Time to break out of the loop
Feb 3, 2015, 7:27 AM | Updated: 9:32 am
The fiscal blueprint for the 2016 budget year that begins Oct. 1, seeks to raise taxes on wealthier Americans and corporations and use the extra income to lift the fortunes of families who have felt squeezed during tough economic times. Republicans, who now hold the power in Congress, are accusing the president of seeking to revert to tax-and-spend policies that will harm the economy while failing to do anything about soaring spending on government benefit programs. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
(AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
We all know what yesterday was … it was Groundhog Day!
Ah – but in more ways than one! Because it was also the day the president presented his new budget and the same thing happened that happens every time a president presents his budget.
It was instantly rejected by the opposition.
“Republicans say this budget is the same old Democratic playbook.”
But at the same time, calling it “the same old Democratic playbook” is a page out of the same old Republican playbook.
It’s Groundhog Day!
The problem with following this same script year after year is that it’s left the economy looking great on paper, but out in the real world, millions of people who want to work can’t get jobs doing what they’re trained to do.
Including people who know how to build roads and bridges which are falling apart while the people who could fix them are either collecting unemployment, or in some minimum wage job.
While their skills go to waste, we hear the same old lines, like from Sen. Mitch McConnell, “We’re going to pursue ideas that keep government leaner more efficient and more effective.”
How many times have we heard that? Has it ever happened?
No.
This is all still about one party making the other party look bad.
Well 2015 should be the year we break out of that loop.
We’re in the final two years of Barack Obama’s presidency. This is the first budget he cannot benefit from politically. The effects of this budget will kick in when the next president takes office. Yes, it is tax and spend. But what’s the alternative? More cutting and scolding?
And it’s a free play: If it works, the next president takes credit. And if not, the next president can just blame Obama.
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