Pretzel Logic From The "Super Committee"
Xavier Becerra is a "progressive" democrat from California. He is also a lawyer. He is also a member of the super committee which is up against a budget deadline this week that will fail. Even if politicians agree to the minimum 10 year budget cuts of 1.2 trillion- that won't even cover the cost of one year's budget deficit. This year's deficit has been ratcheted up to 1.5 trillion- because people just aren't making any money or paying any taxes.
So those automatic cuts kick in which means they must suck- because Paul Krugman likes them.
So I was reading this interview about the super committee and absolutely marveled at the ridiculousness of a statement made by Representative Becerra. Wallace, the math challenged lefty wouldn't even stop to consider Becerra's math. Progressives aren't big on details like math. Here is the interview portion that I snipped. My big summary is in the white box.
WALLACE: Why couldn't you make a deal?
BECERRA: Well, I think for Democrats, we would say that there's still a deal possible, but it's got to be balanced. You can't say you're going to take benefits away from services that people have paid for, like Social Security and Medicare, and not ask wealthiest Americans. Remember, we have 1,400 multimillionaires who didn't pay a single bit of income tax since 2009. Why should they escape participation when we are asking seniors to help cover the costs of the deficits that in the case of Social Security, they didn't cause?
WALLACE: I understand that's what Republicans are worried about. You're worried about what you're worried about. Why couldn't you make a deal?
BECERRA: Well, there are -- I believe there's a deal out there. I believe there is a better deal than letting automatic cuts decide for us. Chris, that's why I don't that we should call the game over deep in the fourth quarter. We still have an opportunity to go somewhere. Both sides I think have honestly tried to put what they believe would be a good solution on the table.
WALLACE: You keep saying, you know, we want to have smart deficit reduction, not stupid deficit reduction. Would you vote to change the triggers, the $1.2 trillion trigger, if there's no deal, and specifically to roll back on some of the defense cuts?
BECERRA: You are asking one of the 12 who's asked to do something so we can avoid the triggers. I would want to change the triggers. I got to tell that whether you're one of the 12 on the super committee, or if you are someone who voted for this legislation that created the triggers and the super committee, I think it's a wimpy way out to say we're going to change the triggers because I don't like the result out of the super committee is what I wanted.
We should be prepared --
So those automatic cuts kick in which means they must suck- because Paul Krugman likes them.
So I was reading this interview about the super committee and absolutely marveled at the ridiculousness of a statement made by Representative Becerra. Wallace, the math challenged lefty wouldn't even stop to consider Becerra's math. Progressives aren't big on details like math. Here is the interview portion that I snipped. My big summary is in the white box.
WALLACE: Why couldn't you make a deal?
BECERRA: Well, I think for Democrats, we would say that there's still a deal possible, but it's got to be balanced. You can't say you're going to take benefits away from services that people have paid for, like Social Security and Medicare, and not ask wealthiest Americans. Remember, we have 1,400 multimillionaires who didn't pay a single bit of income tax since 2009. Why should they escape participation when we are asking seniors to help cover the costs of the deficits that in the case of Social Security, they didn't cause?
WALLACE: I understand that's what Republicans are worried about. You're worried about what you're worried about. Why couldn't you make a deal?
BECERRA: Well, there are -- I believe there's a deal out there. I believe there is a better deal than letting automatic cuts decide for us. Chris, that's why I don't that we should call the game over deep in the fourth quarter. We still have an opportunity to go somewhere. Both sides I think have honestly tried to put what they believe would be a good solution on the table.
WALLACE: You keep saying, you know, we want to have smart deficit reduction, not stupid deficit reduction. Would you vote to change the triggers, the $1.2 trillion trigger, if there's no deal, and specifically to roll back on some of the defense cuts?
BECERRA: You are asking one of the 12 who's asked to do something so we can avoid the triggers. I would want to change the triggers. I got to tell that whether you're one of the 12 on the super committee, or if you are someone who voted for this legislation that created the triggers and the super committee, I think it's a wimpy way out to say we're going to change the triggers because I don't like the result out of the super committee is what I wanted.
We should be prepared --
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