But if the Democrats have the better political strategy here, it’s not clear they have the better bargaining strategy. Republicans have committed themselves to a series of ideas that are very far to the right. They have made their position no tax increases, of any type, under any circumstances, at any time. They have voted to privatize Medicare and block-grant Medicaid. At this point, simply cutting deep into entitlements and agreeing to a deal in which there’s $1 of revenue for every $6 of spending cuts would be considered a compromise on their part.
Democrats, conversely, aren’t anchored to any specific proposal, have agreed that there should be many more spending cuts than tax increases, and are concerned that Republicans might actually let the debt ceiling cave in, and so they’re likely to get dragged into a deal that’s much further to the right than anything any of them would’ve imagined a year ago. They may win the election in 2012, but only after they lose the budget in 2011.
So it looks like we're really and truly about to be screwed again, because when the Democrats lose the budget battle, hundreds of thousands of Americans become poorer. Govrnment spending is the only thing keeping our economy limping along right now. Manufacturing has fled overseas, the farmers are flooded out of their fields, retail stores aren't selling much 'cause no one has any disposable income, though I suppose beer is selling well...
--Trakker
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