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Title: The Mother of All No-Brainers
Source:
nytimes.com
URL Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/05/o ... oks.html?src=ISMR_HP_LO_MST_FB
Published: Jul 4, 2011
Author: David Brooks
Post Date: 2011-07-05 16:23:51 by Godwinson
Keywords: None
Views: 15182
Comments: 36
OP-ED COLUMNIST
The Mother of All No-Brainers
By DAVID BROOKS
Published: July 4, 2011
The Republicans have changed American politics since they took control of the House of Representatives. They have put spending restraint and debt reduction at the top of the national agenda. They have sparked a discussion on entitlement reform. They have turned a bill to raise the debt limit into an opportunity to put the U.S. on a stable fiscal course.
Republican leaders have also proved to be effective negotiators. They have been tough and inflexible and forced the Democrats to come to them. The Democrats have agreed to tie budget cuts to the debt ceiling bill. They have agreed not to raise tax rates. They have agreed to a roughly 3-to-1 rate of spending cuts to revenue increases, an astonishing concession.
Moreover, many important Democrats are open to a truly large budget deal. President Obama has a strong incentive to reach a deal so he can campaign in 2012 as a moderate. The Senate majority leader, Harry Reid, has talked about supporting a debt reduction measure of $3 trillion or even $4 trillion if the Republicans meet him part way. There are Democrats in the White House and elsewhere who would be willing to accept Medicare cuts if the Republicans would be willing to increase revenues.
If the Republican Party were a normal party, it would take advantage of this amazing moment. It is being offered the deal of the century: trillions of dollars in spending cuts in exchange for a few hundred million dollars of revenue increases.
A normal Republican Party would seize the opportunity to put a long-term limit on the growth of government. It would seize the opportunity to put the country on a sound fiscal footing. It would seize the opportunity to do these things without putting any real crimp in economic growth.
The party is not being asked to raise marginal tax rates in a way that might pervert incentives. On the contrary, Republicans are merely being asked to close loopholes and eliminate tax expenditures that are themselves distortionary.
This, as I say, is the mother of all no-brainers.
But we can have no confidence that the Republicans will seize this opportunity. Thats because the Republican Party may no longer be a normal party. Over the past few years, it has been infected by a faction that is more of a psychological protest than a practical, governing alternative.
The members of this movement do not accept the logic of compromise, no matter how sweet the terms. If you ask them to raise taxes by an inch in order to cut government by a foot, they will say no. If you ask them to raise taxes by an inch to cut government by a yard, they will still say no.
The members of this movement do not accept the legitimacy of scholars and intellectual authorities. A thousand impartial experts may tell them that a default on the debt would have calamitous effects, far worse than raising tax revenues a bit. But the members of this movement refuse to believe it.
The members of this movement have no sense of moral decency. A nation makes a sacred pledge to pay the money back when it borrows money. But the members of this movement talk blandly of default and are willing to stain their nations honor.
The members of this movement have no economic theory worthy of the name. Economists have identified many factors that contribute to economic growth, ranging from the productivity of the work force to the share of private savings that is available for private investment. Tax levels matter, but they are far from the only or even the most important factor.
But to members of this movement, tax levels are everything. Members of this tendency have taken a small piece of economic policy and turned it into a sacred fixation. They are willing to cut education and research to preserve tax expenditures. Manufacturing employment is cratering even as output rises, but members of this movement somehow believe such problems can be addressed so long as they continue to worship their idol.
Over the past week, Democrats have stopped making concessions. They are coming to the conclusion that if the Republicans are fanatics then they better be fanatics, too.
The struggles of the next few weeks are about what sort of party the G.O.P. is a normal conservative party or an odd protest movement that has separated itself from normal governance, the normal rules of evidence and the ancient habits of our nation.
If the debt ceiling talks fail, independents voters will see that Democrats were willing to compromise but Republicans were not. If responsible Republicans dont take control, independents will conclude that Republican fanaticism caused this default. They will conclude that Republicans are not fit to govern.
And they will be right.
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#1. To: Godwinson (#0)
David Brooks? rotflmao. You going to post that ultra conservative Chris Mathews from msnbc next?
Proxy IP's are amusing.....lmao
Are David Brooks and David Frum the same person? I sometimes wonder.
Now, I know I’m not going to change the minds of any of the True Believers…those who read all of Reverend Al’s sermons, and say things like, “You know, global warming can mean warmer OR colder, wetter OR drier, cloudier OR sunnier, windier OR calmer, …”. Can I get an ‘amen’??
