Who Could Have Predicted Part XXXIV
by digby
Appearing with his Republican counterpart this morning on ABC’s this week, DSCC chairman Robert Menendez floated the idea of temporarily extending the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans. “I certainly believe that there may be some opportunity for a temporary approval of some of these cuts, Menendez said. “We well not support…a permanent extension, four trillion dollars.”
Yeah. Some of us saw that one coming a mile away. But as I wrote in that post, if they are laboring under the illusion that the Big Money Boyz are going to be appeased by extending those tax cuts, they are in for a huge surprise. It’s not about money anymore.
And politically it’s just … well:
The upshot is that all the Bush tax cuts are probably going to be extended. They’ll “compromise” by sunsetting it until just before the presidential election — when they can run the same game again.
If they don’t allow the Bush billionaire tax cuts to expire on schedule it’s over. I cannot imagine them summoning the political will for another 25 years to raise taxes. Welcome to the new American Austerity religion — regular human sacrifices on the alter of vast wealth in the hopes the God of rand will be benevolent. And when they aren’t, it will be widely assumed it was because the government failed and so we need another round of tax cutting and human sacrifice.
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