Shared sacrifice, Village style
by digby
The Washington Post today:
“If both sides agree, that measure could also include some tax and entitlement changes, such as ending breaks for corporate jets, raising the Medicare eligibility age or changing the measure of inflation used to adjust Social Security benefits. However, the largest tax and entitlement changes are likely to be left until next year, the officials said, when policymakers will have more time to weigh the effects on taxpayers, program beneficiaries and the economy.”
I’d laugh if it wasn’t so tragic. Raising the eligibility age or changing the COLA are humongous changes that shouldn’t even be contemplated in this context since Social Security’s shortfall isn’t even projected to happen for another 35 years and it contributes nothing to the deficit. And the idea that this would be “balanced” by ending some perks for corporate jets is so bizarre that I’d think it was part of a Stephen Colbert satire if I didn’t know better.
But this is where the Village stands today: the “reasonable” position is to accept huge cuts in discretionary spending and Social Security in exchange for some symbolic nothingness on the part of the wealthy and call it “shared sacrifice.” And needless to say, we should be prepared for many more cuts to the “entitlements’ down the road since this was the “easy” stuff. We are all the way down the rabbit hole now and somebody’s throwing dirt on top of us.
I actually suspect this might be bad reporting. Unless they’ve decided that the only way they can achieve this all-important element of the Grand Bargain is with the fate of the world economy hanging over its head, I would think SS cuts would be the last thing they’d want to force Democrats to swallow. (Oh wait, what am I saying?)
Let’s hope it was floated purely so that people will be relieved when it doesn’t actually happen. In today’s politics that’s how they make 2 trillion dollars in cuts during a protracted economic downturn look like a Democratic win.
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 Dear RedState Supporter,
First he says he’ll never consider cutting Social Security. Now he says he WILL consider cutting Social Security. And the young will go along with it. Just because he says it’s right. “Don’t worry, Dad, President Obama says you’ll hardly notice the cuts.” If I were counting on Social Security today, I’d be dead scared. No one can do more to stop Obama than the young voters who gave him the White House in 2008. The chart tells a small part of the disastrous story.
We must get the truth to young voters the same way Obama spreads his lies — using Facebook, cell phones, emails and videos. But we conservatives are still miles behind the Obama machine when it comes to doing that.
This is costly work that I wholeheartedly support. But it can’t be done without your help.I urge you to learn more by clicking here. For Freedom, Erick Erickson |