Weuns needs sum smart peepulls lak Mr.Brooks to do ower thinkin' fur usen causen he be a scholar and a intellectual,and weun doant eben know whut they be. Thank the spirut in da skie dat we have peepulls like him dat no whut be best fur usen! OOPS! Wait a minute! I fell under his spell and thought I was a Dim there for a moment!
"I adore John McCain, support him 100 percent and will do everything I can to support his reelection. As everyone knows, I was honored and proud to run with him. And Todd and I were with him in D.C. just a week ago." (Sarah Palin,Dec 2009) ************************************ DID Palin say or write these things or not? (Me) I don't know or F ing care. (Mad Dog posted on 2009-12-26 16:36:33 ET,post # 105 http://libertysflame.com/cgi-bin/readart.cgi?ArtNum=5510&Disp=114#C114)
Good point.
Proxy IP's are amusing.....lmao
Says the guy who lives off a govt check. Filthy beggar.
"Keep Your Goddamn Government Hands Off My Medicare!" - Various Tea Party signs.
LOL A bunch of egghead dumbasses -- like Brooks.
Now, I know I’m not going to change the minds of any of the True Believers…those who read all of Reverend Al’s sermons, and say things like, “You know, global warming can mean warmer OR colder, wetter OR drier, cloudier OR sunnier, windier OR calmer, …”. Can I get an ‘amen’??
Marxist neocon.
Obama's watch stopped on 24 May 2008, but he's been too busy smoking crack to notice.
Does this mean less than a billion in revenue increases (taxes)?
Yeah, I caught that, as soon as I started to read the article... Didn't get any further, given the gross misrepresentation in the title. Gobsheit would consider Stalin a "centrist."
Socialists & Democrats want you to do one thing: LOL. Nice.
Socialists & Democrats want you to do one thing: Oh really? They never have been in the past. We've had these "truly large" budget deals before, e.g., let's have 2 to 1 spending cuts to tax increases. They increase taxes and never cut spending. The Democrats are untrustworthy. We should be done dealing with them. What we really need to do is throw the moochers, freeloaders, and parasites off of the government dole. That includes lily white farmers, corporate executives, the greedy geezer lobby, and black welfare queens. Toss them all off. The vast majority will find a way to survive and prosper, just has humans have always found a way to survive and prosper.
Well,pussyboy,there was nothing keeping YOU from volunteering to go to VN as a infantryman,and then getting to draw all that big dollar disability pay. Then again,I doubt the VC paid that much,so you would still be sitting around eating your liver with jealousy because somebody is getting something you can't get. In other words,eat shit and die,punk.
"I adore John McCain, support him 100 percent and will do everything I can to support his reelection. As everyone knows, I was honored and proud to run with him. And Todd and I were with him in D.C. just a week ago." (Sarah Palin,Dec 2009) ************************************ DID Palin say or write these things or not? (Me) I don't know or F ing care. (Mad Dog posted on 2009-12-26 16:36:33 ET,post # 105 http://libertysflame.com/cgi-bin/readart.cgi?ArtNum=5510&Disp=114#C114)
Thank the spirut in da skie dat we have peepulls like him dat no whut be best fur usen! OOPS! Wait a minute! I fell under his spell and thought I was a Dim there for a moment! I think you've just been spending some more quality time with your best buddies Jack Daniels and Jim Bean.
petey doesn't drink any more. Booze, that is.
All it means is the core of the Democratic Party is still firmly wed to the notion of 'social justice' and 'wealth redistribution' even though history has provided mountains of evidence showing that path leads to the fall of nations.
Proxy IP's are amusing.....lmao
petey doesn't drink any more. Booze, that is. So the old geezer is just going senile?
I'd call him old and set in his ways. Old often means wise but not always. Think of him as a half-breed Archie Bunker on steroids. And I mean that in a good way.
Keep hanging out in bathhouses and maybe you, too, soon can be drawing a disability check as your body wastes away in sarcoma sores.
Now, I know I’m not going to change the minds of any of the True Believers…those who read all of Reverend Al’s sermons, and say things like, “You know, global warming can mean warmer OR colder, wetter OR drier, cloudier OR sunnier, windier OR calmer, …”. Can I get an ‘amen’??
Yes, I've often compared him with Archie Bunker.
Yes you have.
So the old geezer is just going senile? It would be impossible for me to drink enough to become a Dim. And even senile I would be too smart and aware to vote Dim. Maybe I can do like a lot of other Dim voters,and vote Dim after I die?
