The Progressive Option - Democratic Underground

kentuck

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Sun Dec-12-10 01:28 PM
Original message

The Progressive Option

Democrats are split on the President's proposal to extend the Bush taxcuts. However, most agree that there is no good solution. It does not pass the smell test.

But, the progressives need to offer an alternative option to the President's proposal. At the present time, they control the White House, the Senate, and the House. They are not without the power to do something productive if they so desire. They don't have to go along with the Republican taxcuts for the rich.

The middle-class taxcuts seems to be the bargaining issue most Democrats are loathe to give up. But it is something that must be considered. We are living in a time they are calling the "Great Recession" and no one is asked to sacrifice. We'll continue on the same path and kick the can down the road.

Former Governor Howard Dean is right. On CBS's Face the Nation, he says that ""This is a short-term Washington fix... It does nothing about this biggest long-term threat to America, which is the deficit. I don't hear Republicans or Democrats talking about the deficit. There is no pain in this agreement. This is the easy way out for everybody, much as everybody is complaining, hooting and hollering, this is an inside-the-beltway fuss and somebody needs to do something about the long-term problems to this country. It is not in this bill." And he is right. And most Democrats know it.

What should be done?

Democrats do not want the middle-class to take the hit from losing the middle-class tax cuts. But it must be done. For the long-term benefit of our country and the middle-class, we must find a way to let these destructive Bush taxcuts expire. The White House knows this is a terrible plan. They simply have no more ideas. They want to protect the recovery, if there is one?

And they believe the economy will have recovered enough to let the taxcuts expire in two years. Of course, if the economy is better, the Republican argument will be that we cannot raise taxes at this time and threaten the recovery. We know that. It is a losing position from the get go.

What can we do?

We should let the middle-class taxcuts expire incrementally in a three-year period. That would be much less painful than going cold turkey. The taxcuts for the wealthy should be allowed to expire immediately. But that is not all that we should do.

The President has the bully pulpit and the ability to jawbone the ideas he wants the American people to hear, if he wants that to happen. He should use it. He should put pressure on employers to give back some of the profits they have made in the last few years to their employees. Many are sitting on huge mountains of cash, most gained from the productivity of their workers. They could easily make up what is lost in middle class taxcuts by giving long overdue raises to their employees.

This should be the progressive argument. We should put heat on employers and the wealthy to step up and sacrifice like all other Americans. Every employee in America should hear the President and the Democrats say these things. Employers do not like unhappy employees. We are not totally unarmed in this battle. We simply need to use the weapons at our disposal.