President Obama makes a deal with Republicans that, (1) extends unemployment benefits for thirteen months, a benefit that helps the middle class (and adds to the deficit, (2) keeps current tax rates in effect for two more years, a benefit for the middle class (and adds to the deficit), and (3) provides a Social Security tax holiday, a benefit mostly for the middle class and below (and adds to the deficit).
As a result, Democrats on the left are incensed that the deal also allows current tax rates to remain in effect for all Americans for the next two years and provides some relief on what would otherwise be a confiscatory estate tax beginning in 2011.
At the same time Democrats approve a one year waiver of the reduction in physician fees under Medicare and “pay for it” by increasing the amount a person must repay if that person enrolled through a health insurance exchange in 2014 receives too much of a rebate through error or misreporting income. [i]
Got all that?
In other words, the real issue is not doing the right thing for the average or all Americans; it is making sure you stick it to successful Americans. Conveniently, increasing the deficit only matters if not doing so helps you lose votes.
[i] That rebate is only available to families earning no more than four times the poverty level. How does one pay for a known fixed new cost with an assumption of errors three years hence?
Related Articles
- Initial Thoughts on the Tax Cut Deal (rortybomb.wordpress.com)
- Tax Cut Deal Shows No One Really Cares About Deficits (newsweek.com)
- Senate leaders agree on ‘doc fix’ (politico.com)
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