Hypocrisy in Congress is outrageous, infuriating
Trying to get a straight answer out of Republicans and Democrats is impossible these days.
The lack of sincerity in Washington, D.C., was palpable Tuesday. Over and over, I could not get a single elected official I spoke with, neither Republican nor Democrat, to give me even one idea for cutting spending right now. Not one.
I made tons of suggestions that could be implemented Wednesday.
Why do we have huge military bases in Japan and Europe? These are just leftovers from another era. There are whole defense projects that not even the Defense Department wants.
How about farm subsidies? Ethanol subsidies? Nope.
How about Medicare negotiating with drug companies? Nope. I heard from one poll that the drug companies might move elsewhere. Where? We are the only country that lets them gouge us. I heard that the drug companies wouldn't feel compelled to spend money to develop new drugs. I wanted to scream: Did you ever hear about patent cliffs?
Outrageous.
The Republicans were absolutely no better than the Democrats. In fact, they were worse. When I stipulated that I am not interested in talking about raising revenues because they say over and over that the issue is spending, they still talked about raising revenues. When I insisted that they talk about what they say they insisted on talking about, they wouldn't. They simply wouldn't.
I could never get away with that level of hypocrisy.
Ever.
Infuriating.
I came away thinking that there is nothing the Republicans won't do to be sure that the 2% don't pay more, including throw people out of work and make everyone else pay, which is what's going to happen if they don't compromise.
And the president? He has no serious plan to cut spending either -- but at least he is willing to give something that helps balance the budget (read on TheStreet).
I am going to repeat this so it is really clear: NO Republican offered me anything to cut spending in the near-term. Not one.
If you are serious about spending cuts, you have to be able to offer one.
My conclusion: Republicans aren't any more serious than Democrats are, but at least the Democrats are asking someone to help solve the deficit, the cohort that got the big break on taxes when things weren't so hot.
Jim Cramer is a co-founder of TheStreet and contributes daily market commentary to the financial news network's sites. Follow his trades for Action Alerts PLUS, which Cramer co-manages as a charitable trust.
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"I could never get away with that level of hypocrisy.
Ever."
THE most hypocritical statement of the year from a man who sells his stock picks for $700 a year for a fund that has been in profit 2 or 3 times in the last 11 years !! It claims to be "charitable" trust but you cannot find any record of donations on its SEC filings!
As for the cliff bullish*t --- I am tired off it - it is just the usual media scaremongering that the world will end if XYZ fails to happen and I (insert columnist/pundit name here) am the man or women to guide you through the morass (for a small fee) ........... I am sure they are working on the next "crisis" to keep us running scared. My guess is it will be Asia or Latin America as they have not been used for a while !!!
Bargaining and Compromise are Now Insanity
Demanding that the U.S. Congress and the Whitehouse continue the decades long corrupt Washington practice of compromising to “get a deal done” by bargaining away our liberties, is the very embodiment of insanity. This is the regimen that has evolved the federal government into the resource consuming monster we endure today; consuming our lives with each successful fear based appeal to the public to effectively maintain the suicidal status quo.
The fiscal cliff is the latest from the Washington panic circus and a complicit press. An economic model dependent on federal spending (taxing and printing money) is institutionally corrupt and weak. Each of us is responsible for our own lives. The answers will come from WE THE PEOPLE within the context of our local communities. Who better knows what is needed and where?
Let us not humor these hooligans any further. If you want to make a lasting positive difference, get your congressional delegation to reduce taxes and cut federal spending even more. Demand they no longer vote for any increases in the debt limit. This will automatically force the President into responsible allocation of EXISTING revenues.
Jim, your thinly disguisded liberal tendencies are showing. Why don't you just come out of the closet and fully support our "Dear Leader" in bringing this country to its fiscal knees.
Obama started this thing with a very hardball position. Do you really expect congressional Republicans to give in to his demands early in the process? If they did, no spending cuts at all would happen.
You know better!
If you tax the rich as the President wants, you pay the Annual Debt for 8 days out of the year. That is 2.19% of the Annual Debt we are in.
Where will we cut the other 98% to balance the budget? Take it out of Jim's "Charitable Trust"? No way. Take it from Buffet? No way. Take it eventually from the Middle Class. Hey now Mr. President there is an idea. That way you won't have to cut any spending and get all the taxes you want. You can now have your cake and eat it too!!!
This President is the lamest person we have ever had as President. Sans Jimmy Carter.
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