Please, Anything But Taxes! Ok, How About Default?

Here we are at an impasse. President Obama wants to cut $4 trillion from the deficit, partially by cutting programs, partially by creating revenue by increasing taxes on the richest of the rich. House Republicans, on the other hand, want to cut around $2 trillion from the deficit while not raising a single tax or creating any more revenue. So goes the debt ceiling negotiations.

While I personally think it's stupid to cut the deficit during an economic recession because it will kill jobs (think of the government like a giant company cutting jobs in order to keep from going under, except that as a government, it doesn't need to do this because it can borrow money to stay afloat until the economy is in good enough shape to make cuts), there are some things here that make even less sense to me.

Republicans in the House and Senate walk around with the words "deficit reduction" oozing out of their mouths at nearly all hours of the day. In fact it wouldn't surprise me one bit if some of these Congressmen say it in their sleep. However, for some reason Boehner and House Republicans want only to cut $2 trillion now.

Why not more? Why not get something done that you've claimed you want so bad?

Well, I cannot answer for Boehner but I think I have a pretty good idea why he's doing this. For one, he and fellow House Republicans are running around yelling "No new taxes!" like a parrot stuck on repeat and Obama would like to cut $4 trillion with help from some new tax revenue in addition to budget cuts. Second, Boehner simply wants the deficit to continue to be an issue into the 2012 elections. By getting a big deal done now, you would hear less and less about the deficit as we go further along into the presidential race.

That second plan, however, to keep the bulging deficit in the spotlight, may be backfiring on Republicans. A new Washington Post-ABC News poll conducted shows that people blame Republicans more than President Obama for failing to reach an agreement to raise the debt ceiling.

How about that. Apparently taking a hard line and refusing to budge will keep an agreement from getting done and it won't make you very popular. How surprising. I think I learned that in 4th grade when I was a "peer mediator" helping end disputes about the jungle gym at recess. Somehow Boehner still assumes this will pay off. Boehner is like the kid who refuses to come down from the jungle gym, hogging it - inevitably, people won't like him because he is stingy and won't work towards a solution. Also, like the kid on the jungle gym, he eats worms and that is just so gross.

Funny though, with all this talk about the deficit and budget cuts (including the new "Gang of Six" bill that just came out to cut $3.7 trillion), people still care more about creating jobs. In a CBS/New York Times poll from late June shows and 53% of Americans believe the most important problem facing America today is the economy and jobs, or lack thereof, while only 7% believe that it is the deficit.

You know what won't help the economy? The government defaulting on its debt.

So maybe some people need to cut the political posturing and get something done. No wait, that is definitely what they need to do.