"I adore John McCain, support him 100 percent and will do everything I can to support his reelection. As everyone knows, I was honored and proud to run with him. And Todd and I were with him in D.C. just a week ago." (Sarah Palin,Dec 2009) ************************************ DID Palin say or write these things or not? (Me) I don't know or F ing care. (Mad Dog posted on 2009-12-26 16:36:33 ET,post # 105 http://libertysflame.com/cgi-bin/readart.cgi?ArtNum=5510&Disp=114#C114)
Thanks,Fred! That may be the nicest thing that's ever been said to me. Archie was probably the smartest character to appear on a sitcom,even if Carrol O'Connor was a bleeping idiot in real life. IMHO,the funniest thing about the show is that the people who created it,wrote the stories,and played the characters actually thought that everybody would hate Archie,and they were so freaking stupid they thought people were laughing AT Archie instead of with him. How ironic is that?
"I adore John McCain, support him 100 percent and will do everything I can to support his reelection. As everyone knows, I was honored and proud to run with him. And Todd and I were with him in D.C. just a week ago." (Sarah Palin,Dec 2009) ************************************ DID Palin say or write these things or not? (Me) I don't know or F ing care. (Mad Dog posted on 2009-12-26 16:36:33 ET,post # 105 http://libertysflame.com/cgi-bin/readart.cgi?ArtNum=5510&Disp=114#C114)
And he didn't have the first clue it was a compliment.
"I adore John McCain, support him 100 percent and will do everything I can to support his reelection. As everyone knows, I was honored and proud to run with him. And Todd and I were with him in D.C. just a week ago." (Sarah Palin,Dec 2009) ************************************ DID Palin say or write these things or not? (Me) I don't know or F ing care. (Mad Dog posted on 2009-12-26 16:36:33 ET,post # 105 http://libertysflame.com/cgi-bin/readart.cgi?ArtNum=5510&Disp=114#C114)
Only an idiot like you would consider it a compliment.
Archie was an ignorant, racist, dumb ass... in a nice way of course. I've never thought you are a bad guy, sneaky, just an old, crotchety, grumpy, ignorant geezer. Consider that a compliment if you will.... you're welcome.
And even senile I would be too smart and aware to vote Dim. Maybe I can do like a lot of other Dim voters,and vote Dim after I die? But too senile and stupid not to vote Republican. Voting for Bush was one of your shining moments, right? You betcha!
an actual man; Well,pussyboy,there was nothing keeping YOU from volunteering to go to VN as a infantryman,and then getting to draw all that big dollar disability pay. Then again,I doubt the VC paid that much,so you would still be sitting around eating your liver with jealousy because somebody is getting something you can't get. In other words,eat shit and die,punk. "Pussyboy" nails it Pete. "Cowardly parasite" also works. F' em ALL. ALL
Spoiled, stupid and ignorant, brain dead phuckwads, libTURD fools, tools, and idiots, are the real sickness; the messiah "king" obammy and his regime are only the symptoms.
Any time, petey. I'm not sure of your American Indian content and I call myself a half breed, but technically I'm 3/8ths - that half breed Irishman grandfather on my Indian Mother's side screwed up the equilibrium. I never met him but he was supposed to be a pretty good semi-pro baseball player.
Only to the blind partisans who are clueless about everything not party doctrine.
"I adore John McCain, support him 100 percent and will do everything I can to support his reelection. As everyone knows, I was honored and proud to run with him. And Todd and I were with him in D.C. just a week ago." (Sarah Palin,Dec 2009) ************************************ DID Palin say or write these things or not? (Me) I don't know or F ing care. (Mad Dog posted on 2009-12-26 16:36:33 ET,post # 105 http://libertysflame.com/cgi-bin/readart.cgi?ArtNum=5510&Disp=114#C114)
25%. Half-Greek,and the rest Irish and Scottish.
"I adore John McCain, support him 100 percent and will do everything I can to support his reelection. As everyone knows, I was honored and proud to run with him. And Todd and I were with him in D.C. just a week ago." (Sarah Palin,Dec 2009) ************************************ DID Palin say or write these things or not? (Me) I don't know or F ing care. (Mad Dog posted on 2009-12-26 16:36:33 ET,post # 105 http://libertysflame.com/cgi-bin/readart.cgi?ArtNum=5510&Disp=114#C114)
Bookmark
"if you're not cop, you're little people" I wouldn't expect you to realize that, given that you're Archie Bunker in real life.
Better Archie than Meathead,Meathead.
"I adore John McCain, support him 100 percent and will do everything I can to support his reelection. As everyone knows, I was honored and proud to run with him. And Todd and I were with him in D.C. just a week ago." (Sarah Palin,Dec 2009) ************************************ DID Palin say or write these things or not? (Me) I don't know or F ing care. (Mad Dog posted on 2009-12-26 16:36:33 ET,post # 105 http://libertysflame.com/cgi-bin/readart.cgi?ArtNum=5510&Disp=114#C114)
Better dingbat than either of them, Arch.
