(Note--this is a rapid reaction to Obama's press conference on November 21 regarding the lack of a budget deal from Congress. It will be shorter and less sourced than other posts typically are, and may well have revisions subsequently.)
Obama's brief (about 4 minute) press conference this afternoon had only one purpose--for him to use his bully pulpit as President to get out his approved message, namely that the failure for a supercommittee solution to the mandated $1.2 trillion cuts is all the Republicans' fault.
However, the truth of the matter is that both sides showed an unwillingness to sacrifice certain sacred cows, though the intransigence is greater on the left. The Republicans did include a proposal for a tax increase of as much as $300 billion dollars, which is a major concession on their part. The Democrats on the committee, to my knowledge, did not advance or approve of any idea that included a similar amount of cuts to entitlement programs.
As detailed on this blog in a prior post, the current budget problem is one of spending, not revenue. Tax, tax, and tax some more, but there is not sufficient income by the top 1% (who apparently have trees that really do grow unlimited sums of money, according to the continued Democratic delusion that taxing the rich will provide a bottomless supply of cash for their programs), even if confiscated in toto, that can solve the deficit problem. There would have to be significant tax hikes on the middle class as well to support the current budget projections, yet alone actually decrease the debt.
Make no mistake, Obama will use this as a campaign talking point next year. Congress, especially the Republicans, blocked his earnest efforts to fix this problem. This is crap, but the media will dutifully report it as gospel truth. The key is to spread the word that taxes cannot solve this problem, that an axe must be taken to the federal budget, and that Republican control of one half of Congress does not excuse the utter failures of Obama and the Democrats who control the other half of Congress, not to mention control of both branches of government in 2009-10, and succeeded only in digging a bigger financial hole.
