After billions of dollars in campaign ads and rallies across the nation, the voters of the United States chose to reinstall the same president and congressional leadership that had presided over two fractious and difficult years. For Barack Obama, who had to face an electorate bruised by a slow-recovering economy, re-election is a personal triumph, a show of faith in his leadership under conditions that would have defeated many incumbent presidents.
But this was a status quo election in result only. With both presidential candidates and many victorious congressional candidates expressing a desire for bipartisan solutions, the message from the ballot box was clear: Obama and Congress need to work together, immediately, to avoid the upcoming “fiscal cliff” involving the expiration of the Bush tax cuts and automatic spending cuts to defense and other important programs.
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No need to rush any bargain with members of the Tea-Party Congress. This country needs to protect all of it's social services. The "grand bargain was a bad idea yesterday, and it's a bad idea today. President Barack Obama needs only to survey the situation and enjoy the day; he earned it. Congratulations President Barack Obama.
Do you really think we can afford all of our services on the estimated trajectory w/out fixes?
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Obama's ceaseless attempts to compromise with and/or accomadate to the GOP gained him exactly no traction with Republicans and deservedly cost him support among liberals. This so called grand bargain would only more of an approach that never worked in the first place.
There is no evidence that the majority of voters do not want tax increases on the wealthy. There is a raft of polling evidence that the American do want exactly this. But beyond the polling evidence, the fact remains that the only way this economy will be fixed in the long run is to stop having a tax system that favors profits from financial finagling over investing in useful products and services. In the present circumstances when the private sector is still deleveraging from too much private debt, there is not enough demand to invest in more private sector goods and services. So it is kind of pointless to pump liquidity into the economy for the private sector to invest, when it would be absolutely foolish for the private sector to invest in things the free market says it cannot buy right now. All these factors say that the only workable road to recovery is increased taxes on the wealthy and more investment in public goods. If neither the Republicans nor the President understand this, then any grand bargain they achieve will be bad for the country.
There is no evidence that the majority of voters do not want tax increases on the wealthy. There is a raft of polling evidence that the American do want exactly this. ....................................................................................But beyond the polling evidence, the fact remains that the only way this economy will be fixed in the long run is to stop having a tax system that favors profits from financial finagling over investing in useful products and services.......................................................................... In the present circumstances when the private sector is still deleveraging from too much private debt, there is not enough demand to invest in more private sector goods and services. So it is kind of pointless to pump liquidity into the economy for the private sector to invest, when it would be absolutely foolish for the private sector to invest in things the free market says it cannot buy right now............................................................................... All these factors say that the only workable road to recovery is increased taxes on the wealthy and more investment in public goods. If neither the Republicans nor the President understand this, then any grand bargain they achieve will be bad for the country.