Tag: fiscal cliff

If you’re following the fiscal cliff sh*t sandwich…

…and I’m not, particularly – anyway: Hot Air is covering this pretty obsessively.  Possibly too obsessively for their long-term mental health, but that’s their call, not mine.  Everybody’s got their own breaking strain.

One piece of advice, though? – If you’re getting to the point that you can’t see straight (or are there already), now is an excellent time to turn off the computer, eat a sandwich, have a nap, and disengage until you can center your chi energy, or whatever.  If you’re not thinking clearly, then almost by definition you’re not operating optimally.  Seriously.  Take a breathing exercise,  or something; you’re no good to anybody all tangled up inside, including (not incidentally at all) yourself.

Moe Lane

PS: I’m sure that there are a lot of good reasons why you should keep yourself redlined.  No doubt.  Now go disengage anyway.

Is President Obama bluffing on his veto threat?

Keith Hennessey thinks that President Obama is bluffing on his veto threat.

President Obama’s veto threat decision is not just about fiscal policy, and it’s not just about who gets blamed for a legislative failure.  It’s about whether the President wants to cause a recession in 2013 and hamstring his second term.  No matter what he or his advisors say, he cannot afford to take that risk.

It’s a good argument, but it has one small problem: it assumes that President Obama is capable of making a rational risk analysis in this matter, or indeed in any other.  Judging from his tenure thus far, President Obama does not have a good handle on judging when other people are or are not serious about their policy positions.  So, yes, Barack Obama may indeed veto the eventual deal and thus start a recession.  Confidently.  Heedlessly. With both eyes open.

:shrug: If that’s how it’s going to go down…

Via Instapundit.

Moe Lane

Rep. Paul Ryan: back in the fiscal wars.

I think that I can taste just the faintest touch of bitterness in this article:

When Mr. Ryan returned to Capitol Hill last week, he was met with a standing ovation from his Republican colleagues, a bear hug from Mr. Boehner and the hope from conservatives that he would hold the line on taxes and other spending.

[snip]

According to aides and others close to Mr. Ryan, he is as focused on doing the job before him as he was on winning the vice-presidential race. “We just sort of picked ourselves back up, and we are all back into our lives and jobs,” Tobin Ryan said. “And frankly, I see Paul doing the same thing.”

It always annoys the Left when people from our side indeed pick themselves up and dust themselves off.  We never wallow enough in despair to suit them, honestly.  Continue reading Rep. Paul Ryan: back in the fiscal wars.

QotD, …The Obama Administration Doesn’t Have A Fiscal Cliff Plan YET? edition.

Be afraid.

White House officials are in advanced internal discussions about a plan to replace the sweeping spending cuts set to begin in January with a smaller, separate package of targeted spending cuts and tax increases, people familiar with the planning said.

Be very, very afraid.  Because that statement translates to President Barack Obama is going into ‘negotiations’ today with no actual plan for avoiding sequestration.  Surely the administration knew that this issue might be coming up, yes?

Moe Lane

Obama wants $1.6 trillion in new tax hikes.

No, really.

President Obama is taking a tough opening stance in talks over deficit reduction, pushing Republicans to accept a plan that calls for $1.6 trillion in new tax revenue over the next ten years, according to reports.

The figure is double the $800 billion last discussed by the White House and House Speaker Boehner (R-Ohio) during their 2011 negotiations on raising the debt-ceiling limit.

Continue reading Obama wants $1.6 trillion in new tax hikes.