tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6926413038778731189.post6387901204700673152..comments2023-10-16T07:13:12.123-05:00Comments on A plain blog about politics: How Should Dem Pols on the Deficit Commission Play It?Jonathan Bernsteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15931039630306253241noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6926413038778731189.post-57532772475991686952010-12-01T13:15:45.712-06:002010-12-01T13:15:45.712-06:00I agree with with Jeff. There need to be prominent...I agree with with Jeff. There need to be prominent, tv-friendly Democrats who stake out a position well to the "left" of Obama, and need to be willing to hold their ground on the responsible position in order to get anything done at all. The deficit commission was mostly a waste of time. Democrats shouldn't play along unless the Republicans are going to vote for it in equal numbers.<br /><br />So--maybe the best outcome would be for people not in Congress (Andy Stern, etc.) to vote for it, while Congressional Dems say that they're not going to vote for something without equal support from the other side.Louisnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6926413038778731189.post-91257273571404984152010-12-01T12:57:59.838-06:002010-12-01T12:57:59.838-06:00On the narrow question here, I agree it's a cl...On the narrow question here, I agree it's a close call. But since it's a close call, we should probably step back from the narrow question and look at the bigger picture. There's one party that can never be too extreme, in the eyes of the Broderite pundit class, to disqualify itself as a serious party of government. There's another party that can never compromise enough in the eyes of that same class to establish the legitimacy of its policies. There's a president who fetishizes compromise and bipartisanship for their own sake, and almost no prominent politicians who forthrightly say what needs to be said, i.e. the kinds of things what Robert Reich, Paul Krugman and Brad DeLong (and Ron E. above) have been saying -- like, <i>Are you all crazy? Why are you even TALKING about deficits when government credit is high, demand is too low, the output gap is enormous, the national infrastructure is crumbling, and long-term unemployment is worse than it's been since the Great Depression??</i> What we need are politicians saying "Stop the insanity," and if that job falls to the Dems on the Deficit Commission, so be it.Jeffnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6926413038778731189.post-6747353205960599052010-12-01T12:31:16.400-06:002010-12-01T12:31:16.400-06:00Elite-level deficit scolds are just people who wan...Elite-level deficit scolds are just people who want to cut spending, and the deficit is the cudgel they use for their argument.<br /><br />Are there a few people actually serious about the deficit above basic size-of-government/tax rate concerns? Yes. But they're exceeding few in number. People care about taxes and spending. The deficit comes #3 to those things.Matt Jarvisnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6926413038778731189.post-50974289848188211902010-12-01T11:57:42.406-06:002010-12-01T11:57:42.406-06:00They should all vote no because doing anything abo...They should all vote no because doing anything about the deficit with 9.6% unemployment and extremely low interest rates on Federal debt is insane.Ron E.noreply@blogger.com