Are Democrats Negotiating A Monumentally Stupid Deficit Deal?

[Better Believe It]

Are Democrats Negotiating A Monumentally Stupid Deficit Deal?
By Jonathan Chait
Senior Editor, New Republic
February 17, 2011

Jonathan Weisman has a great story today breaking the outlines of the bipartisan deficit agreement being discussed behind closed doors. We can't draw too many conclusions from the report because the agreement is in flux, and its translation via Weisman is probably imprecise. Those caveats aside, this looks like Democrats are giving the game away on the revenue side:

The Senate group's working plan calls for placing separate caps on security and nonsecurity spending, and missing a budget target in one area would not trigger mandatory cuts in the other. The spending targets would follow proposals laid out by the deficit commission, which recommended cutting discretionary spending by $1.7 trillion through 2020. Lawmakers on the spending committees would draft legislation to meet the targets. But if they were not met, automatic, across-the-board cuts would go into effect.

The tax-writing committees would be given two years to overhaul both the individual and corporate tax codes, with general instructions to close tax breaks and minimize or eliminate tax deductions while lowering tax rates. The committees would be given a target for additional revenues to be raised by the new code. The deficit commission's version of tax reform would net $180 billion in additional revenues over 10 years.

This is actually hard to believe. According to this story, the deal calls for nearly ten times as much spending cuts ($1.7 trillion) as higher revenue ($180 billion.) Do you know how little $180 billion over ten years is? It's essentially nothing. It's one-quarter as much as the cost of extending the Bush tax cuts only on income over $250,000.

Read the full article at:

http://www.tnr.com/blog/jonathan-chait/83684/are-democrats-negotiating-monumentally-stupid-deficit-deal

[sasha031]

1. it doesn't stop does it

:-(

[snappyturtle]

2. What is it about tax cuts to the rich that Congress doesn't get? nt

[xxqqqzme]

3. Is the OP title a

rhetorical question?

[katnapped]

5. Exactly my thought

I mean isn't it a given?

[Marblehead]

4. if we could just find

the money the pentagon lost, we'd be golden..

[MadHound]

6. And the hits just keep coming,

Don't know how much more I can take though.