And I bet you wanted to jump Sally Struther's bones back in the day. :-)
I would have if she would have promised to NEVER speak to or near me. That woman has one of the most irritating,whiny voices I have ever heard.
"I adore John McCain, support him 100 percent and will do everything I can to support his reelection. As everyone knows, I was honored and proud to run with him. And Todd and I were with him in D.C. just a week ago." (Sarah Palin,Dec 2009) ************************************ DID Palin say or write these things or not? (Me) I don't know or F ing care. (Mad Dog posted on 2009-12-26 16:36:33 ET,post # 105 http://libertysflame.com/cgi-bin/readart.cgi?ArtNum=5510&Disp=114#C114)
Conservative columnist
#2. To: Badeye (#1)
#3. To: Godwinson (#0)
(Edited)
The members of this movement do not accept the legitimacy of scholars and intellectual authorities.
#4. To: no gnu taxes (#2)
#5. To: sneakypete (#3)
#6. To: sneakypete (#3)
The members of this movement do not accept the legitimacy of scholars and intellectual authorities.
#7. To: Godwinson, *Yukon neo-Progressive Vermin* (#0)
"We (government) need to do a lot less, a lot sooner" ~Ron Paul
#8. To: Godwinson, Badeye (#0)
If the Republican Party were a normal party, it would take advantage of this amazing moment. It is being offered the deal of the century: trillions of dollars in spending cuts in exchange for a few hundred million dollars of revenue increases.
#9. To: Badeye, Godwinson (#1)
Godwinson: Conservative columnist
Badeye: David Brooks? rotflmao. You going to post that ultra conservative Chris Mathews from msnbc next? 
"You "say" the most iodtic things..." --our local dummy DwarF
#10. To: sneakypete (#3)
OOPS! Wait a minute! I fell under his spell and thought I was a Dim there for a moment!
"You "say" the most iodtic things..." --our local dummy DwarF
#11. To: Godwinson (#0)
(Edited)
many important Democrats are open to a truly large budget deal
"Everything that can be invented has been invented."-- Charles Duell, Commissioner of US Patent Office, 1899
#12. To: Godwinson (#5)
Says the guy who lives off a govt check. Filthy beggar.
#13. To: sneakypete (#3)
Weuns needs sum smart peepulls lak Mr.Brooks to do ower thinkin' fur usen causen he be a scholar and a intellectual,and weun doant eben know whut they be.
#14. To: meguro (#13)
#15. To: A K A Stone (#8)
#16. To: Fred Mertz (#14)
#17. To: meguro, sneakypete (#16)
#18. To: meguro (#16)
#19. To: Fred Mertz (#17)
Think of him as a half-breed Archie Bunker on steroids. And I mean that in a good way.
#20. To: meguro (#19)
#21. To: meguro, Fred Mertz (#16)
petey doesn't drink any more. Booze, that is.
#22. To: Fred Mertz (#17)
Think of him as a half-breed Archie Bunker on steroids.
#23. To: Fred Mertz, meguro (#20)
Yes you have.
#24. To: sneakypete, Fred Mertz (#23)
And he didn't have the first clue it was a compliment.
#25. To: sneakypete, Fred Mertz (#22)
Thanks,Fred! That may be the nicest thing that's ever been said to me. Archie was probably the smartest character to appear on a sitcom,even if Carrol O'Connor was a bleeping idiot in real life.
#26. To: sneakypete (#21)
(Edited)
It would be impossible for me to drink enough to become a Dim.
#27. To: sneakypete, Godwinson aka gooberloserton, ALL (#12)
gooberloserton; Says the guy who lives off a govt check. Filthy beggar.
#28. To: sneakypete (#22)
Thanks,Fred! That may be the nicest thing that's ever been said to me.
#29. To: meguro (#25)
Archie was an ignorant, racist, dumb ass.
#30. To: Fred Mertz (#28)
I'm not sure of your American Indian content
#31. To: hondo68 (#7)
#32. To: sneakypete (#29)
Only to the blind partisans who are clueless about everything not party doctrine.
#33. To: meguro (#32)
I wouldn't expect you to realize that, given that you're Archie Bunker in real life.
#34. To: sneakypete (#33)
Better Archie than Meathead,Meathead.
#35. To: sneakypete (#33)
Better Archie than Meathead,Meathead.
#36. To: meguro (#35)
And I bet you wanted to jump Sally Struther's bones back in the day. :-)
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