Ruth Marcus is such a wanker. She wants to remind the Democrats that we didn’t win any mandate for higher taxes on the most affluent because the election was close and the Republicans still disagree. But that doesn’t matter. The Bush tax cuts expire on January 1st. The president will not sign any bill that restores those tax cuts for people making more than a quarter million dollars a year. Game over.
All that remains to be decided is if the Republicans will acknowledge this reality and work preemptively to avoid the disruption of letting the sequester go into effect. They probably won’t accept reality for a simple reason. A vote to keep taxes low for everyone but the top 2% of earners is still a tax hike for the two percent. That would make Grover Norquist angry.
But, if they wait until after the tax cuts expire, then a tax cut for 98% of the people is a tax cut that won’t raise taxes on anyone. They can keep their promise to Norquist if they go over the fiscal cliff. So, for this one stupid reason, we are going to have to go through the sequester. Total irresponsible governance, all for the sake of saving face and keeping a promise that never should have been made.
