POLITICO.COM "The Arena" : Shutdown Averted : "Herbert Hoover must be smiling in his grave tonight, having finally won his victory over FDR, and becoming the intellectual inspiration for leaders of both parties"

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POLITICO.COM "The Arena"
April 09, 2011


POLITICO.COM "The Arena"


Some excerpts :

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Dean Baker Co-director, Center for Economic and Policy Research :

Well, according the analysis from Moody's and Goldman Sachs, the Republicans' full target for reduced spending would cost around 700,000 jobs. There is a device rarely used in policy circles, called arithmetic, that tells us that cuts of two-thirds this size should cost around 500,000 jobs. I'm sure the half million people who will lose their jobs because of this deal are celebrating now.

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Drew Westen Psychologist and neuroscientist :

This is an enormous victory for Republicans, who just succeeded in redistributing tens of billions of dollars from working- and middle-class families and the most vulnerable to the rich, who got their $120 billion tax cut in December. They have shifted the national conversation from how to put Americans to work to how to cut government spending while cutting taxes on the upper 1 percent.

This is just Round 2 of the Young and the Ruthless against the Old and the Toothless (the first round being the tax cuts to the rich that passed four months ago), to be followed by Round 3, which will be the battle for next year’s budget, when the Democrats, led by a president who won’t even call himself a Democrat, will once again “compromise,” i.e., cut taxes to the rich and cut benefits to the middle class. Herbert Hoover must be smiling in his grave tonight, having finally won his victory over FDR, and becoming the intellectual inspiration for leaders of both parties.

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Christopher Hahn Democratic consultant :

Winners: Tea party, but they don't know it. They feel as if Boehner sold them out and are already threatening a primary. However, this deal was about trying to please them. If it were up to traditional Republicans in Congress, there would have been a deal months ago. Ryan's original request was for $30 billion.

The tea party is clearly the dog and not the tail of the GOP canine. We all know the bigger battles over the debt ceiling and the Ryan budget will begin soon. The tea party-backed members will be out for blood. And even after getting 75 percent of what they wanted, they feel wronged.

Losers: The poor. Clearly the powerless will receive less and less even if the cuts in this budget will not greatly affect services. In the bigger battle to come, the rabid cutters will ask for more and more. There's no will on either side to find revenue or cut defense. That leaves one place to find major cuts. On Friday, the center moved further to the right.

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Greg Dworkin Contributing Editor, Daily Kos :

Of course this is an acceptable, if unfortunate, deal. There’s no question that decreasing spending was part of the 2010 voter’s intent, but only part. The other, more important, part was jobs. Only in the imagination does less government revenue equal more jobs. It’s a fundamental myth the Republican Party is based on, but it’s still a myth.

On the other hand, social conservatives tried to hold up the economy over women’s health and lost. Meanwhile the American people scratch their heads as to what’s going on (what has that got to do with jobs?). It doesn’t matter how many times this causes Republicans to lose control of Congress (see Terri Schiavo), they are at it again. No wonder the tea party is so unpopular with voters.

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