Krugman's Perspective on the Deal

[MessiahRp]

90. I've seen a number of people who attack Sanders at every turn, bandy his name about today

As a way to say, see your hero who spoke against this voted for the plan, attack him now. It's definitely an attempt to bait liberals into conflict.

Here's my view on the deal. There's not nearly enough revenue raised in it and really it works as a 2 month rental rather than an end-all bill because if you think Republicans give a fuck about defaulting on the debt, you have another thing coming. Some media will definitely rush to their aid and try to convince Americans that the crippling of American Financial Institutions is a good thing or that we should turn our blame on Obama's spending for why we even need to raise the debt ceiling at all (this WORKED last time and even though the GOP's petulant whining made our credit rating fall, they pinned that to Obama successfully during this last election cycle).

I know we think we can play chicken with them in February, but chicken works only if the other side is rational enough to care about the vehicle coming at them from the other side. I'm not sure this group cares. Worse I'm not sure most Americans are educated enough to understand how the debt ceiling works and will pin it on Obama and Dems, which will hurt in 2014.

There are positives in the new deal. Middle Class Tax Extensions, EIC is saved, UE benefits extended, though Robert Reich was right to call out the hypocrisy of the tax extensions for the poor/middle class only getting a 5 year reprieve while tax cuts for the rich are permanent. I don't like that the uber-rich get to skate on Capital Gains which is where most of their income is derived. $400,000-450,000 is really too low (I wish I was in that supposed "Middle Class" bracket) but I can accept it as part of the compromise.

I'm not 100% against the deal. The more I think about it, the more I think going over the cliff and then bringing back Middle Class Tax Cuts, EIC, UE Benefits, Military Spending, Pell Grant Funding as an individual bill for an up or down vote would have killed Republicans because they would have basically had to tell their constituents, "Sorry I don't give a fuck about you. Only my rich friends" to their faces basically. But even there, would they care about that? Redistricting has made them very safe and comfortable in their crazy.