The big story so far today is House Democrats' refusal yesterday to take up President Obama's tax deal with Republicans. While this is undoubtedly a big story, it's not the only one and may not even be the biggest story coming out of Washington. It may come as a shock to some in the media, but there are two parties in Washington. While Democrats are refusing to accept what they believe is a bad deal, the other party -- known as "Republicans" or "the GOP" -- are refusing to accept anything, holding fast to a promise to stop everything in Washington until congress agrees to borrow an insane amount of money to give the wealthiest 2% in America a tax break.The GOP argument is that these tax breaks are good for the economy. Look around you; that argument is obviously untrue. Those tax breaks exist now and the economy sucks -- it's like swearing that grizzly bear repellent works, while you're being torn apart by grizzlies. But tax cuts are Republican's snake oil; good for what ails you, from inflation to deflation, from unemployment to labor shortages, perfect for bad economies and good economies. The reason is simple -- they don't like social programs like Social Security and Medicare, so they want starve government of revenue to make these programs unaffordable. If GOP opposition to having the very wealthy pay their fair share demonstrates one thing, it's that GOP hair-tearing over deficits is a false panic. They want deficits. If you doubt me, look at what they want to cut: not taxes, but -- at the moment -- vague and unspecified spending. When they're talking about "spending," they really mean social programs and aid to states, since they've made it clear that one of the biggest contributor to the debt -- our bloated military -- is off-limits for cuts.
No, Republicans aren't worried about deficits, they're worried about very specific spending. Other than that, they really don't give a crap about anything. Certainly not you or me -- unless you're in that top 2% who are the only people they represent. For example, let's say you were a worker at Ground Zero or a first responder to 9/11. You spent a lot of time breathing in toxic crap and now you're sick -- maybe even dying. The GOP doesn't give a crap about you.
And they proved it...[CLICK TO READ FULL POST]
