Ever since John Boehner’s “fiscal cliff” backup plan went down in flames on Thursday, there’s been a flood of speculation as to whether he can still survive as speaker of the House. But there’s a very fundamental question that a lot of people floating this possibility need to address: Why on earth would anybody want the job?
Right now, I wouldn’t take the job on a bet myself. Thanks largely to what turned out to be an absolute disaster of a 2012 Presidential campaign – and, don’t forget: I expected that we were going to win the damned thing, too – we’re not in a good situation right now. Sorry to write that, but it’s true. Personally? I would have passed the damned full extension, permanently linked the AMT to inflation, given Big Medicine the Hawaiian Good-Luck Symbol by killing the doc fix, partially paid for it all by capping the home mortgage deduction at 200K and ending deductions for state/local income taxes, dropped the mike, and gone home. They’re going to hate us anyway, so we might as well. Continue reading QotD, A Somewhat Uncomfortable Question edition.