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   XPost: soc.culture.usa, alt.politics.socialism, soc.rights.human   
   XPost: alt.activism.noise.pollution   
   From: johnnyasia2013@yahoo.com   
      
   So, Who Won The Fiscal Cliff Battle?  Hint: It Wasn't The   
   DemoCRETINs   
   CNBC: How the Republicans Are Winning the DC Fiscal Battle   
      
   To listen to the moaning of some Republicans in the House of   
   Representatives, you could be forgiven for thinking that the   
   Republicans are losing the fiscal battle in Washington.   
      
   Actually, they're winning.   
      
   To see this, you just need to step back and look at the tax deal and   
   the country's fiscal trends from a broader perspective.   
      
   Yesterday, the government voted to extend almost all of the Bush Tax   
   Cuts permanently.   
      
   Not temporarily, as a stimulus measure.   
      
   Permanently.   
      
   More from Daily Ticker: 'Cliff' Avoided, but Trifecta of Fiscal   
   Debates Looms   
      
   Ever since the Bush Tax Cuts were first enacted in 2001, one goal of   
   the Republican party has been to "make the Bush Tax Cuts permanent."   
      
   For most of the last decade, this goal has seemed like an extremist   
   view: Making the Bush Tax Cuts permanent would drastically reduce the   
   federal government's revenue. It would also increase inequality and   
   balloon the national debt and deficit--so how could we possibly   
   justify doing that?   
      
   And yet now, suddenly, almost all of the Bush Tax Cuts are permanent.   
      
   And the definition of "rich" in America has been significantly   
   increased: The only Americans subject to a minor increase in income   
   taxes will be households making more than $450,000 a year.   
      
   The Republicans also got another good deal for America's investor and   
   owner class, making the Bush dividend tax cut permanent. This saves a   
   lot of money in tax bills for America's wealthier investors.   
      
   And the tax deal even socked it to the working class.   
      
   How?   
      
   By not extending the payroll tax cut.   
      
   This payroll tax cut added an extra $2,000 a year in the pockets of   
   everyone who works for their money. The payroll tax hits everyone who   
   earns wages, including the richest Americans, but it's a highly   
   "regressive" tax: It takes a much bigger percentage of the income of   
   those who earn less than $110,000 a year than it does from the richest   
   Americans.   
      
   So the Republicans have won a battle there, too.   
      
   "To listen to Republicans tell it, you would think that the country's   
   tax burden is suddenly astronomically high, that U.S. citizens are   
   being forced to fork over more money to the government than ever   
   before. The truth is the opposite."   
   It's true that the Republicans have not yet won much ground on the   
   other front that the party claims to be fighting on--namely spending   
   cuts on programs that primarily benefit low-income and middle-income   
   Americans (food stamps, Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security,   
   unemployment insurance, and so forth).   
      
   But the key word there is "yet."   
      
   Yesterday's deal focused only on taxes. The next government fight will   
   be about spending cuts and the debt ceiling, and the Republicans are   
   already mobilizing to hold the country hostage and demand entitlement   
   cuts in exchange for not forcing the U.S. to default. And it seems   
   reasonable to assume that, no matter how crazy and irresponsible this   
   behavior is, the Republicans will probably extort some spending-cut   
   concessions in exchange for agreeing to allow the United States Of   
   America to honor its commitments.   
      
   And then there's the big picture, which is also important. The   
   Republicans are winning there, too.   
      
   To listen to Republicans tell it, you would think that the country's   
   tax burden is suddenly astronomically high, that U.S. citizens are   
   being forced to fork over more money to the government than ever   
   before.   
      
   The truth is the opposite.   
      
   As Ben White of Politico observes, thanks to the Reagan revolution and   
   the Bush Tax Cuts (almost all of which have now been permanently   
   extended), the federal government is collecting a much lower percent   
   of GDP as tax revenue than it has for most of the past 50 years.   
      
   Specifically, as the chart below shows, the federal government is now   
   collecting 17% of GDP as tax revenue, versus an average of about 19%   
   in the past few decades.   
      
   One of the broad strategies of those who want to reduce the size of   
   the federal government is a plan called "Starve the beast."   
      
   The goal of that plan is to continue to reduce federal government   
   revenue to the point where the government simply has no choice but to   
   cut spending, because deficits have just gotten too large and   
   unsustainable to ignore.   
      
   Our deficits are not yet (quite) too large and unsustainable to   
   ignore, but if we continue on the current path for a few more years,   
   they'll get there.   
      
   So ignore what you're hearing out of Washington.   
      
   The Republicans may not have gotten everything they wanted out of the   
   Fiscal Cliff deal, but they got almost everything.   
      
   And when it comes to the broader fiscal battle, the Republicans are   
   winning: The federal government's tax revenues are at the lowest level   
   as a percent of GDP in the past several decades.   
      
   The Republicans, in other words, are well on their way to starving the   
   beast.   
   http://www.cnbc.com/id/100349213   
      
   +   
      
   Pucker your butt for the Apocalypse!   
      
   Johnny Asia, Asshole from the Future   
      
   http://johnnyasia.com/   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)