On the recordDecember 13, 2012
it has become disturbingly clear that President Obama does not mind whether or not we drive off the fiscal cliff. Just last week his own Treasury Secretary, Secretary Geithner, said the White House was ``absolutely'' prepared to go off the cliff unless Republicans agree to raise marginal tax rates. In other words, during a period of high unemployment--the highest since the Great Depression--the President is willing to risk another recession in order to increase taxes on small businesses and the people we depend upon to create jobs. How much revenue will the President's tax hike generate? Well, by raising the top two rates, it would produce only about $68 billion in 2013. I say ``only'' because in relationship to the gap between how much money the Federal Government is spending and how much money this would generate, it is relatively small. If we factor in the various stimulus tax expenditures the President wants to extend, the net revenue falls below $55 billion. Again, President Obama is so desperate to secure this revenue that he is willing to risk another recession. Meanwhile, he is asking for more stimulus spending, along with the authority to raise the debt ceiling whenever he chooses. His idea of compromise appears to me to be pretty simple: Republicans should give him everything he wants in return for a meaningless promise that the White House will somehow, someday get around to reforming and preserving Social Security and Medicare.…
