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	<title>FrontPage Magazine &#187; negotiation</title>
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		<title>Iran: The 9-Step Plan to &#8216;Eliminate&#8217; Israel</title>
		<link>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2014/majid-rafizadeh/iran-the-9-step-plan-to-eliminate-israel/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=iran-the-9-step-plan-to-eliminate-israel</link>
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		<pubDate>Mon, 17 Nov 2014 05:54:30 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Majid Rafizadeh]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Daily Mailer]]></category>
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		<description><![CDATA[How Obama's nuclear negotiations have made the Islamic Republic more fearless than ever. ]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/khamenei-880329-3-000.jpg"><img class="alignleft  wp-image-245347" src="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/khamenei-880329-3-000-380x350.jpg" alt="khamenei-880329-3-000" width="306" height="282" /></a>President Barack Obama appears to be determined to reward the ruling clerics in the Islamic Republic for its “good” behavior by engaging in nuclear negations.</p>
<p>In addition, President Obama has created the narrative that the Islamic Republic is in a weaker position in the nuclear negotiations because the Iranians want sanctions to be lifted against them. But what we witness in reality is that every time that the Islamic Republic rejects any deal that does not comply with its objectives, President Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry keep coming back with a new deal to satisfy the Iranian leaders. If the Islamic Republic is the weaker actor in these negotiations, then why are the rules of the nuclear deal not being set based on the p5+1 criteria?</p>
<p>John Kerry has been holding bilateral talks with the Russians and French in order to make sure that a final nuclear deal can be reached between the P5+1 (China, France, Germany, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States) and the Islamic Republic. Additionally, President Barack Obama seems to be determined.</p>
<p>President Obama has also recently written a secret letter &#8212; revealed by the <span style="color: #0433ff;"><a href="http://online.wsj.com/articles/obama-wrote-secret-letter-to-irans-khamenei-about-fighting-islamic-state-1415295291">Wall Street Journal</a> &#8211;</span> to Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, implying the shared regional interests that the Islamic Republic and the United States bear in the Middle East. The letter appears to be asking the Supreme Leader to grasp the opportunity and seal the final nuclear deal, which would result in the lifting of sanctions against the Islamic Republic.</p>
<p>Apparently, President Obama is determined to strike the final nuclear deal and to make friends with enemies in other parts of the world in order to add to his superficial Middle East achievements.</p>
<p>But the crucial question is whether these rewards, and diplomatic leniency towards Iranian politicians and leaders, have resulted in creating or reinforcing good behavior in the Islamic Republic.</p>
<p>Most recently, Ayatollah Khamenei <a href="https://twitter.com/khamenei_ir/status/531366667377717248/photo/1"><span style="color: #0433ff;">published</span></a> a nine-step plan that would “eliminate” Israel. In response to the question “What is the most urgent action to take to militarily confront Israel?” the Supreme Leader points out, “The West bank should be armed like Gaza and those who are interested in Palestine’s destiny should take action to arm the people of he West bank, so that the sorrows and grieves (sic) of the Palestinian people will reduce in the light of their powerful hands and the weakness of the Zionist enemy.”</p>
<p>During a speech to university students in Tehran, Khamenei <a href="http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2014/07/khamenei-calls-palestinian-referendum-armed-resistance.html"><span style="color: #0433ff;">stated</span></a>, &#8220;If God willing, it is eradicated, even better, but while this fraudulent regime is there and not eradicated, what’s the cure? The cure is a strong and armed resistance against this regime. In confronting the Zionist regime, strength needs to be shown from the direction of the Palestinians.&#8221;</p>
<p>In addition, Iran’s Supreme Leader took to Twitter to call for the elimination of Israel. Khamenei tweeted a series of vitriolic anti-Israel tweets that called for the<a href="http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2014/11/09/barbaric-wolflike-and-infanticidal-khamanei-tweets-for-annihilation-of-israel/"><span style="color: #0433ff;"> elimination</span></a> of the “barbaric, wolflike &amp; infanticidal regime of Israel.”</p>
