por admin » Lun Ago 01, 2011 7:41 am
El triunfo del tea party
El acuerdo de la deuda es una victoria rara, bipartidaria para las fuerzas que promueven un gobierno mas pequenio
Un buen acuerdo politico es uno que tiene algo que todos pueden odiar, por eso el acuerdo bipartidario de anoche es un triunfo. El resultaod final es mejor de lo que parecia era posible obtener en dias recientes, especialmente dada la revuelta de algunos conservadores del partido republicano (GOP) que le dieron a la Casa Blanca y a los democratas mas ventaja.
Lo importante es que el acuerdo es una victoria para la causa de un gobierno mas pequenio, esta es la reforma mas grande desde la reforma de los servicios de beneficencia de 1996. Este acuerdo no incluye ningun aumento de impuestos, a pesar de las demandas de Obama hechas inclusive el dia Lunes. Los recortes de gastos inmediatos son recortes reales, un poco mas pequenios de lo que queriamos ver, y los recortes a largo plazo pueden ser reales si los republicanos ganan el manejo del Congreso y continuan poniendole techo a los gastos del gobierno.
El acuerdo recorta $900 billones en gastos domesticos dicrecionarios (lo que queda despues de pagar los gastos esenciales) durante los proximos 10 anios. Si los recortes se realizan, repararian algo del danio hecho por el estimulo de Obama-Pelosi a la situacion fiscal del p ais. Este no es un logro pequenio considerando que los Republicanos no controlan ni el Senado ni la Casa Blanca, y resalta cuando de la victoria del pasado Noviembre ha cambiado la discusion de la situacion fiscal de US.
Por eso los democratas estan llorando. Ellos habian llegado a creer que podian seguir gastando indefinidamente por controlar el gobierno. Ya no mas.
La segunda fase del acuerdo es menos claro, ambos partidos estaran representados con tres miembros en un comite especial que recomendara reduccion de deficit en el vecindario de $1,2 trillones y $1,5 trillones durante los proximos 10 anios. Su poer es amplio y se revisaran casi todas las areas, por lo menos 7 de los 12 miembros tendran que estar de acuerdo para que la propuesta final pase a votacion en el Congreso.
Si el comite no puede ponerse de acuerdo acerca de la reduccion del deficit, tendran que recortarse gastos para lograr el minimo de gastos de $1.2 trillones minimo. Un punto clave es que si no se ponen de acuerdo, no se subiran los impuestos, como queria Obama este fin de semana.
En su lugar los recortes automaticos seran divididos de manera equitativa entre los sectores de defensa y no defensa. Por ejemplo, si el comite se pone de acuerdo en una reduccion de solo $600 billones, entonces otros $300 billones seran cortados automaticamente de las cuentas domesticas y de defensa, excluyendo Medicare hasta por $1.2 trillones.
Esta provision es un incentivo para que el comite y los dos partidos lleguen a un acuerdo respecto a los recortes, pero un recorte de esa magnitud al sector defensa haria mucho danio a la seguridad nacional. Esta es la peor parte del acuerdo y Obama tratara de presionar a los republicanos a excoger entre aumento de impuestos o recortes en defensa. Los republicanos tendran que pelear muy duro entre perjudicar el crecimiento de la economia al subir impuestos o las tropas que estan peleando multiples guerras.
El tea party tiene que estar orgulloso por pegarse a la Constitucion, la cual tiene la intencio de hacer el cambio politico muy dificil. Aun en este acuerdo el tea party forzo a los dos partidos a hacer el mayor recorte de gastos en 15 anios, con mas recortes el proximo anio. US se lanzo a un debate epico sobre el tamanio y alcance del gobierno que durara por varios anios, y la mas importantes batalla seran las elecciones del 2012.
El tea party hara mas por su causa aplaudiendo esta victoria y seguir trabajando en el proximo proyecto que criticando lo que se ha conseguido ayer, porque es verdad, no resuelve todos los problemas fiscales del pais.
A Tea Party Triumph
The debt deal is a rare bipartisan victory for the forces of smaller government
If a good political compromise is one that has something for everyone to hate, then last night's bipartisan debt-ceiling deal is a triumph. The bargain is nonetheless better than what seemed achievable in recent days, especially given the revolt of some GOP conservatives that gave the White House and Democrats more political leverage.
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The big picture is that the deal is a victory for the cause of smaller government, arguably the biggest since welfare reform in 1996. Most bipartisan budget deals trade tax increases that are immediate for spending cuts that turn out to be fictional. This one includes no immediate tax increases, despite President Obama's demand as recently as last Monday. The immediate spending cuts are real, if smaller than we'd prefer, and the longer-term cuts could be real if Republicans hold Congress and continue to enforce the deal's spending caps.
