The Fiscal Cliff (and other) Follies

The markets reacted positively yesterday (Dow up 300 points) when the so-called fiscal cliff was finally averted. The dreaded fiscal cliff was and continues to be a self-imposed crisis. It's closely related to last year's Republican-manufactured “debt ceiling crisis” that briefly threw the markets into a downward spin. The centrists who control the Democratic Party today have apparently swallowed the Republican nonsense that the most important problem facing America is the national debt. It's not. The most important economic problem facing America today is the continuing high unemployment and underemployment.

The fiscal compromise was finally approved by the Republican-controlled House. The Senate shamed them into it by overwhelmingly approving it. The compromise raises revenues by discontinuing the income tax break for people earning more than $450k/yr (almost double Obama's going in position). It basically kicks the can down the road two months – when additional battles on the sequestering of funds will take place. If the Republican foot dragging on the compromise is any indication, you can bet the military-industrial-political complex will fight the defense cuts that are in play. And if the lack of cooperation in the fiscal cliff negotiations shown by Republicans is any indication, you can bet that the debt ceiling will again become another ridiculous fiasco at about the same time. Geithner's special steps on the debt run out about then. In any case, we'll get an early indication of how much the Republicans intend to obstruct progress on things beneficial to the average American when Biden's task force on gun violence presents its recommendations to Congress. It will be particularly interesting to see what they do on the reinstatement of the assault weapons ban. 

It took Republican Governor Christie of New Jersey to call out House Republicans, and in particular John Boehner for failing to call for a vote on the $60 billion relief bill for Sandy victims already approved by the Senate. As ABC reported, "Do your job and come through for the people of this country," Christie pointedly said about Boehner. The bill "could not overcome the toxic internal politics of the House majority," Christie said. It had the desired effect – Republicans scrambled to reassure voters that they would vote on $9 billion within days and consider the remaining $51 billion by mid January.

President Obama also has a lot to answer for. As reported in the Huffington Post: “President Barack Obama signed the [$633 billion] National Defense Authorization Act of 2013 on Wednesday, despite his own threat to veto it over prohibitions on closing the Guantanamo Bay prison camp....Civil liberties advocates had roundly criticized the bill over Guantanamo and a separate section that could allow the military to indefinitely detain American citizens on suspicions of supporting terrorism. “ There was no way Congress would have overridden his veto. They would have revoted on the ridiculously overbloated military budget without those provisions. Maybe Obama was just worn down by the fiscal cliff negotiations but this does not bode well for his second term.

Finally just a word about what may be one of the bigger threats to our democracy – gerrymandering (aka redistricting) of House Congressional districts. Talk about the will of the people. With a Congressional approval rating barely registering in double digits for much of 2012, 94% of House incumbents were reelected to office in the 2012 elections – and Republicans, because they are now better at gerrymandering  than Democrats, retained firm control of the House.  From  the Think Progress website: “Based on current tallies, Democrats now lead Republicans 59,343,447 to 58,178,393 in total votes cast for their House candidates — meaning that the American people preferred Democrats over Republicans by nearly a full percentage point of the total vote. Yet, despite clearly losing the popular vote, Republicans will control nearly 54 percent of the seats in the House in the 113th Congress.”  The scary thing is that there is no end in sight to Republican control of the House and their "safe" districts.  Unless the average Republican voter wakes up to what is happening (or more accurately not happening) because of this, we are in for more of the same until the next census in 2020.