Senate Democrats: Back to Reckless Deficit Spending!

By Bob L.

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By John Hayward
11/23/2011

Your money is burning a hole in their pockets.

The corpse of the Super Committee was not even cold before Democrats tore off their silly “deficit hawk” disguises and got back to spending your money like water.  As reported by The Hill, they’re itching to throw another $400 billion on the national debt, as quickly as possible:

After failing to reach a deal to reduce the deficit, the Senate will move next month to take up legislation that could add more than $400 billion to the deficit. All of the proposals, such as the extension of the payroll tax cut and unemployment insurance, are popular but there’s no agreement on how to pay for them. Senate Democrats will go on offense next week by forcing Republicans to vote on extending and expanding the payroll tax cut, which accounts for $240 billion of the tab, according to Democratic and Republican aides. Lawmakers will take up the legislation after completing work on the Defense authorization bill.

That payroll tax cut of Obama’s is a strange beast, isn’t it?  He managed to find the one tax cut that really does make the deficit worse, without any appreciable offsetting gain to productivity.  That’s one reason Democrats are so desperately in love with it.  By pushing the great Obama Payroll Tax Cut front and center, and highlight its negative effect on the deficit, they smear all tax cuts as deficit bombs through guilt by association.  It’s pretty much the only way they can hide the Laffer Curve.

Also, since the Obama Payroll Tax Cut comes out of Social Security, which is already a tottering insolvency mountain of nearly inconceivable height, Democrats see this as “free money” they can shower on the peasants to buy their votes.  Actual broad-based growth-oriented tax relief, and meaningful tax reform, continues to horrify them.  Barney Frank​, the man who nearly crashed the financial system of the planet, is bursting with undisguised glee that the failure of the Super Committee could spell the end of the Bush tax cuts – and that’s going to cost everyone a hell of a lot more than Obama’s little payroll tax cut.

As usual, Democrats think their irresponsible deficit spending is actually an irresistible argument for tax increases, and they’re dragging out their festive holiday class-war sledgehammers to drive the point home:

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has yet to announce an offset for the measure but he has discussed matching it with a tax increase for millionaires. Such a vote would be intended to hammer home the message that Republicans are out to protect the rich, though it leaves Democrats vulnerable to arguments about class warfare.   It is the opening maneuver in what will be a busy month that will likely keep lawmakers in Washington up until Christmas.   Democrats are contemplating a separate vote on extending unemployment benefits, which they do not plan to offset. This would put Republicans in the tough position of blocking popular benefits at a time when the unemployment rate is 9 percent.   Unlike with the deficit-reduction supercommittee, failing to complete the December agenda will have immediate consequences. Families would see their tax bill increase by an average of $1,000; laid-off workers would lose unemployment benefits; doctors would see steep cuts in Medicare payments and corporations would see billions of dollars in tax breaks vanish.

How much are these Christmas goodies going to cost?

Extending unemployment benefits for one year will cost $44 billion, spread over two years.   Patching the Alternative Minimum Tax to keep middle-class families from its snare will cost roughly $70 billion for one year.   Saving doctors from scheduled cuts in Medicare payments for one year will cost $22 billion.   Extending expiring business tax provisions, including the research and development tax credit, will cost between $30 billion and $40 billion.

That adds up to about $177 billion, which Barack Obama​ spends every 18 days.  It’s about 5% of the amount Obama has already added to the national debt.  Surely we could ask the President to put aside five percent agenda to fuel such worthy initiatives, couldn’t we?

Not a chance!  Heaven forbid we try to offset those unemployment benefits with cuts anywhere else in our bloated government!  No, every penny of that $3.6 trillion deficit-fueled Obama monstrosity is absolutely vital, so the only way to fund more spending is to jack up taxes and collapse the private sector further.

Harry Reid already bought you a death spiral for Christmas, and he’s got it all gift-wrapped and ready to go.  Be sure not to throw away the wrapping paper, because the bill for your “present” is tucked inside.