Senate Fiscal Cliff Doomsday Countdown Thread

But that's not the theme of Derpy's rant. He presents nothing but the usual laundry list of Fox News talking points. For example, no mention is made whatsoever of Iraq or Afghanistan - probably because those expenditures can't be blamed on Democrats. And in the end it all comes down to "why would anyone vote for Obama?" This is a far cry from "both sides are equally unrealistic" or "both sides suck".

Uh, no. Perhaps I should have said "only the extremely affluent aren't facing bankruptcy in the event that they get sick"?

Well, that's nice. Guess what? In the real world, single-payer isn't going to happen. Thus we are faced with the choice between a so-called "lousy, ramshackle plan" and doing absolutely nothing at all about the problem.

Access to health care is not "crap". In fact, in every other advanced country in the entire world, it's considered a right. America stands alone. Gotta love rugged individualism, right?

Well, yes, and that's the point. Barack Obama is indeed not serious about the all-important task of kicking the **** out of the lower and middle classes. That's why teabaggers don't find him acceptable. He's looking out for the 99%, not the 1%.

Yeah, just keep telling yourself that. You're not fooling anyone. Telling uninsured people with cancer to go **** themselves can hardly be called a position of moral superiority. Republicans are all about protecting the rich from higher taxes. Despite their rhetoric they care about nothing else. They've proven at every turn that they'd rather crash the economy than see their backers pay even slightly higher tax rates. But feel free to continue living under a delusion, or trying to delude others, or whatever it is you're doing.

 

Three possible outcomes looming:

1) Last minute mini-deal, followed by an immediate opening of negotiations on a larger one after the new Congress convenes later this week.

2) No deal, taxes go up, and the new Congress and the President strike a deal within the next two calendar weeks; this option gives Republicans 'political cover' in the sense that they can now claim they are voting to cut taxes

3) No deal, and we stay off the cliff as both sides dig in, with a market crash and recession.

I put the odds of each outcome as 20% for #1, 70% for #2, and 10% for #3. Apparently, the Democrats are willing to consider a higher threshold on increasing rates OR a looser estate tax, but not both. Republicans remain opposed to any tax hikes without deep spending cuts.

How the markets will react are anybody's guess. I expect a drop with anything less than a grand bargain.

Peace,

V-03

 

I feel Arawn is arguing with the wind at this point.

 

Lindsey Graham is saying the President won on taxes.

We'll see about the rest, I suppose.

 

Senate Republicans seem to have withdrawn their last-minute demand for Social Security changes... (which is something that they could have actually gotten passed if they had spent the past month building support for changing how inflation is measured for SS instead of... whatever in the world they've been doing for the last month)

 

I don't understand why the President is bothering to deal at all, rather than waiting until January 1st. He gets everything he wants and Republicans lose every bit of leverage they have at the stroke of midnight on January 1.

Republicans should be thankful that the President doesn't run the office the way he ran his two campaigns, particularly the second one. If he did, there would be no dealing until after the beginning of the new year, excluding remarkable concessions that the GOP would never make.

 

I think a bigger problem here is that the election has already been forgotten, and the tone has been set for 2013, and possibly the rest of Obama's second term, as well.

The Tea Party faction has made it clear that they will not allow anything meaningful to be accomplished with Obama in the White House if there's even the slightest chance he will benefit from it; as such, his entire second-term agenda may already be scuttled.

It's amazing how the calculus can still be "If we block everything, refuse to compromise, and blame the President and Democrats, eventually, the country will collectively wake-up, slap themselves on the forehead, say 'Wow, you guys were right all along!', and vote in Tea-Party supermajorities at all levels of government".

If the election didn't change that, I fear nothing short of a major catastrophe, such as a default, will. Already, talk of the President's agenda on discussing gun control are on the ropes, as well as immigration.

The most conservative Republicans in the House and Senate represent districts that overwhelmingly voted for Romney, and are so insular they don't seem to care about anything outside of their own little world...certainly not the rest of the country.

It's a shame. Happy New Year to all.

Peace,

V-03

 

CNBC said Obama is going to speak about the fiscal cliff at 1:30 ET - about 25 minutes from now.

 

This deal sounds bad. We should go over and start negotiations again next Monday.



EDIT:

Perhaps I spoke too soon.

Obama blamed Congress for being obstructive (*gasp*), and House Republicans are so shocked and insulted that they're thinking about... obstructing the deal.

Which is fine by me. Better to wait a few days for a better deal.

 

Breaking news, no house vote tonight.

LOL DERP BALAH BLAH. Why do people take this? Vote out the GOP from the Gov. Get them out.

 

Well, um....damn.

I guess this means we're going over the cliff?

 

Of course we are - Boehner hasn't been reelected as Speaker yet, and a compromise now would basically doom his prospects. And, well, that's all he cares about, because he's a politician.

 

Oh well.

 

Everyone get your oars ready.

 

No, I will not post a picture of Sam Jackson about to turn the breakers off from Jurassic Park no matter how tempting it is to do so.

 

I guess I shouldn't have sold off my puts on the Dow this morning.

I would have made a much larger profit if I had held them through at least Wednesday.

So who thinks we get a deal by next Monday?

As an aside, the CEO of the largest private cardiology pratice in the northern virginia area issued a statement that if we go over the cliff without fixing the SGR cuts, as of January 1st, they will no longer accept any new Medicare patients.

Maybe this is what it will take to get something done? Real pain?

Peace,

V-03

 

Maybe this is what it will take to get something done? Real pain?

Always thought that was the point of the entire sequestration process, myself.

 

There will be something done (like on taxes for the middle class, the "doc fix," etc.) by Innauguration Day.

It won't be a fiscal cliff, a fiscal curb, or a fiscal slope... it will be a fiscal bungee jump!

 

Hold onto your butts.

 

They gave themselves a raise, then sat back and let taxes go up on the rest of us.

 

Supposedly, the deal is done, except for $24 billion in spending cuts. The vote won't be before tomorrow, probably to allow taxes to "technically" go up, after which Republicans can claim they cut them, at least for the middle class.

The thresholds for income, dividends, and capital gains are higher than I was expecting the democrats to go for, which surprises me. Apparently, Senate liberals are furious with what Obama is agreeing to.

I wonder if they won't bother to even pass the deal?

Peace,

V-03

 

That news was so last hour, man

It's what I posted about, before I edited in that House Republicans won't be voting at all tonight.

We're going over... and we'll be just fine. A little panic will spur action. Any damage will be fixed.

 

Alternatively, time to start hoarding gasoline and bad leather punk fashions.



Be still, my dog of finance. I understand your pain! We've all lost a bargaining chip we love. But we do it my way!

 

I hope Congress burns in hell for starving the American People.

 

That seems rather excessive, seeing as we're not even over the cliff yet.