Ed Morrissey at Hot Air posted an article stating that House of Representatives Democrats are demanding an end to the 'Bush tax cuts' in exchange for raising the debt ceiling.
The article states:
"A group of House Democrats is calling for any deal to raise the debt ceiling to bring about the end of the Bush tax rates for the wealthy.
"The lawmakers, led by Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.), also say that, following last week's weak job report, they are concerned that certain decreases in federal spending could hurt the economy's recovery.
""At this point, both government and private-sector economists agree that sharp immediate cuts in government spending risk plunging our economy into a double-dip recession that will cost further jobs and ultimately worsen our fiscal situation," the lawmakers wrote in a letter obtained by The Hill.
"They added that allowing the Bush tax rates for the wealthiest to expire at the end of next year would by itself "stop the growth of the deficit over the next decade.""
There are a number of probems with this statement. First of all, it is mathematically challenged--ending the 'Bush tax cuts' would net about $700 billion over ten years. That would not even eliminate the growth of the deficit over ten years--it wouldn't even cut this year's deficit in half. Secondly, the 'Bush tax cuts' impact a lot of small businesses--the people who create jobs. Eliminating the 'Bush tax cuts' means that any new hiring that might happen in the next year or so will probably not happen. Finally, the way that the House of Representatives is structured, the minority party has very little power. Simply stated, the Republicans have enough of a majority to pass anything they want. Hopefully they won't abuse that power, but nevertheless, they do have it.
The Democrats are making another attempt to become known as the 'tax and spend' party. That comes at a time when Americans are looking to cut taxes and spending. The kind of logic in the Democrat proposal on the Debt Ceiling may actually help the Republicans in 2012.
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