I just realized that Obama's American Jobs Act is not meant to stimulate the economy or create jobs.
It's meant to force Republicans to kill a popular jobs package, which they did last week. But as Harry Reid hacks off individual provisions of the dead bill to submit to additional votes, it's obvious the Democrats are intent on forcing Republicans to slay the zombie bill's reanimated limbs as well. These votes will be damaging for Republicans, since most of the stand-alone elements of the Act are polling pretty well, and the White House has spent weeks drumming up further public support for them. And if the political pressure cracks Republican unity enough to get something like a payroll tax extension passed, then that will be nice bonus.
Make no mistake: this thing is a reelection strategy.
Monday, October 17, 2011
Thursday, October 6, 2011
The Difference (between Democrats and Republicans)
Been really down about the state of politics/the economy/the world so I haven't been able to find the motivation to write about anything. For some time now I've been telling myself that a Romney presidency really won't be all that bad, an attitude that is totally contrary to my normal partisan cheerleading. But I may or may not have finally resigned myself to the recognition that Obama is incapable of doing anything to resuscitate the job market, which is the only thing I really care about at the moment.
In fact, I've come to believe that for middle class families like mine, Democrats and Republicans really aren't that different. They both profess to worry about our decline. Neither of them will touch our homeowners' tax credits. The difference between the parties is at the margins: the poor and the rich. And I don't need to say whom I think will cut the poor loose and enact additional tax cuts for the super wealthy and whom I think will defend social safety nets and worry about the Gini coefficient in this country.
However, I'm not at either margin. If populist poor folks decide to throw their lot in with Republicans next election and get trampled, more power to them. I'd be disappointed for the country because what the Republicans will do to the poor is tragic, but I honestly can't see Republicans affecting my personal financial situation any differently than Democrats, so why get upset if stupid people reap what they sow despite plenty of warnings not to?
In fact, I've come to believe that for middle class families like mine, Democrats and Republicans really aren't that different. They both profess to worry about our decline. Neither of them will touch our homeowners' tax credits. The difference between the parties is at the margins: the poor and the rich. And I don't need to say whom I think will cut the poor loose and enact additional tax cuts for the super wealthy and whom I think will defend social safety nets and worry about the Gini coefficient in this country.
However, I'm not at either margin. If populist poor folks decide to throw their lot in with Republicans next election and get trampled, more power to them. I'd be disappointed for the country because what the Republicans will do to the poor is tragic, but I honestly can't see Republicans affecting my personal financial situation any differently than Democrats, so why get upset if stupid people reap what they sow despite plenty of warnings not to?
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