In one of the least shocking developments of the month, Reuters reports that Democrats on the “super committee” are proposing to raise taxes and spend $300 billion more on stimulus as part of a $2.5 trillion to $3 trillion deficit reduction package. Sure, they’re also theoretically proposing $400 billion in Medicare cuts, but don’t let that fool you.
What Democrats are doing is playing the exact same game as President Obama played with House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, during the debt limit talks, when he made an offer Boehner couldn’t accept, and then leaked it to the press. In both cases, the point is to feign a willingness to offer cuts to entitlements, and then impose unacceptable conditions on Republicans in attempt to paint them as being intransigent.
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The “super committee” idea was a stupid one from the get go, because it was inevitable they’d run into the same problems that prompted its creation in the first place. Democrats won’t agree to any entitlement cuts without massive tax increases (and now stimulus spending too, evidently) and Republicans won’t accept tax increases. The committee is a pointless political exercise.
