God the Republicans are a joke..

[beachmom]

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/ezra-klein/2011/01/wonkbook_rsc_details_100b_in_s.html#more

You should be watching for three different fights over the budget this year. The two that people are mostly expecting is the fight between Democrats and Republicans on cuts and the fight between Democrats and Republicans on funding the implementation of the health-care law. The one that hasn't gotten as much attention -- but that's actually likely to come first -- is the battle between the Tea Party wing of the Republican Party, which wants to cut the budget by $100 billion this year, and the more establishment-oriented members, who've set their sights substantially lower.


That fight kicked off yesterday when the Republican Study Committee -- which represents two-thirds of House Republicans, including almost 75 freshman -- brought out a package of cuts that'd slash $100 billion from non-defense discretionary spending and bring spending back to 2006 levels in the years after that. But reading their legislation, you can see why more experienced members of their party might balk: $30 billion in savings comes from immediately selling off Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which would potentially throw a weak housing market into total chaos. Another $16 billion comes from repealing the help the federal government is giving states to handle Medicaid costs, which would potentially send a couple of states that are already teetering on the edge of bankruptcy right over the cliff. Amtrak would lose pretty much its entire federal subsidy, as would the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the National Endowment for the Arts. Funding for high-speed rail is eliminated, and so too is more than $40 billion in stimulus funds, most of which are obligated to projects that have already begun.


For all that, this is a healthy document: It shows what very deep cuts in spending would actually look like. Democrats, I imagine, will be quite interested in debating it. Whether or not Republican leadership will be as enthusiastic remains to be seen.

SELL Fannie/Freddie???? Okay, the head of the Republican Study Committee is MY Congressman, and he really is out of touch with his constituents if he thinks allowing our housing property values to plummet out of control is a good idea! In a way it's like the bailout. Everyone IN THEORY is against it, but press them for what life would have been like without it and they have little to say. Yeah, we can go back 30 years and think maybe we shouldn't have done Fannie/Freddie, but in 2011, it is the status quo that is keeping housing even marginally afloat. To kill it so stupidly on "Tea Party Principle" is political suicide. Which means it is a joke. They are playing chicken with our LIVES here.

Oh, and killing high speed rail. Yup, let's keep the country in the dark ages falling further and further behind China. Another BRILLIANT idea.

[Blaukraut]

1. They aren't even trying to hide their loyalties anymore

Any government spending that is not going to private entities must be cut, apparently. Privatize everything, kill any regulation that might hurt corporations' profit margins. It's only a matter of time before they propose privatizing of government itself. Either they truly believe that free market, no regulations, and small government with little to no taxes is a successful strategy - in which case they have no capacity for logical thinking and foresight. Or, what is even scarier: They know damn well that their approach will destroy government and democracy and that is exactly what they want to happen.

[karynnj]

3. What is dumb is that unless they are multinational companies

doing little in the US, the crumbling infrastructure will hurt their efficiency and ultimately their profit margin.

[karynnj]

2. wow - all to avoid paying more taxes

What is really really stupid is that a good case could be made that all the rich lose in higher taxes will be made up by a healthier economy benefiting their stocks within less than a decade.

I think this is the kind of logic that the phrase penny wise pound foolish was created for - except it isn't even penny wise.

[ladym55]

4. And yet they LOVE government money for themselves

A grand total of these fine Republican Representatives turned down their publicly funded health insurance ... that terrible thing they don't want any of the rest of us to have.

They LOVE public money to fund their stadiums and building projects ... as long as they get all the profits and the people's money is used for all the risks. That's the way it's been in Ohio for years.

They are happy to have public jobs for themselves and their buddies. The new governor of Ohio in his efforts to "save money" hired his buddies for $$$$ because you have to "pay for talent." Teachers, firefighters, and other public employees are all on notice that their gravy train is over, however. Bunch of lazy bums! :sarcasm:

Ohio and Wisconsin jumped immediately to dump high-speed rail after the election. I forget how many jobs and how many millions of dollars Kasich and Walker cost their vulnerable states before they even took the "oath" of office. But not to worry ... Kasich didn't want the press at his swearing in ... didn't want reporters "seeing what people were eating." And, hey, he only spent $607,000 of the $1.6 million he collected from his corporate pals to fund his inauguration.

See all these fine Rethuglicans and Tea Partiers LOVE money ... for themselves ... and love using public money ... for their personal profit.

And it is all very, very short-sighted. As JK pointed out in the speech to the Center for American Progress the media "forgot" to cover, we desperately NEED to use public money to invest in our infrastructure.

[MBS]

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