Who’s to blame for fiscal cliff? You.

[vy65]

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/whos-to-blame-for-fiscal-cliff-you-2012-12-28

Not sure that I entirely agree with the analysis. But given people's desire to talk about inconsequential shit (they're a comin' for my guns!!!), I think there's some merit.

[Wild Cobra]

No, it's because voters let politicians buy their vote.

[vy65]

Insightful view. Thanks!!!

[DMC]

It has nothing to do with what we talk about. We're not in power, not even close. What people talk about doesn't affect how I do my job, why should it affect how congress does theirs?

[Wild Cobra]

It has nothing to do with what we talk about. We're not in power, not even close. What people talk about doesn't affect how I do my job, why should it affect how congress does theirs?
Just about everything congress does is for their power. they don't give a rip about us. Only our vote.

[boutons_deux]

the fiscal cliff is a total fabrication, totally unnecessary, just like the debt limit.

Why Republicans Don't Care What the Nation Thinks

Democrats are confident that even if the nation technically goes over the cliff January 1, Boehner will bring such a bill to the floor soon after January 3 — once House Republicans have re-elected him Speaker – and it will get passed.
But this assumes Boehner and the GOP will be any more swayed by public opinion than they are now.

Public opinion is already running strongly in favor of President Obama and the Democrats, and against the GOP. In the latest CNN/ORC poll, 48 percent say they’ll blame Republicans if no deal is reached while 37 percent blame Obama. Confidence in congressional Republicans is hovering at about 30 percent; Obama is enjoying the confidence of 46 percent. And over half of all Americans think the GOP is too extreme.

Yet Republicans haven’t budged. The fact is, they may not care a hoot about the opinions of most Americans.

That’s because the national party is in disarray. Boehner isn’t worried about a challenge to his leadership; no challenger has emerged. The real issue is neither he nor anyone else is in charge of the GOP. Romney’s loss, along with the erosion of their majority in the House and Democratic gains in the Senate, has left a vacuum at the top.

House Republicans don’t run nationally. They run only in their own districts — which, because of gerrymandering, are growing even more purely Republican. Their major concern is being reelected in 2014, and their biggest potential obstacle in their way is a primary challenge from the right.

The combination of a weakened national party and more intense competition in primaries is making the Republican Party relatively impervious to national opinion.

Democrats are confident that even if the nation technically goes over the cliff January 1, Boehner will bring such a bill to the floor soon after January 3 — once House Republicans have re-elected him Speaker – and it will get passed.
But this assumes Boehner and the GOP will be any more swayed by public opinion than they are now.

Public opinion is already running strongly in favor of President Obama and the Democrats, and against the GOP. In the latest CNN/ORC poll, 48 percent say they’ll blame Republicans if no deal is reached while 37 percent blame Obama. Confidence in congressional Republicans is hovering at about 30 percent; Obama is enjoying the confidence of 46 percent. And over half of all Americans think the GOP is too extreme.

Yet Republicans haven’t budged. The fact is, they may not care a hoot about the opinions of most Americans.

That’s because the national party is in disarray. Boehner isn’t worried about a challenge to his leadership; no challenger has emerged. The real issue is neither he nor anyone else is in charge of the GOP. Romney’s loss, along with the erosion of their majority in the House and Democratic gains in the Senate, has left a vacuum at the top.

House Republicans don’t run nationally. They run only in their own districts — which, because of gerrymandering, are growing even more purely Republican. Their major concern is being reelected in 2014, and their biggest potential obstacle in their way is a primary challenge from the right.

The combination of a weakened national party and more intense competition in primaries is making the Republican Party relatively impervious to national opinion.

http://robertreich.org/post/39020721747

[vy65]

It has nothing to do with what we talk about. We're not in power, not even close. What people talk about doesn't affect how I do my job, why should it affect how congress does theirs?

The public discourse writ large and here specifically is saturated with gun fever.

You may not be in power, but to think that the public discourse has no affect on Washington is beyond stupid.

[boutons_deux]

The public discourse writ large and here specifically is saturated with gun fever.

You may not be in power, but to think that the public discourse has no affect on Washington is beyond stupid.

The Repugs used the 2010 Census opportunity to gerrymander so significantly they lost the 2012 Congressional elections by 500K votes and still held the house.

Americans are almost 100% disenfranchised by the 1%/VRWC/UCA. Politicians seek office to become (more) wealthy, not to serve their constituents, and certainly not the country.

[boutons_deux]

So this WSJ writer is blaming the fiscal cliff on citizens who voted in Repugs financed by Wall St who also financed/dictated to the bogus Tea Baggers and their lies about "govt taking over health care" and blatant racism, not the Repugs and what those Repugs have done (refused to raise the debt limit and created the fiscal cliff bill) and obstructed since getting voted in?