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Forum Post: It's all about timing.......

Posted 11 years ago on Jan. 2, 2013, 5:13 a.m. EST by Builder (4202)
This content is user submitted and not an official statement

Fiscal cliff on NYE?

Did they not see this coming? Special sessions (more money wasted) to get this happening over the Christmas season?

Who do they think they are fucking kidding??

What a class act. NOT.

They are trying to convince you all that you must do without lots of things.

It's called austerity, and it's part of the global agenda to introduce a global buck. A "one-size-fits-all" dollar. A euro for all and sundry.

A shining light at the end of the fiscal tunnel that they are currently constructing in your mind's eye.

But it doesn't have to be that easy, ya know?

These same people created this fiscal cliff. It started with the GFC, that they also created.

The criminals in charge of that fiasco are now in powerful positions within government and banking circles.

That's right. They didn't go to prison for their crimes. They got a promotion to higher places in the criminal realm that you mistake for government.

What are you gonna do about that? Go to the police?

15 Comments

15 Comments


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[-] 4 points by shadz66 (19985) 11 years ago

Austerity for Americans is the name of the game ; Corporate Corruption, fraud and outright criminality not only goes unchallenged but is the modus operandi of choice, whilst the Corporate MSM aid and abet with their smoke and mirrors, failure to ask the real questions and unwillingness to raise the very real points that you do above.

'Libertarian', Randian, Pro-Bankster Corporation, Ultra-Rightwing lunatics are at the heart of this situation but there are little or no checks on these parasites it seems. Good post 'B' and though at a tad historic now, nevertheless below, I append and copy in entirety, this piece by Robert Reich :

--- "The Only Way Left to Beat Republican Fanatics : Call Their Bluff and Go Over the Cliff" ---

President Obama is cutting his Christmas holiday short, returning to Washington for a last attempt at avoiding the fiscal cliff. But he’s running headlong into the Republican strategy of fanaticism.

It’s a long-established principle of game theory (see Thomas Schelling’s classic 1956 essay in the American Economic Review) that a fanatic who restricts his freedom to avert a disaster puts maximum pressure on his opponent to give ground.

In a game of highway chicken, for example, the driver that can’t swerve because he’s tied his hands to the steering wheel and chained his foot to the accelerator forces the other to swerve in order to avoid crashing.

The trick is for the first driver to convince the second that he’s crazy enough to have committed himself to instant death if the second doesn’t act rationally.

House Speaker John Boehner’s failure to persuade rank-and-file House Republicans to raise taxes even on millionaires fits the fanatic’s strategy exactly. Boehner can now credibly claim he has no choice in the matter – Republican fanatics in the House have tied his hands and manacled his feet — so the only way to avoid going over the cliff is for Obama and the Democrats to make more concessions.

The White House’s hope of getting the Senate to pass legislation that raises taxes on the wealthy in order to pressure Boehner won’t work because the legislation can’t possibly get through the House. That’s the point: Boehner has demonstrated he has no choice; the fanatics are in charge there.

Obama could decide going over the cliff isn’t so bad after all – as long as he and congressional Democrats introduce legislation early in the 2013 that gives a tax cut to the middle class retroactively to January 1st (extending the Bush tax cut to the first $250,000 of income) and restores most spending — and Republicans feel compelled to go along.

But with Boehner’s hands tied and the fanatics in charge, this gambit becomes far riskier. What if we go over the cliff and House Republicans continue to hold out against any tax increases on the rich while demanding major cuts in Medicare and Social Security?

The path of least resistance is for Obama and the Democrats to offer to keep everything as is, through 2013 – extend all the Bush tax cuts and continue all current spending (lifting the debt limit along the way) – unless or until a “grand bargain” on the budget is agreed to before the end of next year.

This is likely to satisfy enough Republican fanatics to gain a majority in the House. And it would avoid the fiscal cliff, kicking the can down the road and giving everyone more time.

Deficit hawks in both parties won’t like it, but that’s okay. Unemployment is still way too high and growth too meager to justify trimming the deficit any time soon.

The real problem with this gambit is it doesn’t change the game. Even down the road, Boehner’s hands will still be tied and the fanatics will remain in charge — which will give Republicans the stronger position in negotiations leading to a “grand bargain.” Compromise would have to be almost entirely on the Democrats’ side.

That’s why I’d recommend going over the cliff and forcing the Republicans’ hand. It’s a risky strategy but it would at least expose the Republican tactic and put public pressure squarely on rank-and-file Republicans, where it belongs.

The fanatics in the GOP have to be held accountable or they’ll continue to hold the nation hostage to their extremism. Even if it takes until the 2014 midterms to loosen their hold, the cost is worth it.

~

qui tacet consentire ...

~

[Robert Reich, Chancellor’s Professor of Public Policy at the University of California at Berkeley, was Secretary of Labor in the Clinton administration. Time Magazine named him one of the ten most effective cabinet secretaries of the last century. He has written thirteen books, including the best sellers “Aftershock" and “The Work of Nations." His latest, "Beyond Outrage," is now out in paperback. He is also a founding editor of the American Prospect magazine and chairman of Common Cause.]

