The real jobs and deficit test is coming when the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy expire this year. If Congress lets them expire, deficit fears go away and there will be money to create jobs, maintain and modernize infrastructure, make the nation competitive in world markets, help the unemployed, upgrade health insurance and so many other badly-needed tasks. But unfortunately we all expect they probably will cater to the wealthy.
Every single one of us knows that the Reagan/Bush tax cuts and military spending increases are the reason we have huge deficits and a massive debt. And every single one of us knows that raising taxes on the wealthy back to pre-Reagan rates and cutting military spending back to the level where it was when we were threated by the greatest and most dangerous military empire in history — which is gone now — will completely solve the deficit problem.
This year Congress will have an opportunity to demonstrate whether they are serious about cutting deficits, or are really just doing the “Shock Doctrine” bidding of a wealthy few. They can let the tax cuts expire and fix a good part of the problem, or they can continue down the road of cutting benefits for the unemployed, the poor, the elderly, children and regular citizens in roder to hand mroe and more of the nation’s wealth to a few.
Ezra Klein, in Don’t just sit there. Do nothing., writes,
For the deficit hawks in Congress, the next few months are going to offer a rare and valuable opportunity: They can do nothing and bring the federal budget much closer to balance. At issue is the expiration of the Bush tax cuts. If allowed to lapse, they’d improve the deficit outlook by about $4 trillion over the next 10 years — and more after that.
This chart from Ezra’s post illustrates the difference the tax cuts make:
The debt line that goes up and up is the one where they keep the Bush tax cuts – the root of the problem. The one where it doesn’t is if they let them expire.
So there you have it. Everyone expects the COngress to cave and hand more and more of the nation’s wealth over to a wealthy few.
