What did we accomplish with last night's vote?

[kentuck]

We saved unemployment insurance for another year. We cut taxes on families making less than $450K per year. We eased the concerns of the stock market. We paid doctors that service Medicare patients. We raised taxes on the very wealthiest people in America. Those are no small accomplishments.

Then, they voted to move the sequestration vote a couple of months down the road. The cuts for defense and other necessary programs will be back on the burner in two months. How do we resolve those issues?

Also, the debt limit vote is coming up again about the same time. Republicans have been warned not to mess with the debt limit because the last time they did, our credit rating was taken down and the stock market reacted very negatively. Will they try it again?

What will they ask for in return for a vote on the debt limit? Since last night's vote will add about $4 trillion more dollars to our debt, it is likely they will ask for $4 trillion dollars in cuts to offset last night's neglect? Where will we be in 2 months? Will we be in a better situation or back at square one? What have we really accomplished and how long must we put up with these games?

[Buzz Clik]

1. Two more months for the obsessive at DU to speculate and be concerned.

Sounds like heaven.

[liberal N proud]

2. It is the DU we all love.

Every time there is a big issue, we eat it up regurgitate it and eat it again. It is completely predictable.

[Buzz Clik]

6. The perfect metaphor.

Graphic, but perfect.

[kentuck]

4. So everything has been fixed?

And there is nothing to be concerned about? Where did you buy your rose-colored glasses??

[Buzz Clik]

5. Yeah, that's what I said. Everything has been fixed.

[reformist2]

3. We can't let this "deal" be the end of talk about tax increases. We need taxes on property, wealth.

[Chan790]

7. More than is immediately evident...

if you watched the speeches (I admit my nerdiness.) there was a recurring theme of the Democrats addressing the House...it basically went "Oh no, these tax-rates are not permanent...they're negotiable to increasing again down the road. Entitlements will never be on the table. Your sacred cows will be part of any spending cuts. Any solution to the deficit will be bipartisan."

Combine that with the whisper that the WH will not play ball on the debt-ceiling...the House can raise it or they can default. We're not moving off demands for a "clean" raise. If the economy tanks because of the GOP, they're going to own it.

It's parlor-shooting. The President keeps setting up the GOP to look bad on budgetary issues, knocking them down and saving the day...it'll continue until 2014 when they lose seats en-masse between the ire of conservatives pissed they can't achieve their agenda and the outpouring of pissed-at-conservative moderates watching the GOP attempt to hold America hostage for years. I admit...I have not always been a fan of this president...but he's got the GOP over a barrel: it's "capitulate or die" time for conservatives over and over and over. Obama's setting the stage for big off-year turnout by creating anger...and all that anger faces the GOP.