Are talks between Obama and Boehner already breaking down?

[ProSense]

Are talks between Obama and Boehner already breaking down?

by Joan McCarter

All might not be proceeding well in the private talks between President Obama and House Speaker John Boehner over avoiding stepping off the fiscal cliff curb. Putting together the pieces, it would seem that the White House isn't getting much assistance from Boehner in the whole compromise thing.

Here's the latest, from White House Press Secretary Jay Carney on Monday:

"We've yet to see a sentence of specificity from the Republicans on the issue of revenue," Carney told reporters aboard Air Force One on Monday. "And while there has been encouraging statements from individual lawmakers about the realization that rates will go up on the top 2 percent, we haven’t seen anything specific from Republicans with regard to that."

<...>

And here's the email showing up in millions of inboxes today from Obama for America's Deputy Campaign Manager Stephanie Cutter:

<...> Let's get one thing straight: If your taxes go up, Republicans will have made a conscious choice to let that happen. They'll have missed the opportunity to prevent it, just to cut taxes for the wealthy.

Republicans need to stop using the middle class as a bargaining chip. If they fail to act, a typical middle-class family of four will see a $2,200 tax hike starting in a few short weeks. Middle-class families could face some tough financial decisions simply because Republicans didn't want to ask the wealthiest 2 percent of Americans to pay their fair share.

That's not what President Obama and you campaigned on, and that's not what millions of Americans voted for just one month ago.

We know we can affect change in Washington when we raise our voices together. So pick up the phone and make a few calls. Republicans in the House need to hear from their constituents.

Did the White House decide that the talks had broken down to the point that they had to unleash their most powerful tool? Because that's what they just did.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/12/10/1168737/-Are-talks-between-Obama-and-Boehner-already-breaking-down

Can Anyone Tame the Washington Post's Deficit Hysteria?

That seems unlikely as it ran another shrill front page piece warning about the need to "tame" the national debt. Newspapers would ordinarily use a a word like "reduce" in their news section, saving phrases like "tame the national debt" for the opinion pages.

The piece is also highly misleading by insisting there is an urgency to arriving at a deal before the end of the year. There is no obvious reason that it is important to have a deal by December 31 rather than the first or second week in January. While the Post includes the comments from politicians who say a deal is "vital" and even asserts this as a fact in the headline to the jump page, it excludes the views of members of Congress who think it would be perfectly reasonable to allow the deadline to pass and put together a deal with the new Congress.

It is worth noting in this context that President Obama's bargaining position would be substantially improved after January 1. For this reason it is understandable that Republicans and people who want to see large cuts to Social Security and Medicare would want to force a deal before the end of the year

http://www.cepr.net/index.php/blogs/beat-the-press/can-anyone-tame-the-washington-posts-deficit-hysteria

[ProSense]

1. Kick! n/t

[AldoLeopold]

2. We're goin over man

My governor, Beebe, is already vowing to sue the federal government for withholding funds, while at the same time saying that the outcome is uncertain. Which means he's heavily hedging his bets.

Just instincts here, I'm stupid on this subject so I should probably shut my hole, but this outcome I think, was preset from the beginning. We're going over like Indy, Short Round, and Willie Scott in a freakin rubber raft.

Its going to be awesome! Chaos!

[musical_soul]

3. Either two or three things will happen.

1) President Obama backs down because he's the President and doesn't want the blame.

2) Congress Republicans back down not wanting the blame.

3) We'll go over the fiscal cliff. weeeeeeeeeeeee!

We survived before Bush tax cuts. We'll survive after.

[ProSense]

4. The American people will blame Republicans. Why?

Besides polls showing that to be the case, the President made a very high-profile and sensible proposal (http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021914963). He also supports the already passed Senate bill.

Boehner has three choices:

1) Accept the President's proposal with "dividends to be taxed as ordinary income" and the "estate tax to be levied at 45 percent on inheritances over $3.5 million."

2) Pass the Senate bill, "which currently taxes inheritances over $5 million at 35 percent," but excludes Obama's dividend proposal.

3) Go over the cliff when "the estate tax is scheduled to rise to 55 percent beginning with inheritances exceeding $1 million."

In each case, the tax cuts for the rich end.