Forget the Fiscal Cliff

And today, he was waiting for the Republicans to have it read to them, since they apparently have problems with reading comprehension...

There are a lot of things I don't know about, but one thing I DO know a bit about is leadership. Leadership in tough situations is about rolling your sleeves up and getting intimately involved in the response to a problem. It's not about hiding in your office or taking long trips away from the center of the problem. Good leaders know that when things are bad....they need to be right in the thick of it. They accept personal risk for the better good. The fact that this assclown is still campaigning tells me he knows nothing about being a good leader.

As for the plan, I've been poking around and can only find bits and pieces on the President's so called "plan". I did find this article...is this the "plan" you were talking about?

'Insanity':Obama's fiscal cliff plan to tax the rich and spend another $50 billion

http://www.examiner.com/article/insanit ... -billion-1

In an interview with radio host Hugh Hewitt," The Weekly Standard reported Friday, Republican Senate Leader Mitch McConnell called Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner's water-carrying "a serious blow to his credibility" and said he "ought to be embarrassed."

On Thursday, The Weekly Standard reported that-following Thursday’s meeting with the treasury secretary -- McConnell said he “burst into laughter” when Geithner outlined the administration proposal for averting the fiscal cliff.

McConnel said he wasn’t trying to embarrass Geithner. It was simply a reflexive response to the administration’s one-sided plan.

When congressional leaders spoke with President Barack Obama three days after his reelection at the White House, he indicated possible cuts to the "explosive growth of food stamps and Social Security disability payments.”

That Geithner didn’t mention them during the meeting, McConnell said those reductions now appear to be off the table.

While labor historian Nelson Lichtenstein told MSNBC that organized labor would probably have to "eat some stuff, you know, like limits on Social Security, or some tinkering around entitlements programs," he leveled a not so subtle warning that Obama would suffer union wrath should he dare to make any serious changes to entitlements.

"We should have a balanced approach to deficit reduction that doesn't hurt the economy and doesn't hurt the middle-class families," Obama also said Wednesday.

However, McConnell said the proposal Geithner presented during the visit to his office Thursday – explicit on tax increases, yet vague on spending cuts -- left him doubtful that the administration has any serious interest in crafting a “balanced” solution.

Primarily, Obama wants to raise the tax rates on couples earning more than $250,000 and individuals earning more than $200,000 to raise $1.6 trillion in new revenue in the next ten years. But critics say those taxes wouldn’t produce anywhere near the $1.6 trillion over a decade.

So here's your big chance here LJ. Help me find the part about a "balanced approach". I see the part about new taxes on the rich....that's one half of the balanced approach. I can even see the details of how the Administration intends to make cuts in the DOD. But I can't seem to find any details on how the Administration intends to make cuts in entitlements.

Could it be that there is not an intention to actually make any substantive cuts there? Be honest.

This assclown campaigned on a platform of "a balanced approach" and some 52% of Americans voted for him based, at least in part, on that campaign promise. Well now he has won the election and all of America is waiting to see the grand plan.

We both know the problem is that there is no "balanced approach" plan. Never was, never will be.

We are heading off this fiscal cliff, in my opinion, because the President is lying about the balanced approach and lacks the leadership skills to generate a viable plan.

Instead he sends one of his minions to do his dirty work and he continues to campaign for God knows what.

Here are your details:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget

It's got to be better than what that assclown, Bush, did in 8 years of unpaid-for tax-cuts; two unpaid-for, unnecessary wars; $750B in unpaid-for drug-benefits, etc., and the worst recession since the Great Depression.

This is a starting point...And the whole point of the exercise is to put Republicans on the spot to come forward with THEIR details on what they want to cut...which so far, they have refused to do.

There is no denying that 93% of the wealth created in the last 10 years has gone to the top 2%...And anybody that still believes in "trickle-down" and "job-creators" probably still believes in Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy.

93% of the wealth created in the last 10 years has gone to the top 2%? And under Obama's leadership wealth inequality has risen. Why did you vote for such an empty suit?

Because it's taken this long to get rid of the Bush tax-cuts for the wealthy... And the only other alternative were a couple of empty-suit goons with (R) after their names...

You don't like him?...Don't vote for him... Oh, wait...You didn't...

Okay LJ, I'll bite.

All I see here in this OMB message is another campaign speech. Can't you see that? Seriously?

Let's take a look at what the message says-though I've memorized it from the endless campaign speeches delivered by the President running up to the election.

"The President’s 2013 Budget is built around the idea that our country does best when everyone gets a fair shot, does their fair share, and plays by the same rules."

All I see here is the same tired class warfare stuff. Nothing new to me though I do get a kick out of the whole "does their fair share" part. Hilarious! No plan on how to though. He speaks of a vision but offers no ideas on how to reach this paradise.

"We must transform our economy from one focused on speculating, spending, and borrowing to one constructed on the solid foundation of educating, innovating, and building."

Same old digs on Wall Street. Nothing new here either really. Though I wonder how you "educate, innovate and build" when you are broke and your credit is crap?

"That begins with putting the Nation on a path to living within our means – by cutting wasteful spending, asking all Americans to shoulder their fair share, and making tough choices on some things we cannot afford, while keeping the investments we need to grow the economy and create jobs."

