The great compromise

Well, it appears that our President pulled off the great compromise.  He managed to give everything the other side wanted, and got nothing in return.  Pretty clever fella we have there.  Not only that, but he then went on to set up a new situation where it is impossible for him to win anything more.

He agreed to cut 1.5 trillion in return for nothing, no elimination of tax breaks, no increased revenue, no nothing.  However, he did say that he is willing to "negotiate" away the rest of the things that we want such as medicare, social security, etc. 

He set up a new committee to figure out how to reduce the spending by another 2.5 trillion.  This committee will be made up of 12 people, six of which have pledged to not allow any additional "taxes" or revenue sources no matter what.  If they don't reach a "compromise" then the cuts will automatically be made across the board.  That is exactly what the Republicans have been asking for.  All that these six need to do is say "no" and they will get the rest of what they wanted to achieve in the first place.  Huge cuts, no new revenues, continue giving the rich huge tax benefits, putting the burden of paying for a minimal government on the middle and lower income folks.   

This move removes any doubt that I had about Obama.  He has always said that he believes in the Chicago School of economics which says that to make the economy "work" all money possible should go to big business, all regulations should be removed, and all taxes abolished - this allows the "free market" to function, resulting in the greatest good for the most folks automatically.  For a fuller description of their approach to the economy the book, "The Shock Doctrine" makes interesting reading. It explains this approach to making the rich richer and the poor poorer very clear.

The idea is that any restrictions to an unrestricted "free" market will hinder the economy to work its behind the scenes magic. Regulations and taxes are restrictive, therefore they should be abolished.   So now I know that he was serious, his is extremely conservative fiscally just like he says he is.  However, in order to understand what he is saying, you have to be able to identify and understand the "code words" used by the Chicago Boys.  He said he believes that the government only gets in the way of the free market, and apparently he meant it.  When working on economic issues, he is much more like a right wing Republican than a Democrat.  It is hard to tell where he stands with social issues since he hasn't done much with those.  He seems to be willing to whittle away at SS and Medicare, so I have to think he is pretty conservative there too.    

It is my opinion that he is a wolf in sheep's clothing.