by Jeffrey Folks –
As the impasse at the deficit reduction supercommittee shows, Congress’s inability to get things done is once again on display. The blame for this failure has been widely attributed to the “unwillingness of both sides to work together,” but the reality is that liberal Democrats on the committee never intended to compromise. They would rather pursue their goal of socialism than save the country from fiscal collapse.
This is just sort of behavior that has brought Greece to ruin and that now threatens all of Europe, if not the entire global economy. To channel Rick Perry’s thoughts on Chairman Ben, the refusal to put country ahead of party is nothing less than treasonous.
For their part, Republicans have engaged in political posturing as well, but when the chips were down, as they have been now for weeks, the GOP at least offered a proposal, albeit a flawed one. Democrats have offered nothing that would bring the committee anywhere near $1.2 trillion in deficit reduction over the next ten years. Not only that, but their immediate response to the GOP proposal, without even pausing to consider its contents, was to denounce it as “laughable.” [Read more…]