Tennessee Guerilla Women: Krugman, Klein: Dems Will Cave on Medicare, Raise Eligibility Age, Raise Taxes Barely

Friday, December 07, 2012

Krugman, Klein: Dems Will Cave on Medicare, Raise Eligibility Age, Raise Taxes Barely

God Dammit! There may be a freaking Grand Betrayal in the works. According to Ezra Klein, Democrats are about to cave on the so-called fiscal-cliff deal by raising Medicare's eligibility age and raising taxes on the wealthy by a paltry 37%!

If this is true, Mr. Obama, this is one hell of a way to start your second term, one hell of a way to pay back all those who worked and voted for you!

But how could anyone possibly believe President Obama would betray his base? {SARCASM]

Paul Krugman:

Ezra Klein says that the shape of a fiscal cliff deal is clear: only a 37 percent rate on top incomes, and a rise in the Medicare eligibility age.

I’m going to cross my fingers and hope that this is just a case of creeping Broderism, that it’s a VSP fantasy about how we’re going to resolve this in a bipartisan way. Because if Obama really does make this deal, there will be hell to pay....

So this looks crazy to me; it looks like a deal that makes no sense either substantively or in terms of the actual bargaining strength of the parties. And if it does happen, the disillusionment on the Democratic side would be huge. All that effort to reelect Obama, and the first thing he does is give away two years of Medicare? How’s that going to play in future attempts to get out the vote?If anyone in the White House is seriously thinking along these lines, please stop it right now.