Democracy for America
Related: About this forumHoward Dean is Right on the Fiscal Cliff
Posted on November 29, 2012
Howard Dean: Going Off Fiscal Cliff The "Best Deal Progressive Democrats Are Going To Get"
HOWARD DEAN: I make the argument that going off the -- as you call it the curb, I call it the slope, the press calls it the cliff, is actually the best deal progressive Democrats are going to get. And here's why. One, we get the Clinton tax rates on everybody. Will it cause a problem? Yes. There will be a short recession, and it will be painful. But two, we get defense cuts. Republicans are never going to agree to that. And three, there are some human services cuts, which we're not going to like. But it's the least possible damage.
Now what do we get in exchange? A serious down payment of the deficit. The Wall Street people, who wringing their hands of this, are really full of it because what they're going to see is a big drop on Wall Street while all the hype comes and then it's going to be roaring back because finally somebody has done something serious about the deficit.
So, I think the fiscal curb, as you call it, is the best deal that progressive Democrats are going to get. And I think it's the best deal in the long run, not the short run.
Video at RealClearPolitics
Doctor_J
(36,392 posts)Sadly no one, especially the president, ever listens to them
Rec
ellisonz
(27,759 posts)...Obama needs to stop playing footsie with these bastards.
Doctor_J
(36,392 posts)I think his ideology is closer to Boner than it is to Dean & Sanders & Grayson. He's pretty much A Reaganite at heart. If I were those people I would say, "we and our constituents are not getting any support from the president, and until he starts siding with us instead of the Republicans, he can try to pass laws with them instead of us".
ellisonz
(27,759 posts)...but I do doubt his political advisers. We're going over the cliff. It's just a question of who comes out on top.
Faryn Balyncd
(5,125 posts)yourout
(8,128 posts)russspeakeasy
(6,539 posts)ellisonz
(27,759 posts)Also: Go Packers.