So has Geithner secretly offered these details in some eyes-only memo to Boehner? Where are the details on how to "cut wasteful spending"? What are the "tough choices"? What "things" LJ? Plenty of the same old rhetoric here...but I'm telling you...I know what a "plan" looks like and this isn't a plan.

"The Budget targets scarce federal resources to the areas critical to growing the economy and restoring middle-class security: education and skills for American workers, innovation and research and development, clean energy, and infrastructure."

I agree with the President's desire to focus scare federal resources but I'm not sure that focusing resources on the critical areas he eludes to is what the doctor ordered right now. I'd like to know some more details here, wouldn't you? Or are you going on blind faith like when you voted in November? I can't see how spending MORE money when the federal deficit is ballooning somehow "restores middle-class security". Is that like spending your way out of debt? Is that the plan?

I agree that we need to "re-tool" much of the American work force with new skills...couldn't agree more. But that takes lots of money and lots of time...and we have neither right now from where I stand.

"Innovation and R&D" are also good ideas...but again, those take time and money.

"Clean energy". Yes we need this but it will require time, expensive innovation and R&D.

Rebuilding "infrastructure" is critical too. Our infrastructure is in disrepair and this WILL put lots of people back to work.

The President is very long on how to spend money LJ and very short on how to "cut wasteful spending". I understand that he had to be coy before the election because if he was honest about what he had to do he wouldn't have been elected. But now the election is over (though our fearless leader seems to still be on the campaign trail). We need the details quick. He needs to lay them out for Congress...it's time to go to work and stop posturing and blowing hot air.

Can you understand this? Can you stop doing your post-election party dance long enough to realize what's going on here? Where are the details on that "balanced approach" the President promised throughout the campaign?

I'm still waiting for the GOTP to put it's version of what it's going to cut on the table. Mitt-Flop wouldn't do it during the election; and I don't see the GOTP doing anything but dancing around the issue now. Let's get a grip on reality here... Some 80+% of the American public believes that the top 2% tax-rates should go up. (Do the math... The president won by 52%... That means a helluva lot of Republicans believe that too.) They can either do a deal now to raise that revenue by bumping the rates ONLY ON THE AMOUNT over $250K; stop the draconian defense cuts, etc., by doing a deal NOW...

OR, they can dig in, play another game of chicken, behave like children... and it WILL go off the cliff on January 1st. The Dems come back in, and the first bill they put up is "Tax CUTS for everybody except the amounts over $250K, i.e., the top-2%"... I'm going to LOVE watching the GOTP vote against that one. I promise that every one that does, just wrote their own opposition ads for the next election. What's "wasteful" to you is what many people have been paying for all their lives, and they expect it to be there when they retire. I don't give a hoot if the Randroids want to cut it and kick 47% of the U.S. population off of it. It's time to fund it...not cut it.

I will continue doing my post-election party dance as long as it takes for the GOTP to realize it LOST, and the Kool-Aid they're selling just got rejected by a MINIMUM of 52% of the people...and in point of fact, a LOT of Obama-haters that voted for RMoney still agree that the top 2% need to pay more, and the gub'ment needs to get out of people's bedrooms; and the opposition to doing something comprehensive about immigration-reform is costing them their party.

We've already had the "class-warfare"...And you lost....

That is the longest non-answer I have ever read LJ. You are incapable of answering the question it seems. I know this is a tough concept to wrap your brain around, but the country is not led by the "GOP", it's run by the President and the rest of the "Executive Branch". What GOP there is resides in the "Legislative Branch".

I will wait patiently for another liberal to answer the question about what "wasteful spending" is, what "things" need to be cut and what they think a "balanced approach" looks like. I'd like to hear what the plan is "live within our means". Don't bother telling me that all we need to do get rid of the DOD or just "tax the top 2%". Those will be like wetting yourself in a dark suit. They may feel pretty good (for a little while) but no one will notice...and they won't solve the debt problem.

Please, no class warfare and no more Obama campaign speeches. The election was over in early November and Mr. Romney is a private citizen like you and me. Now it's time for the rhetoric to stop and for intelligent people to put viable courses of action on the table. Is the left capable of that?

LJ has already stated that she is against any austerity cuts. She is on the Dem team that believes there wasn't. Enough stimulus in Barack's first term. Except for military manufacturing contracts and spending on overseas military occupations.

Since Social Security has not added one dollar to the debt, your damned right I am against any cuts to it. It's time to fund it...not cut it.

I DEFINITELY believe that the DoD budget can be cut in half without doing anything except getting rid of the ever-popular waste/fraud/abuse in the defense-contractor areas. Cutting back on unnecessary overseas military occupations?...You betcha!

And you're right, I DO believe there wasn't enough stimulus...And I hope they correct that soon. You are NOT going to cut your way to prosperity. And the Randroids can cry "austerity" all they want. I'm still waiting for the GOTP to put it's version of what it's going to cut on the table. Mitt-Flop wouldn't do it during the election; and I don't see the GOTP doing anything but dancing around the issue now. You betcha...

You wanna play "chicken" with the budget?....Let's go for it.