The Bernie Buster and other observations on the tax cuts

On Friday, Senator Bernie Sanders (I, VT) brought back the traditional filibuster in a new way. Going on for almost eight and half non-stop hours of speaking, Sanders brought his case to the floor for why the tax "compromise" (I put that in quotes because it is hardly a compromise since it gives the Republicans exactly what they want) should be defeated.

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These are just clips of the speech, but it was outstanding. Senator Sanders is the voice of the progressive movement in the Senate, and he is the voice of reason of right now. This show of strength and conviction proves that the president's own party isn't afraid to go against the him. I hope the president was listening and won't do the stupid thing he has been doing by pushing back against his base.

On the other hand, we have the Republicans arguing that we need the tax breaks for the rich, but at the same time they don't want the debt to go up. Hearing that makes me want to pull my hair out and ask them "HOW THE HECK IS THAT POSSIBLE?!" Extending the cuts for the top 2% adds to the debt somehow pay for themselves. I'm wondering how these people ever passed Economics 101. If you cut the revenue, it increases the debt if you don't compensate for it by cutting spending. So here's the rub, the Republicans will use this along with the cuts to payroll taxes to start defudning Social Security since it seems to be the bane of all right's existance. And if that happens, you will see the working and middle classes rise up against the government.

The irony behind all of this is that the "compromise" has recently united two unlikely parties, the progressive base of the Democratic party and their counter parts on the right, the Tea Party. A coalition of Tea Parties and Progressives could kill the bill in Congress, which would be the true sign of bipartisanship. I would love this to happen. Both sides want to take America back to it's fundemental roots, Tea Partiers want smaller government, Progressives want government for the everyday person, not businesses and the rich. We'll see how it plays out tomorrow.