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Friday, February 22, 2013

Uh, remember that Sugar-Coated Satan Sandwich?

Satan_Sandwich.jpg
Fist Dap Flick River Photography

Looks like the Sugar-Coated Satan Sandwich is back for a second course...
The phony debt ceiling crisis was, from beginning to end, a con. It was an elaborate and successful hoax in which the nation's first black president, the Democratic and Republican parties, Wall Street and corporate media all played indispensable parts. The object of the supposed “crisis” was to short circuit public opinion, existing law, democratic process and traditions of public oversight, in order to deal fatal blows to Medicaid, Medicare, social security, job growth and public expenditures for the common good. It worked. We've been conned.
The result was painful and predictable then, and it's painful and predictable now.....
 If nothing else, the debt ceiling crisis provided what Barack Obama is so fond of calling a "teachable moment." Hopefully, that extends to the President himself. After seeing his nominees blocked, his legislation filibustered and popular upper-income tax increases delayed by Republicans who withheld their support from his watered down stimulus and health care programs, President Obama nevertheless continued to seek common ground with those whose only goal remains his political destruction. 
Some of us tried to tell y'all the deal sucked, but did you listen?  Nooooo, that would have been too much like right (pun intended). You keep smashing an economy over the head with the austerity is good for you meme and you end up with a bloodied economy.

The American people made it perfectly clear we want to preserve the social safety net while raising taxes on the rich in November. Since republicans got 98% of what they wanted in the debt deal by holding America hostage,  they are doing it again. Who cares what we want? 
 Here’s how it happened: Republicans engaged in unprecedented hostage-taking, threatening to push America into default by refusing to raise the debt ceiling unless President Obama agreed to a grand bargain on their terms. Mr. Obama, alas, didn’t stand firm; instead, he tried to buy time. And, somehow, both sides decided that the way to buy time was to create a fiscal doomsday machine that would inflict gratuitous damage on the nation through spending cuts unless a grand bargain was reached. Sure enough, there is no bargain, and the doomsday machine will go off at the end of next week.
This is what is on the menu IMHO...... Republicans want the Sequester to go into effect.

 The 2013 sequester includes:
  • $42.7 billion in defense cuts (a 7.9 percent cut).
  • $28.7 billion in domestic discretionary cuts (a 5.3 percent cut).
  • $9.9 billion in Medicare cuts (a 2 percent cut).
  • $4 billion in other mandatory cuts (a 5.8 percent cut to non-defense programs, and a 7.8 percent cut to mandatory defense programs).
Republicans control the House ( thanks to gerrymandering), have a filibuster-proof Senate (thanks to Harry Reid), defense spending will be restored, the rich will keep their tax cuts, so-called entitlements will be cut.

It's a win-win for the GOP,  another Sugar-Coated Satan Sandwich for the majority of the America people.

Bon appetite!

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