{Article copied verbatim under 'Fair Use' from http://robertreich.org/post/38853097766 & use this to access all the important corroborating embedded links.}

[-] 2 points by therising (6643) 11 years ago

THIS will blow you away: http://sue-adams.hubpages.com/hub/iceland-shows-how-to-solve-economic-crisis (read the short reticle 1st and then check out the short video at top). It'll make your day.

[-] 2 points by shadz66 (19985) 11 years ago

"Iceland has shown the world how to beat the economic crisis. There is a way to cure the infested financial system by sacking corrupt politicians and prosecuting criminal bankers who gamble depositors’ money away, invest in unethical schemes, pay themselves gigantic bonuses, and then expect tax payers to save their oversized backsides when they lose control. Iceland has given the world a working example of true democracy. If Iceland can do it, why can’t we all?" EXACTLY !! Thanx for your very useful link to a very good summation of the whole Iceland Saga & I also append :

Throughout our Western demoCRAZY deMOCKERYcies, we absolutely have to take the Icelandic lead. Thanx for your excellent link which I recommend to everyone remotely interested in these matters.

per aspera ad astra ...

[-] 0 points by Builder (4202) 11 years ago

Thanks Shadz.

Just heard on the nooz that some form of compromise was reached while I slept. ?Something about taxing the wealthy while avoiding increases on the dwindling middle-class.

I'm sure there's still going to be cuts to services and charity orgs, but maybe there's enough noise in the free press, and enough anger amongst the aware in the world, that even this bunch of criminals is starting to get a bit scared of the angry mob.

I certainly hope so.

[-] 5 points by shadz66 (19985) 11 years ago

Until such time as we learn the lessons of Iceland then our inexorable slide into Overt Fascism is assured. The Plutocrats, Oligarchs and Bankster Parasites are happy about the current trajectory of events, as the inexorable logic of Usurious Compound Interest and its 'derivatives', which laid waste Africa in the 80's, Latin America in the 90's and increasingly Europe and North America now, plays out.

OWS is only 16 months old but is planting very important seeds for a future cadre and we must all continue doing as we do and stepping up the pace as the Northern Hemisphere spring and summer unfold. Solidarity to you 'B' & please also peruse the links below to 'therising' as well as :

fiat justitia ruat caelum ...

[-] 3 points by DKAtoday (33802) from Coon Rapids, MN 11 years ago

Keep-on Keeping-on shadz

[-] 3 points by DKAtoday (33802) from Coon Rapids, MN 11 years ago

It is the flu season - But - Let us see Iceland go viral in a healthy manner. {:-])

The worlds immune system needs strengthening.

[-] 0 points by freakzilla (-161) from Detroit, MI 11 years ago

"I'm sure there's still going to be cuts to services and charity orgs"

Then we need to step up and help out with our time and money.

[-] -2 points by OTP (-203) from Tampa, FL 11 years ago

Thats a pretty bad ass post Builder. Well said.

[-] -1 points by Builder (4202) 11 years ago

Thanks. Venting, really.

Shadz' reply was the one to watch.

Americans are supposed to now be relieved that congress came to some form of agreement. Funny, because they are supposed to sort their shit out in their own time, rather than wait for some manufactured "cliff" to appear.

Pundits are saying that the trade-offs are yet to be exposed. You think the rich would have agreed to any kind of new tax, without the poor getting screwed as well?

Watch this space. I'm waiting for the penny to drop. This kind of thing always seems to get signed off during holidays.

[-] -1 points by Builder (4202) 11 years ago

Okay, here's the trade-off.

Might make this another thread, but I knew Obama was much too upbeat about the whole scenario. He knew this was coming.

http://truth-out.org/news/item/13648-eight-corporate-subsidies-in-the-fiscal-cliff-bill-from-goldman-sachs-to-disney-to-nascar

(quote)Throughout the months of November and December, a steady stream of corporate CEOs flowed in and out of the White House to discuss the impending fiscal cliff. Many of them, such as Lloyd Blankfein of Goldman Sachs, would then publicly come out and talk about how modest increases of tax rates on the wealthy were reasonable in order to deal with the deficit problem. What wasn’t mentioned is what these leaders wanted, which is what’s known as “tax extenders”, or roughly $205B of tax breaks for corporations. With such a banal name, and boring and difficult to read line items in the bill, few political operatives have bothered to pay attention to this part of the bill. But it is critical to understanding what is going on.(unquote)

The link is well worth reading, so click the link, people.

[-] 2 points by SparkyJP (1646) from Westminster, MD 11 years ago

The more you dig into it Builder; the more it'll piss you off. Wall St and the wealthy made out like bandits ........... and they're just warming up!

Grover Norquist ‏even tweeted:

"When Dems wake up they will realize they just made most of the Bush tax cuts permanent and lost their leverage for the next 4 yrs".

[-] -3 points by Builder (4202) 11 years ago

I just watched him on The Young Turks.

Gotta get this out there while it's still fresh in people's minds.

The more eyes and ears out there on this topic the better, SparkyJP.

Thanks for your vigilance.

[-] -2 points by OTP (-203) from Tampa, FL 11 years ago

Ya, they love doing that bullshit on the holidays. CNN was listing off all the pet projects and tax exemptions in the bill last night. Filled with garbage as usual.