Reid: Fiscal cliff failure looks likely due to Boehner’s House ‘dictatorship’

Reid: Fiscal cliff failure looks likely due to Boehner’s House ‘dictatorship’

The Senate’s top Democrat said Thursday that he was pessimistic that Washington could avoid the impending fiscal cliff, accusing House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, of running the lower chamber as a “dictatorship.”

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said he was unsure there was enough time between now and the end of the year to reach a deal to avoid the combination of spending cuts and tax hikes set to take effect on Jan. 1. Reid said “the only viable escape route” was for the GOP-controlled House to give its approval to a Senate bill that would preserve existing tax rates on income under $250,000. SOURCE

Make NO mistake, I am NOT a fan of Harry Reid, but Reid is correct, John Boehner is responsible for this debacle, as is most, if not ALL of the Senate and House, on both sides of the aisle, including Harry Reid himself.

What we see from our elected officials is this: chests get pounded, long speeches get made, fingers are pointed and things are said like; *fiscal cliff*, a term that is designed to instill FEAR in the American people. Accusations are made, by ALL involved, lies are told, responsibility is shunned and blame is assigned.

Meanwhile the United States borders on financial collapse as most of our elected officials are still in their home districts celebrating the holiday season.

We now have the government we deserve, and WE, The People, put them there.

Harry Reid is, on this one point, very correct when he accuses Boehner of running the House as if it were a dictatorship and he, Boehner were the dictator. Does anyone need to be reminded of the way Boehner wields his power? Boehner, GOP Leaders Purge Conservatives from Powerful Committees.

The GOP fears Conservatives and the Conservative movement, and again, make NO mistake about it; the words Conservative and GOP are not synonymous. Anyone believing they are needs to remove themselves from the field of political battle.

John Boehner is NOT a Conservative and the *plan* that he pushed through the House of Representatives was not a Conservative plan, it was a GOP plan and certainly not one that could be used as a place to negotiate from.

It’s not just Boehner, although he seriously needs to be removed from his leadership position, the entire House and Senate are at loggerheads over this *fiscal cliff* and neither side is willing to budge.

All the while the American people are about to be taxed into a new level of poverty.

The Fiscal Cliff Explained

“Fiscal cliff” is the popular shorthand term used to describe the conundrum that the U.S. government will face at the end of 2012, when the terms of the Budget Control Act of 2011 are scheduled to go into effect.

Among the laws set to change at midnight on December 31, 2012, are the end of last year’s temporary payroll tax cuts (resulting in a 2% tax increase for workers), the end of certain tax breaks for businesses, shifts in the alternative minimum tax that would take a larger bite, a rollback of the “Bush tax cuts” from 2001-2003, and the beginning of taxes related to President Obama’s health care law. At the same time, the spending cuts agreed upon as part of the debt ceiling deal of 2011 will begin to go into effect. According to Barron’s, over 1,000 government programs - including the defense budget and Medicare are in line for “deep, automatic cuts.”

In dealing with the fiscal cliff, U.S. lawmakers have a choice among three options, none of which are particularly attractive:

• They can let the current policy scheduled for the beginning of 2013 – which features a number of tax increases and spending cuts that are expected to weigh heavily on growth and possibly drive the economy back into a recession – go into effect. The plus side: the deficit, as a percentage of GDP, would be cut in half.

• They can cancel some or all of the scheduled tax increases and spending cuts, which would add to the deficit and increase the odds that the United States could face a crisis similar to that which is occurring in Europe. The flip side of this, of course, is that the United States’ debt will continue to grow.

• They could take a middle course, opting for an approach that would address the budget issues to a limited extent, but that would have a more modest impact on growth. SOURCE

Aren’t we supposed to have some relatively well educated and learned individuals in charge of this nation? Don’t we have some folks that are financial geniuses that know that this one fact is indisputable; WE MUST HAVE A BALANCED BUDGET!

The Democrats haven’t offered a budget, balanced or otherwise in a very long time.

Giving credit where credit is due; the GOP has offered budget proposals, four of them if my memory is correct, and all four were rejected by the Democrats, even though they, the Democrats, had nothing of their own to offer. Typical Dem hypocrisy.

It seems to me that America is in a downward spiral of our own making, furthered by the total ineptness of those we put into office and positions of power. It’s really nothing new, we have been in this *tail spin* since the war in Vietnam, if not before.

Deficit spending, no budget, no hint of a budget and no balanced budget amendment that makes it mandatory that the Federal government live within its means is about to make us ALL feel the pain.

And remember, elections have consequences. It’s not like many Conservative bloggers and pundits haven’t tried to hammer that thought home.