Krugman: "It’s time for Democrats to take a stand, and say no to G.O.P. blackmail."

[ProSense]

The Tax-Cut Racket

By PAUL KRUGMAN

“Nice middle class you got here,” said Mitch McConnell, the Senate minority leader. “It would be a shame if something happened to it.”

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How did we get to this point? The proximate answer lies in the tactics the Bush administration used to push through tax cuts. The deeper answer lies in the radicalization of the Republican Party, its transformation into a movement willing to put the economy and the nation at risk for the sake of partisan victory.

So, about those tax cuts: back in 2001, the Bush administration bundled huge tax cuts for wealthy Americans with much smaller tax cuts for the middle class, then pretended that it was mainly offering tax breaks to ordinary families. Meanwhile, it circumvented Senate rules intended to prevent irresponsible fiscal actions — rules that would have forced it to find spending cuts to offset its $1.3 trillion tax cut — by putting an expiration date of Dec. 31, 2010, on the whole bill. And the witching hour is now upon us. If Congress doesn’t act, the Bush tax cuts will turn into a pumpkin at the end of this year, with tax rates reverting to Clinton-era levels.

In response, President Obama is proposing legislation that would keep tax rates essentially unchanged for 98 percent of Americans but allow rates on the richest 2 percent to rise. But Republicans are threatening to block that legislation, effectively raising taxes on the middle class, unless they get tax breaks for their wealthy friends.

That’s an extraordinary step. Almost everyone agrees that raising taxes on the middle class in the middle of an economic slump is a bad idea, unless the effects are offset by other job-creation programs — and Republicans are blocking those, too. So the G.O.P. is, in effect, threatening to plunge the U.S. economy back into recession unless Democrats pay up.

What kind of political party would engage in that kind of brinksmanship? The answer is the same kind of party that shut down the federal government in 1995 in an attempt to force President Bill Clinton to accept steep cuts in Medicare, and is actively discussing doing the same to Mr. Obama. So, as I said, the deeper explanation of the tax-cut fight is that it’s ultimately about a radicalized Republican Party, which accepts no limits on partisanship.

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It’s time for Democrats to take a stand, and say no to G.O.P. blackmail.

[golddigger]

1. It's hard to stand when you have no spine.

[Phx_Dem]

10. If you think Dems are so bad, why are you here? Just to complain about them?

[TBF]

2. Krugman is right. nt

[Beetwasher]

3. Impeccably Nailed

"But what’s even more important is the principle of the thing. Threats to punish innocent bystanders unless your political rivals give you what you want have no legitimate place in democratic politics. Giving in to such threats would be an economic and political mistake, but more important, it would be morally wrong — and it would encourage more such threats in the future."

Damn right Mr. Krugman. Damn right.

[bluestateguy]

4. Are you willing to let your taxcut expire to ensure the taxcuts for the rich also go away?

I am, but that's just me, and I suspect I am in the minority on that opinion.

[phleshdef]

5. I don't want my tax cut to expire, but it won't kill me. I'll still live about the same.

And between me and my wife, thats a little over 60,000 a year. We aren't rich by any means. But considering that we would do just fine if our taxes went up a little shows just how ludicrous the idea is that having it go up for the wealthy will harm them at all.

[flamingdem]

6. Yes! I'd rather lose a little to see the end to their gravy train nt

[harun]

7. I am willing.

[Kdillard]

8. More than willing.

[Hello_Kitty]

9. You are but it's a sizable minority. 37% want all the tax cuts to expire IIRC. eom

[gristy]

11. Yes

Next question?

[gkhouston]

12. Hell, yes. n/t

[Parker CA]

13. Hell YES!