<p>Historically speaking, we have repeatedly witnessed that incentives and rewards do not elicit good behavior from the Islamic Republic and the ruling officials. For example, after the disclosure of the clandestine nuclear sites in 2002, not only did the Islamic Republic not pay any price for its covert operation, deception and fraudulence, but it was rewarded with hollow and ongoing negotiations in the international arena for the next decade, which fell right in the interest of the ruling clerics in the Islamic Republic.</p>
<p>Did the Islamic Republic appreciate these diplomatic negotiations for its deceptive tactic in nuclear proliferation? Well, history shows that Iranian leaders continued to install covert nuclear sites, one of which was revealed seven years later on September 21, 2009. So why we are not learning from history? When will President Obama recognize that the Islamic Republic will not wake up all of sudden and alter all its objetives, dishonesty and covert operations in nuclear fields?</p>
<p>After the 2009 disclosure, again the White House decided to use diplomatic avenues, which were followed by a flimsy and face-saving interim nuclear deal and the release of billions of dollars to the Iranian government hoping that it will give up on its nuclear objectives.</p>
<p>After a 2009 disclosure of another nuclear site by IAEA, Ayatollah Ali Khemnei, the senior cadre of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps, and the ruling clerics wanted to buy time. They were capable of stalling until now, while installing more centrifuges (currently 19,000) and obtaining high-level enriched uranium. Currently, the objective of the Islamic Republic is to strike a flimsy final and comprehensive nuclear deal that will lead to the lifting of sanctions. Simultaneously, Iran will cheat its way to obtain nuclear weapons because there is no way that IAEA and the international community would be capable of fully monitoring all nuclear activities and its nuances inside the Islamic Republic.</p>
<p>Incentives, removal of sanctions, and more respect are not going to change the behavior of the Islamic Republic. Apparently, rewarding the Islamic Republic has led to the emboldening of the Iranian government, increasing threats from its leaders, and the continuation of dishonesty. If we look at the dishonesty and deceptive strategies that Iranian leaders have utilized with regard to its nuclear program in the last decade, it becomes clear that this government is not going to give up its objectives of obtaining a nuclear bomb, give up exerting its regional hegemonic ambitions, proclaiming to be the leader of the Shiite and Muslims in the World, and give up its opposition to the US and Israel foreign policies in the region. The Islamic Republic is not solely a rational state actor based on the standards of international politics, but also an ideological state founded on the principles of the ruling clerics.</p>
<p><b>Freedom Center pamphlets now available on Kindle: </b><a href="http://www.amazon.com/s/ref%3dnb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&amp;field-keywords=david+horowitz&amp;rh=n:133140011%2ck:david+horowitz&amp;ajr=0#/ref=sr_st?keywords=david+horowitz&amp;qid=1316459840&amp;rh=n:133140011%2ck:david+horowitz&amp;sort=daterank" target="_blank"><b>Click here</b></a><b>. </b></p>
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		<title>Obama Midwifes a Nuclear Iran</title>
		<link>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2014/bruce-thornton/obama-midwifes-a-nuclear-iran/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=obama-midwifes-a-nuclear-iran</link>
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		<pubDate>Mon, 10 Nov 2014 05:45:33 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Bruce Thornton]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Daily Mailer]]></category>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.frontpagemag.com/?p=244867</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The president's Munich moment draws near. ]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/obama.png"><img class="alignleft  wp-image-244883" src="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/obama-419x350.png" alt="obama" width="340" height="284" /></a>The news that President Obama has sent a secret letter to Iranian leader Ayatollah Khamenei––apparently promising concessions on Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for help in defeating ISIS–– is a depressing reminder of how after nearly 40 years our leaders have not understood the Iranian Revolution. During the hostage crisis of 1979, Jimmy Carter sent left-wing former Attorney General Ramsay Clark to Tehran with a letter anxiously assuring the Ayatollah Khomeini that America desired good relations “based upon equality, mutual respect and friendship.” Khomeini refused even to meet with the envoys.</p>
