It’s about the fingerprints
Aug 1, 2011, 8:55 AM
Listen to It’s about the fingerprints
As you know there is a debt deal.
I tried explaining it earlier today and I could just sense listeners lapsing into unconsciousness.
And then I realized — that’s the point!
You’re not SUPPOSED to understand it! The deal is designed so that all the controversial parts, like raising the debt ceiling, and trimming programs like Medicare — can happen without any member of Congress having to cast a controversial vote!
Politicians are way smarter than you think. They figured out a way for all these controversial things even as they vote AGAINST them!
For example — under the deal, a majority of the Congress can actually vote to DISAPPROVE increasing the debt, but the President will then VETO that disapproval, thereby allowing members to blame HIM alone for the debt increase!
In the same way — tax increases can happen without anybody having to take an embarrassing vote because the Bush tax cuts expire all on their own in 2013.
A majority of the Congress will proudly vote to extend those tax cuts — but all the president has to do is veto that extension, and taxes will go up, which he has promised to do unless taxes on rich people and corporations are quietly increased some other way.
So there it is — taxes can increase, programs can be cut, the debt ceiling can be raised, and Congress will wear gloves the whole time… so that the only fingerprints left at the scene of the deal — will be Barack Obama’s. And that’s why everybody calls it a Framework. It sounds so much nicer than Frame-up!
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