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Thanks, recalcitrant GOP, for your willingness to take the nation hostage for your idealism! Isn't that rhetoric a little inflammatory for HN? We're not talkin

Thanks, recalcitrant GOP, for your willingness to take the nation hostage for your idealism! Isn't that rhetoric a little inflammatory for HN? We're not talking about a huge dollar value on those high income rates, particularly if we're only talking about the 2001 cuts. One could equally say that President Obama is "willing to take the nation hostage" over $50B in a $3.7T budget. The budget deficit in 2007 was something like $163B with all these tax cuts in effect and two wars in full swing. Tax rates are not the problem. Spending and the still faltering economy are.

r00fus 14y ago
The GOP shot down a previous bill that avoided the "cliff" months earlier: http://bloggingblue.com/2012/08/01/shocker-house-republicans-vote-against-extension-of-middle-class-tax-cuts/ http://bloggingblue.com/2012/08/01/shocker-house-republicans... It's clear they are seeking this confrontation, damn the consequences to the majority of the populace... just like their debt-ceiling brinkmanship in 2011.
muzz 14y ago
You neglect the effect of the housing bubble-- the largest bubble in history-- on the budget deficit in 2007. When the housing bubble burst, the deficit ballooned to $1.4T.