| Their credibility
is zero, and yet they act as if they have the winning hand.
You’re watching what I’m
watching: an injured team playing with a
losing hand, trying to bluff their way to a victory. “Never let ‘em see you sweat” is
inapplicable
when you’re in the furnace. The Republican Party is working tooth and
nail to
convince us they have a winning hand. Nothing is further from the truth.
House Republicans offered
their own
proposal this week in the tug-o-war to avert the so-called fiscal
cliff, but
President Obama's Administration adeptly worked from the Republican
playbook - and
said “No!” Remember the Party of No?
Why did the Administration
turn down
the Republican proposal? Because the Republicans did what they’ve been
doing:
protecting rich folk! They refuse to demand more from the nation's
wealthiest taxpayers.
Last week, House Speaker
John Boehner
deemed the President’s plan, “not serious.” How insulting! Then, he
proposed a
non-serious plan…go figure! “The GOP plan promises $2.2 trillion in
deficit
savings over the next decade, including $800 billion from tax reform,
$600
billion from Medicare reforms and other health savings, and $600
billion in
other spending cuts,” House Republican leadership aides said. It also
pledges
$200 billion in savings by revising the consumer price index, a measure
of
inflation. Did you hear any skin in the game from the rich? Me either…
The Republicans spent a
considerable amount of effort trying to
convince the American public that the election was not a mandate to
raise taxes
on the highest income earners. They told us through House Speaker
Boehner that
the election was “a mandate to work together.” Doesn’t he understand
that we
witnessed the Republican’s idea of “working together” and it is not working together? We spent the past
two years watching the Party of No, say no. Now, we - the American
people - say
no!
Don’t the Republicans
realize that the Grover Nordquist
playbook of “no tax hikes no matter what” failed to score with - I mean
scare -
the 99%? I saw the game, you saw the game and so did the Republicans.
And the
jig is up! The working class wants a piece of the pie. Corporations,
banks,
Wall Street have been piling up profits and are sitting well; now, it’s
our
turn.
We
witnessed the Republican’s idea of “working together” and it is not
working together.
Like President Obama said
during his re-election campaign, his
deficit reduction plan would increase tax revenue by almost $1 trillion
over 10
years - a significant cut of a $4 trillion overall deficit reduction
goal. In
addition to adding a $50 billion stimulus package, his proposal closes
loopholes, limits deductions, raises the estate tax rate to 2009 levels
and
increases tax rates on capital gains and dividends (those are rich
folk).
Republicans are the kind
of folks who’ll piss on your head and
then tell you that it’s raining! They offered the same plan during the
election
(no, we didn’t forget; we’d recognize the Ryan budget plan anywhere).
We not
only said no, we said “Hell no!” (And, Democrats won the election.) The
House
Republicans are hanging on by a thread, though they are the majority in
that
chamber. Their credibility is zero, and yet they act as if they have
the
winning hand. Their strategy is either one hell of a bluff, or one
arrogant
show of audacity.
Wanting to cut benefits
for the working class and not accept tax
hikes for the richest Americans will never fly. The Republicans are zooming this plan down the runway and acting as
if that
plane is going to take flight. It’ll crash; it just won’t fly. It
doesn’t even
have wings!
They talk about averting
the “fiscal cliff.” I truly don’t care
whether the country goes off or not. The President’s Bowles-Simpson
deficit
commission proposed across-the-board cuts last year which are exactly
the kind
of imperfect but fair middle ground that averts a fiscal cliff, without
hurting
our economy and destroying jobs. The Republicans want to play hardball
to which
I say, “Go ahead; go off the cliff.” There’s nothing harder than the
bottom. Working-class
Americans already know where bottom is and
know what it feels like. It’s been scores since rich folks felt the bottom. Let’s get their skin in the
game for a change.
BlackCommentator.com Columnist, Perry Redd, is the former Executive
Director of
the workers rights advocacy, Sincere Seven, and author of the on-line
commentary, “The Other Side of the Tracks.” He is the host of the
internet-based
talk radio show, Socially Speaking in Washington, DC. Click here to contact Mr. Redd.
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