When the going gets tough — and let’s face it, the economic going is still tough — the White House reverts to its favorite default position these days — blaming the Republicans.
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office released a dismal but not unexpected summer report yesterday confirming that if Congress allows decade-old tax cuts to expire at the end of the year and sweeping spending cuts to occur that “would lead to economic conditions in 2013 that will probably be considered a recession.”
CBO Director Douglas Elmendorf predicted such a scenario would trigger an unemployment rate of 9 percent and the loss of 2 million jobs. “I think the stakes of fiscal policy are very high right now,” he added.
Serious problems ought to trigger a serious response — but not with a mere 75 days left to the presidential election.
So White House spokesman Jay Carney responded with the usual blather about Washington Republicans:
“They’re willing to hold the middle class hostage unless we also give massive new tax cuts to millionaires and billionaires — tax cuts we can’t afford that would do nothing to strengthen the economy.”
Carney — like his boss — never lets the truth get in the way of a good quote.
There are no “massive new tax cuts” under discussion for anyone. The dispute is all about extending tax cuts that have been in place for a decade. And those “millionaires and billionaires?” Well, President Barack Obama redefines those folks as anyone making over $200,000 ($250,000 for a couple), which would impact countless small businesses.
Increasing the taxes on higher income earners would bring in an extra $42 billion. Yep, that’s what the White House is fighting for — all the while supporting programs that have given this nation its fourth straight year of $1 trillion deficits (2012 hit $1.1 trillion). So who’s kidding who here?
Serious economic times demand serious economic solutions and this White House has abandoned any pretense of leadership in favor of its class warfare mantra.
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office released a dismal but not unexpected summer report yesterday confirming that if Congress allows decade-old tax cuts to expire at the end of the year and sweeping spending cuts to occur that “would lead to economic conditions in 2013 that will probably be considered a recession.”
CBO Director Douglas Elmendorf predicted such a scenario would trigger an unemployment rate of 9 percent and the loss of 2 million jobs. “I think the stakes of fiscal policy are very high right now,” he added.
Serious problems ought to trigger a serious response — but not with a mere 75 days left to the presidential election.
So White House spokesman Jay Carney responded with the usual blather about Washington Republicans:
“They’re willing to hold the middle class hostage unless we also give massive new tax cuts to millionaires and billionaires — tax cuts we can’t afford that would do nothing to strengthen the economy.”
Carney — like his boss — never lets the truth get in the way of a good quote.
There are no “massive new tax cuts” under discussion for anyone. The dispute is all about extending tax cuts that have been in place for a decade. And those “millionaires and billionaires?” Well, President Barack Obama redefines those folks as anyone making over $200,000 ($250,000 for a couple), which would impact countless small businesses.
Increasing the taxes on higher income earners would bring in an extra $42 billion. Yep, that’s what the White House is fighting for — all the while supporting programs that have given this nation its fourth straight year of $1 trillion deficits (2012 hit $1.1 trillion). So who’s kidding who here?
Serious economic times demand serious economic solutions and this White House has abandoned any pretense of leadership in favor of its class warfare mantra.