11/22/2011

The Super-Duper Committee Fails to Fuck Up the Economy Even Worse:
So what the fuck was that, that congressional Supercommittee bullshit? Was it just, as Jonathan Chait says, a beard for President Obama and John Boehner so that they could maintain the appearance of being action stars to their bases while still secretly buggering Keynesians behind the Capitol? (No, that doesn't make actual sense, but it's funny, so go with it.)

It was never gonna succeed in doing anything for one simple reason and one simple reason alone: Republicans just don't give a fuck. If you believe, as Republicans do, that it's better to cut Medicare and Medicaid and Social Security and education and the environment and food safety than to raise taxes a little on the rich, then you don't give a fuck. If you believe that a compromise that gives you nearly every cut you want but still raises taxes just a smidgen is a capitulation to liberal/socialist/satanic goals, then you not only don't give a fuck, you are a sociopath.

So now, as it was designed, the sequestering occurs, with cuts in social programs, the expiration of the Bush tax cuts, and, heavens to Betsy, defense budget cuts, all because Republicans can't, can't, can't, no-way, no-how raise a fuckin' penny on revenue. The best we can say is, "Well, at least the Democrats didn't make a deal that fucks things up even worse."

(And let's not toast defense budget cuts too much, unless you've got an idea for all the jobs that'll be lost there. The Rude Pundit can't make the leap to say that the family of the guy who cleans the toilets at Raytheon should go hungry just because his work prevents weapons makers from getting e.Coli.)

That's some fuckin' pledge that Grover Norquist made with nearly every Republican; it must have been signed in blood and accompanied by a photo of each signing Congress person with Norquist's cock in their mouth, just to be safe. By the way, you wanna talk about people who don't give a fuck? The Rude Pundit's faced Norquist, talked to him even, looked into his dark eyes, and that bastard is all cold evil, through and through, totally and utterly unflappable. If a Congressman crosses him, you can bet that Norquist is gonna appear at the foot of his bed with a razor and a smile.

So the supercommittee failed. We knew that was gonna happen the second the debt ceiling deal was made. And now we can say, pretty damn assuredly, that the defense cuts won't happen. Because they won't. Because someone's gotta have some courage at some point for it to happen, and (non-Bernie Sanders) courage is in short supply as we descend into the ever-looming election season, which is now every season.