” then screw ’em.
The Eclectic One 