The Fiscal Commission Failed ...

[babylonsister]

http://www.prospect.org/csnc/blogs/tapped_archive?month=12&year=2010&base_name=the_fiscal_commission_failed

The Fiscal Commission Failed ...

... and I can tell you that before reading the final report, officially released at 9:30 this morning. Why? The members of the commission released their plan today, but are going to vote on its recommendations Friday -- meaning that the whole report is now one big trial balloon. Remember that the point of the fiscal commission was to isolate the budget-making process, allowing the members to agree on a grand bargain and bring the tablets down from the mountain, so to speak. By floating the report before the vote, however, they've simply injected politics back into the process, making it even more unlikely they'll agree to its recommendations after a few days of everyone treating their final document like a piñata.

Whether you agree with the commission's report or not, the idea was to bring together experienced people who could set aside their differences and come forward with a grand bargain, and it seems clear that they were unable to do that. Which is, ultimately, to be expected: You can't take the politics out of politics. This report has produced some good ideas (and some bad ones) and it will be up to the creaky mechanisms of government and the elected officials who inhabit them to actually enact a sustainable budget.

-- Tim Fernholz

[displacedvermoter]

1. Does that mean Obama has succeeded or failed?

Did he succeed in appointing anti-SS people so they could show how crazy they were and therefore scuttle an attack on SS?
Or did he fail because his commission failed to deal with the deficit which he considers our most critical problem?

When trying to understand the thought processes of a multi-dimensional chess master, it is hard for us normal folks to grasp things!

[ProSense]

2. The President appointed

six people to an 18-member commission. They need 14 votes, and as it stands right now, they don't have them.

[displacedvermoter]

3. So I am guessing you don't consider this a success or

you would be adding it to the list of accomplishments, correct?

[ProSense]

5. Yes,

he succeeded in making Alan Simpson look like a complete fool.

On edit: He also succeeded in creating a mass revolt at the idea of cutting Social Security.

[avaistheone1]

6. Per the article you posted this am, they are close to having the votes to pass this.

People close to the commission told National Journal that at least 10 of the panel’s 18 members support the plan. Under the panel’s charter, any recommendation to Congress needs the support of at least 14 members. But that threshold has always been viewed as unrealistic, given the intense party polarization in Congress. Current House and Senate lawmakers make up 12 of the panel’s members.

http://www.nationaljournal.com/member/budget/deficit-commission-s-final-plan-released-20101201?page=2

[jwirr]

7. That means he might just have to make some decisions on things

like this himself instead of always asking a commission or congress to do the dirty work. He needs to get involved as a leader.

About ten years ago I saw a bumper sticker I thought was great "There they go, I got to go because I am their leader" That may not have been the exact words but it was referring to the idea that the guy was a follower not a leader.

[midnight]

4. "Deficit commission’s co-chairs to violate the commission’s charter."

"The Washington Post, which long ago abandoned rules of journalistic objectivity in pushing its agenda for cutting Social Security and Medicare, today covered up the plans by deficit commission’s co-chairs to violate the commission’s charter. The Post reported that the commission expects to delay voting on a plan until December 3. This means that the commission will miss the December 1 deadline for a final report specified in both its by-laws and its charter.

If the Post were not so committed to Bowles and Simpson’s agenda then it would have called readers attention to the fact that they are violating the rules under which the commission was established. Of course, if it were following standard journalistic practices, the Post would have pointed out that the deficit increased not because of out of control spending, as the co-chairs have repeatedly claimed, but primarily due to the downturn caused by the collapse of the housing bubble."http://firedoglake.com/

The war on the middle class is being fought with lies..... and repeated bailouts for the elite.