GOP, Boehner At it Again: Debt Ceiling Chicken

       They had such a good time with it last Summer there at it again. Boehner is back to "drawing lines in the sand" vowing not to raise the debt limit again at the end of the year without spending cuts-he's again declared tax hikes off the table.

      "House Speaker John Boehner said Tuesday that any increase in the government's borrowing limit must be accompanied by spending cuts and other budget savings of greater value, and he rejected tax increases as part of any deal to reduce the federal deficit."

       "It is a line in the sand because Washington has kicked the can down the road, kicked the can down the road, kicked the can down the road, and the American people think we're crazy," Mr. Boehner, an Ohio Republican, said at a Washington event hosted by the Peter G. Peterson Foundation, a group that pushes for deficit reduction."

      http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304371504577405863180919668.html?mod=WSJ_WSJ_US_News_3

      No Congressman, the American people certainly think you and your Republican brethren in the House are crazy. But what sounds crazy is your love of this tired moth eaten sound bite about "kicking the can down the road." Hearing you say that again and again certainly makes you personally sound crazy. Hearing you say it so many times in a row, in one paragraph certainly makes you sound personally crazy.

       So more brinksmanship. More hostage taking and "My way or the highway" ultimatums. Is Congressman Boehner Angela Merkel's long lost brother? There is a lot on the table for the end of the year. The expiration of all the Bush tax cuts-not just for the wealthy-as well as automatic spending cuts to both discretionary domestic spending but also military spending. The GOP has shown how it's word is anything but its bond by recently voting in the House to cancel the military cuts.

      Because while they believe in fiscal rectitude that applies only to nonmilitary spending. By that measure the deficit is lower than reported anyway as a good portion of it is through military spending.

     No doubt a big part of what is finally done will be influenced by November's elections. My assumption is Obama will win but the question is whether he has any coattails. It is widely believed that his coattails depends in part by margin of victory.

    At this point I think you have to call the GOP's bluff. In many ways you can argue simply letting the planned spending cuts happen is worth it as at the same time the same amount of military spending cuts are due and yes the Bush tax cuts are set to expire.

   Let them expire if the GOP won't play ball. I for one never liked them anyway. Yes some tax credits would decrease and tax rates would go up for the nonrich as well. But nobody can deny that we didn't all live a lot better during the Clinton era with the higher tax rates.

   Let's end this fiscal anorexia imposed by the GOP. Is allowing all the tax cuts to expire my first choice? No, but it's not a bad second choice. It would singlehandedly end all this deficit talk and restore the capital gains tax, the dividends tax, and the inheritance tax to their Clinton ear levels. If the GOP in typical overreach thinks they can hold us hostage lets call them on it and see if they can deal with that.