The framework (we haven't seen all the details) calls for an initial step of some $900 billion in domestic discretionary cuts over 10 years from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) baseline puffed up by recent spending. If the cuts hold, this would go some way to erasing the fiscal damage from the Obama-Nancy Pelosi stimulus. This is no small achievement considering that Republicans control neither the Senate nor the White House, and it underscores how much the GOP victory in November has reshaped the U.S. fiscal debate.
No wonder liberals are howling. They have come to believe in the upward spending ratchet, under which all spending increases are permanent. Not any more.
The second phase of the deal is less clear cut, though it also could turn out to shrink Leviathan. Party leaders in both houses of Congress will each appoint three Members to a special committee that will recommend another round of deficit reduction of between $1.2 trillion and $1.5 trillion, also over 10 years. Their mandate is broad, and we're told very little is off the table, but at least seven of the 12 Members would have to agree on a package to force an up-or-down vote in Congress.
If the committee can't agree on enough deficit reduction, then automatic spending cuts would ensue to make up the difference to reach the $1.2 trillion minimum deficit-reduction target. One key point is that the committee's failure to agree would not automatically "trigger" (in Beltway parlance) revenue increases, as the White House was insisting on as recently as this weekend. That would have guaranteed that Democrats would never agree to enough cuts, and Republicans were right to resist.
Instead the automatic cuts would be divided equally between defense and nondefense. So, for example, if the committee agrees to deficit reduction of only $600 billion, then another $300 billion would be cut automatically from defense and domestic accounts (excluding Medicare beneficiaries) to reach at least $1.2 trillion.
This trigger is intended to be an incentive for committee Members of both parties to agree on more cuts, but defense cuts of this magnitude would do far more harm to national security than they would to domestic accounts that have been fattened by stimulus. This is the worst part of the deal, and Mr. Obama's political goal will be to press Republicans to choose between tax increases and destructive defense cuts. The GOP will have to fight back and make the choice between domestic cuts and harm to our troops fighting multiple wars.
While the "trigger" includes no revenue increases, the committee itself could agree to raise taxes to meet the $1.2 trillion deficit reduction target. This means GOP leaders Mitch McConnell and John Boehner have to be especially careful in their choice of appointees. No one from the Senate Gang of Six, who proposed tax increases, need apply. The GOP choices should start with Arizona Senator Jon Kyl and House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan, adding four others who will follow their lead.
One reason to think tax increases are unlikely, however, is that the 12-Member committee will operate from CBO's baseline that assumes that the Bush tax rates expire in 2013. CBO assumes that taxes will rise by $3.5 trillion over the next decade, including huge increases for middle-class earners. Since any elimination of those tax increases would increase the deficit under CBO's math, the strong incentive for the Members will be to avoid the tax issue. This increases the political incentive for deficit reduction to come from spending cuts.
Mr. Obama's biggest gain in the deal is that he gets his highest priority of not having to repeat this debt-limit fight again before the 2012 election. The deal stipulates that the debt ceiling will rise automatically by $900 billion this year, and at least $1.2 trillion next year, unless two-thirds of Congress disapproves it. Congress will not do so.
Given how much the current debate has damaged the public perception of Mr. Obama's leadership, this will be a relief at the White House. This is part of the negotiating price that Mr. Boehner had to pay because of the back-bench revolt that showed he couldn't guarantee a debt-limit increase with only GOP votes. This gave Democrats more leverage.
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The same supposedly conservative Republicans and their talk radio minders may denounce this deal as a sellout, but we'll be charitable and assume they've climbed so far out on the political ledge they don't know how to climb back without admitting they were wrong. They're right that this deal doesn't "solve" our fiscal crisis, but no such deal is possible as long as liberals run the Senate and White House.
The debt ceiling is a political hostage the GOP could never afford to shoot, and this deal is about the best Republicans could have hoped for given that the limit had to be raised. The Jim DeMint-Michele Bachmann-Sean Hannity alternative of refusing to raise the debt limit without a balanced-budget amendment and betting that Mr. Obama would get all the blame vanishes upon contact with any thought. Sooner or later the GOP had to give up the hostage.
The tea partiers pride themselves on adhering to the Constitution, which was intended to make political change difficult. Yet in this deal they've forced both parties to make the biggest spending cuts in 15 years, with more cuts likely next year. The U.S. is engaged in an epic debate over the size and scope of government that will play out over several years, and the most important battle comes in the election of 2012.
Tea partiers will do more for their cause by applauding this victory and working toward the next, rather than diminishing what they've accomplished because it didn't solve every fiscal problem in one impossible swoop.