Myth of the fiscal cliff

MoveOn.org has sent out a "5-Point Guide to the Fiscal Showdown" that is shaping up in Congress.  

"1.  The "Fiscal Cliff" Is A Myth.  As Paul Krugman put it, "The looming prospect of spending cuts and tax increases isn't a fiscal crisis. It is, instead, a political crisis brought on by the G.O.P.'s attempt to take the economy hostage."  Republicans are manufacturing this crisis to pressure Democrats to extend the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy and accept painful cuts to Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid.

"2.  The Bush Tax Cuts Finally End December 31. If Congress does nothing, the ax will fall on all the Bush tax cuts on New Year's Eve.  Then, on January 1, the public pressure on John Boehner and House Republicans to extend the middle-class tax cuts (already passed by the Senate and waiting to be signed by President Obama) will become irresistible.  So the middle-class tax cut will eventually get renewed, and we'll have $823 billion more revenue from the top 2% to do great things with.

"3.  The Sequester. The sequester is another political creation, forced on Democrats by Republicans in exchange for lifting the debt ceiling last year to avoid crashing our economy. It's a set of cuts (50% to a bloated military budget and 50% to important domestic programs) designed to make both Republicans and Democrats hate it so much that they'd never let it happen. And the cuts can be reversed weeks or months into 2013 without causing damage.      

"4. The Big Three. Nothing happens to Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid benefits on January 1—unless Republicans force painful cuts to beneficiaries in exchange for tax increases on the wealthy, which are going to happen anyway if Congress does NOTHING.  So, there's literally no reason benefits cuts should be part of the discussion right now.

"5.  We Should Be Talking About Jobs. The real crisis Americans want Congress to fix is getting people back to work. And with just a fraction of that $823 billion from the wealthiest 2%, we could create jobs for more than 20,000 veterans and pay for the 300,000 teachers and 52,000 first responders, which our communities so desperately need.  That's not to mention jobs from investing in clean energy and our national infrastructure."


There you have it.   Republicans once again trying to scare the nation into crisis mode to solve a "crisis" that gives them an excuse for cutting safety net and job creation spending to benefit "the 47%" so they can save their precious rich cronies.

Democrats should be bold and determined.   Kill the filibuster on the first day.   Let the tax cuts expire and the "sequester" spending cuts go into effect -- and then fix what needs to be fixed.   Republicans have more to lose politically now than Democrats.   You have the power, Democrats.  Use it.

Ralph