The GOP's war over America's debt ceiling is not about America's debt, it's about President Obama. The debt ceiling debate can't be separated from the GOP's never-ending hunt for any issue that can taint, embarrass, and ultimately weaken the Obama presidency. The GOP's goal is as it has always been: to make Obama a one-term president. The issue of whether America can pay its bills or not, or reneges on its financial obligations, which would be the catastrophe that would result from failing to raise the ceiling, is secondary to the GOP's cynical political ploy.
The proof is how the debt ceiling jumped to center stage in political debate and the public's awareness of it. The debt ceiling was an absolute non-issue during George W. Bush White House tenure. It was raised ten times in those years with barely a peep that the U.S. was in mortal danger of a fiscal crash and burn under its great weight of debt. This debt was incurred almost exclusively by Bush's two wildly costly and wasteful wars, his two behemoth tax cut giveaways to the rich, a relentless gut of regulations that made banks' and corporations' tax liability fall to historic low levels, and then capped by a taxpayer giveaway to Wall Street banks and financial houses. The debt that would be hiked to near astronomical proportions if Congress ever approved the House GOP's budget plan, drafted by Rep. Paul Ryan, which would add $6 trillion in to the national debt over a decade. Strangely, there's no debt ceiling squawk from the GOP on this horrific prospect.
But the GOP didn't acquiesce in turning the debt into a non-issue solely to appease a GOP president. Congress jumped the debt ceiling 64 times since 1962 before Bush took office for Democratic and Republican presidents alike. The ceiling was raised even in election years without any public fanfare.
But when polls showed that a majority of Americans were concerned about mounting debt, and that a sizable number of Americans wanted to rein in spending, the debt ceiling instantly became a fresh weapon for the GOP to barrage Obama. They calculate they can score three political pluses on the cheap. They can further tar Obama and the Democrats as reckless spendthrifts that want to run the country and the economy into the ground. They can wrap themselves even more snugly in the cloak of the defenders of fiscal prudence and responsibility with the solemn mission of guarding the nation's taxpayer's purse. They can drive a wedge between Obama and Congressional Democrats by forcing him to make concessions for a budget deal that will draw howls from Democrats. The concessions are, of course, putting the Democrats' two sacred cow programs, Medicare and Social Security, on the chopping block.
The GOP ploy played out to predictable perfection. The instant word leaked out that Obama had offered to make a tweak in the cost of living formula for Social Security and raise the age limit on Medicare recipients; a legion of congressional Democrats screamed betrayal and warned that any such deal on the two vital programs would have damaging consequences for Democrats in 2012. They are right. That was the whole point of the GOP forcing Obama to take the drastic steps of offering up Social Security and Medicare as bargaining chips to put him at odds with other Democrats and cause jitters among the Democratic voter base.
Democratic House Minority Leader Steny Hoyer glimpsed that this was indeed a calculated maneuver by the GOP and openly groused that the GOP could politicize the debt ceiling debate. But Hoyer was being far too cautious and generous in saying "could" about the ploy. The only way to make any sense out of the GOP's waging a World War II proportion battle out of something that had been as pro forma as the changing seasons for a half century was politics. The GOP leaders will eventually approve a deal on the budget and that will include raising the debt ceiling for the 75th time. But the GOP won't cut the deal without one more go at scoring a couple more political brownie points at Obama's expense.
They'll loudly proclaim that by waging the fight over the ceiling they thwarted the Democrats from continuing to bloat spending, held the line against any tax increases, and that this in effect prevented retarding the dubious recovery. And if in the process they've managed to sow enough ill will and division among Democrats then this is all the better in improving the prospects of whatever GOP presidential hopeful eventually emerges from the pack to challenge Obama.
President Obama almost certainly had the GOP's cynical scenario in mind when he blasted "professional politicians" for holding the government hostage while they jockey for partisan political gain. This shot at the GOP will fall on deaf ears precisely because the debt ceiling fight was never about debt but about Obama.
Earl Ofari Hutchinson is an author and political analyst. He is an associate editor of New America Media. He is host of the weekly Hutchinson Report Newsmaker Hour on KTYM Radio Los Angeles streamed on ktym.com podcast on blogtalkradio.com and internet TV broadcast on thehutchinsonreportnews.com.
Follow Earl Ofari Hutchinson on Twitter: www.twitter.com/earlhutchinson
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According to the Bipartisan Policy Center, tax revenue for the 29 days of August after the 2nd will be roughly $172,4 billion.
Interest on Treasury Securities would be $29 billion, Social Security Benefits another $49.2 billion, Medicare/Medicaid another $50 billion .. that amounts to $128.2 billion.
The single largest next budget item is $20.2 billion for the ridiculously bloated and failed Dept of Education, which should be eliminated!
The it becomes like the old family budget "prioritize". So much for the scare tactic BS.
Sugggested GOP slogan: "It's the SPENDING, Stupid!!"
With his intelligence and sound judgments on a few issues; he must not let the opposition force him to put on the chopping block those programs that many Americans have paid into for years. I think the Republicans and their "acting out" behaviors mimic the tantrums one observes with toddlers. Holding their breaths and not budging until they have their way. How does one compromise with that kind of behavior....one doesn't. They give in or give out. The latter could
pose dire consequences for our nation.
Well, it is a theory of mine:
Obama "caves in" because he WANTS to....and wants the Repugs to take the lion's share of the blame.
And I sure hope I am completely wrong with my theory.
• 2013: 0.9% is added to the 2.9% Medicare tax for singles who earn $200,000+ and couples ($250,000).
• It applies Medicare’s 2.9% payroll tax rate to investment income. Added to the 0.9% payroll surcharge, that's a 3.8% tax hike on “the rich.” Oh, and these new taxes aren’t indexed for inflation, so the middle-class pays the surcharge as their incomes rise past $250,000 due to tax-bracket creep. Taxpayer cost: $210 billion.
• As of 2013, a 2.3% excise tax on med device makers, raising $20 billion.
• $15.2 billion from raising the floor on your allowable medical deductions from 7.5% to 10% of adjusted gross income.
• In 2018, it imposes a whopping 40% “excise tax” on high-cost insurance plans.
• And a new annual fee on health insurers in 2014 to raise $60 billion. This tax is passed along to consumers.
Other new taxes in the law add some $438 billion in new revenue over 10 years. But even that is understated because by 2019 the annual revenue increase is nearly $90 billion, or $900 billion in the 10 years after that. And Obama wants to add another $1 trillion in new taxes on top of this.
Currently 97.14 % of the country makes less than 200 K. So the vast majority of the country does not see this "tax hike" you are so worried about.
To the extent it pertains to Obama, it is the president looking for a way to get the debt talk off the front pages until after the next election. This was evidenced by yesterday's comment by Obama:
“So, when you hear folks saying ‘Well, the president shouldn’t want massive job killing tax increases when the economy is this weak.’ Nobody’s looking to raise taxes right now. We’re talking about potentially 2013 and the out years.” (emphasis added) --
Message: Re-elect me to get massive job killing tax hikes when I’m a lame duck and you can’t do a thing about it. That right there is a sure-fire winner of a message. If you want to morph into Walter Mondale circa 1984.
Voters express top issues:
1. The Economy
2. Healthcare
3. Unemployment