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<\/a>"Let me just take this from you... yeah, that would be great."<\/p><\/div>\n
First off, we had a crushing majority in the House, and a bare minority in the Senate. \u00a0That was real power, which we fumbled when we had it, and now it\u2019s gone. \u00a0Every meaningful action will be hostage to this miserable deficit cabal, so we now have no practical advantage in the House for matters outside the deficit.<\/p>\n
Second, the mandate of the deficit cabal will be continually expanded in a spectacle of mission creep the likes of which we have not seen since \u201cTo train Vietnamese soldiers\u201d became \u201cBomb Laos\u201d.<\/p>\n
Third, the issues within the cabal\u2019s grip will be driven toward expansions, not reductions, of government spending so long as there are increasing taxes and nonsensical \u201cefficiencies\u201d (example: your replacement hip in thirty years) to balance the overcooked books.<\/p>\n
Fourth, we gave up our fight for Cut, Cap, and Balance (CCB) by punting to the week after this cabal\u2019s homework is due. \u00a0Understand that nothing is contingent upon the CCB passing\u2013there is only a requirement to vote on it. \u00a0If it does not happen, there are no consequences, and if it does not pass, there are of course still no consequences.<\/p>\n
[pullquote]why are Social Security and Medicare off the table? \u00a0After all, those are the problem[\/pullquote]Fifth, the trigger cuts (the \u201cor else\u201d portion of “reduce the deficit or else”) are divided into \u201cdefense and non-defense\u201d spending. Beyond that, why are Social Security and Medicare off the table? \u00a0After all, those are the problem and defense spending is not. \u00a0Entitlement spending such as Social Security and Medicare should absolutely be on the table! \u00a0Defense spending is a Constitutional duty of the Federal government (States cannot do it) while Social Security is not (States could do it just as poorly as the Feds). \u00a0Why not divide the cuts into Social program spending and non-Social program spending? \u00a0Or better yet, why not keep defense off the table and let them argue about the rest? \u00a0But no, after Gates trimmed hundreds of billions from Defense, here come the maggots to chew the military\u2019s guts out.<\/p>\n
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<\/a>Robbery at any price.<\/p><\/div>\n
Sixth, the meetings which matter will be hidden from the public. \u00a0Congress took the unprecedented dual steps of forming a committee to handle this and then gave that committee the Russian-roulette power to bypass both the amendment and the filibuster mechanism. \u00a0Congress has thereby taken the dirty work of yet again screwing us and shuffled it off to a subsidiary to soak up the blame. \u00a0The way this will work is that the committee will say they were doing what they had to in order to comply with the law enacted by the larger Congress. \u00a0Congress will say that their hands are tied by the prohibitions against amendments and filibusters. \u00a0The President of course has only the choice of signing or not signing (vetoing) any bill. \u00a0Once this thing gets rolling, the American people have nobody to blame for the disaster to come.<\/p>\n
And that\u2019s the trap. \u00a0Because this is essentially a blame-free innovation, every unpopular political temptation will be squeezed into the mandate of this pocket Congress. \u00a0What would normally have been thrashed out in public will be arranged in secret. \u00a0What cannot be kept secret will be blame-shifted. \u00a0What cannot be shifted will be used as weapons against the public by a President and Congress seeking shelter from a mounting fury.<\/p>\n
[pullquote]it does not make them autonomous–it means they work for the President[\/pullquote]Finally, the assignment of twelve Congressmen to a committee which is not subject to filibuster or amendment does not make them autonomous–it means they work for the President, whose veto is the last identifiable challenge to their edicts. \u00a0Congress still has to vote on what they say, but with the process so alien to its normal form, the President is the real power now.<\/p>\n
Supercommittee: n. A Congress small enough for a President to carry around in his purse.<\/em><\/p>\n [This is a substantial edit of the Supercommittee portion of an earlier pos<\/a>t, describing the Jobs Bill trap which uses the SuperCommittee as laid out here.]<\/em><\/p>\n The SuperCommittee is such an awful punt that it should infuriate not only the Tea Party, but independents and democrats as well. Anybody but the permanent Washington DC bloodsucking class. It is a model of bureaucratic ass-covering and foot-dragging, and it replaces the voters with the President as their most effective driver.<\/p>\n [pullquote]this backscratching society which will operate in secret[\/pullquote]We charged into the House, and promptly squandered a huge head of steam with shenanigans over the Continuing Resolutions. Not to worry, we were told, the debt limit fight is where we will really get them! Then we gave up the debt limit fight, and in the process threw away our numerical advantage in the House. All we have left to show for it is this backscratching society which … Continue reading