Quote of the Day...

Today's quote is from an unnamed “senior Democrat” on the topic of the coming “tax cliff” – the expiration at the end of 2012 of the Bush tax cuts.  Recall that last year the Democrats and the Republicans passed yet another funding extension bill, but this one included an incentive for the two to compromise on a real funding bill: the “sequestration” that would automatically impose big cuts in defense and other discretionary spending if the two sides didn't agree.

They did not agree.  Sequestration is looming (at the end of this year).

There's the context.  Here's the quote from our unnamed “senior Democrat”:

“We structured the sequester in a way that would be more comfortable for us than for Republicans.”

The Democrats are expecting that the Republicans will just roll over and give up when threatened with across-the-board cuts to the Defense Department's budget.

And they may be right.

It's things like this that bring on the doom mood...

What He Said...

Yesterday I watched with dismay and disgust Obama's comments dismissing the achievements of entrepreneurs.  Today I read about Paul Ryan's reaction, including this excerpt:

His comments seem to derive from a naive vision of a government-centered society and a government-directed economy. It stems from an idea that the nucleus of society and the economy is government not the people. … It is antithetical to the American idea. We believe in free communities, and this is a statist attack on free communities. … As all of his big government spending programs fail to restore jobs and growth.

I couldn't find a complete transcript or video of the talk this excerpt was taken from.  But he's speaking for me here...