let them eat chit
the trap is set will the right take the bait:
President Obama is cutting his Christmas holiday short, returning to Washington for a last attempt at avoiding the fiscal cliff. But he's running headlong into the Republican strategy of fanaticism.
It's a long-established principle of game theory (see Thomas Schelling's classic 1956 essay in the American Economic Review) that a fanatic who restricts his freedom to avert a disaster puts maximum pressure on his opponent to give ground.
In a game of highway chicken, for example, the driver that can't swerve because he's tied his hands to the steering wheel and chained his foot to the accelerator forces the other to swerve in order to avoid crashing.
The trick is for the first driver to convince the second that he's crazy enough to have committed himself to instant death if the second doesn't act rationally.
House Speaker John Boehner's failure to persuade rank-and-file House Republicans to raise taxes even on millionaires fits the fanatic's strategy exactly. Boehner can now credibly claim he has no choice in the matter -- Republican fanatics in the House have tied his hands and manacled his feet -- so the only way to avoid going over the cliff is for Obama and the Democrats to make more concessions.
The White House's hope of getting the Senate to pass legislation that raises taxes on the wealthy in order to pressure Boehner won't work because the legislation can't possibly get through the House. That's the point: Boehner has demonstrated he has no choice; the fanatics are in charge there.
Obama could decide going over the cliff isn't so bad after all -- as long as he and congressional Democrats introduce legislation early in 2013 that gives a tax cut to the middle class retroactively to January 1st (extending the Bush tax cut to the first $250,000 of income) and restores most spending -- and Republicans feel compelled to go along.
you bet your sweet arse !you betcha! the end of the fanatical right !
72% or the majority of the country know why we are in a mess=its the stupid fiscal thinking of the right! every president from the republican party fgrom nixion foward has buried the country in debt!
so please mr president deal from strength we the people back you!