<p>Such obvious contempt for our “outreach” should have been illuminating, but the same mistakes have recurred over the past 4 decades. But Obama has been the most energetic suitor of the mullahs, sending 4 letters to Khamenei, none directly answered. In May of 2009 he sent a personal letter to Khamenei calling for “cooperation in regional and bilateral relations.” Khamenei’s answer in June was to initiate a brutal crackdown on Iranians protesting the rigged presidential election. Obama’s response was to remain silent about this oppression lest he irritate the thuggish mullahs, who blamed the protests on American “agents” anyway. Even Carter’s phrase “mutual respect” has been chanted like some diplomatic spell that will transform religious fanatics into good global citizens. In his notorious June 2009 Cairo “apology” speech, Obama assured Iran, “We are willing to move forward without preconditions on the basis of mutual respect.” This latest letter repeats the same empty phrase.</p>
<p>But our president is nothing if not persistent. In October of 2009, it was revealed that Iran had failed to disclose a uranium enrichment facility in Qom. Obama commented on this obvious proof of Iran’s true intentions, “We remain committed to serious, meaningful engagement with Iran,” and promised that the “offer stands” of “greater international integration if [Iran] lives up to its obligations.” Iran answered by increasing the pace of enrichment, helping the insurgents in Iraq kill our troops, and facilitating the movement and communications of al Qaeda with other jihadists.</p>
<p style="color: #272727;"><span style="color: #000000;">Indeed, every concession and failure to respond forcefully to Iranian intransigence and aggression confirm its belief that Iran is strong and America weak. As Khamenei has said, </span>“The reason why we are stronger is that [America] retreats step by step in all the arenas [in] which we and the Americans have confronted each other. But we do not retreat. Rather, we move forward. This is a sign of our superiority over the Americans.”</p>
<p>Given this long sorry history, how long will it take for our foreign policy geniuses to figure out that Iran’s theocrats don’t want better relations, or “mutual respect,” or “international integration,” or anything else from the infidel Great Satan and its Western minions, other than capitulation? The mullahs and their Republican Guard henchmen may lust for wealth and power as much as anyone, but the foundation of their behavior is a religious faith that promises Muslims power and dominance over those who refuse the call to convert to Islam and thus by definition are enemies of the faithful to be resisted and destroyed.</p>
<p>Given these spiritual imperatives, the material punishment of the regime through economic sanctions, particularly limited ones, is unlikely to have much effect. During the hostage crisis, mild sanctions and the threats of more serious ones were brushed away by Khomeini. The <i>Economist</i> at the time pointed out the obvious reason why: “The denial of material things is unlikely to have much effect on minds suffused with immaterial things.” Khomeini made this same point after the humiliating disaster of Carter’s half-hearted attempt to rescue the hostages in April 1980, when mullahs were televised worldwide poking their canes in the charred remains of 8 dead Americans. Speaking of the sandstorm that compromised the mission, Khomeini preached, “Those sand particles were divinely commissioned . . . Carter still has not comprehended what kind of people he is facing and what school of thought he is playing with. Our people is the people of blood and our school is the school of Jihad.”</p>
<p>With their eyes on Allah’s intentions for the faithful, the leaders of Iran see the acquisition of nuclear weapons as the most important means of achieving the global power and dominance their faith tells them they deserve as “the best of nations produced for mankind,” as the Koran says. Thus duplicitous diplomatic engagement and negotiation are tactics for buying time until the mullahs reach “nuclear latency,” the ability quickly to build a bomb. Every concession or offer of bribes from the West are seen not as an inducement to reciprocate in order to meet a mutually beneficial arrangement, but rather as signs of weakness and failure of nerve, evidence that the mullahs can win despite the power and wealth of the West. That’s because the Iranian leadership views international relations as resting not on cooperation or negotiation, but on raw power. As Suzanne Maloney of the Brookings Institute <a href="http://www.brookings.edu/blogs/iran-at-saban/posts/2014/11/06-letter-khamenei-ayatollah-iran-obama-nuclear-isis"><span style="color: #0433ff;">quotes</span></a> from a hardline Iranian newspaper, “Our world is not a fair one and everyone gets as much power as he can, not for his power of reason or the adaptation of his request to the international laws, but by his bullying.” And the Iranians believe that their power politics serves the will of Allah.</p>
<p>Obama is not the first president who has completely failed to understand the true nature and motives of his adversary. FDR misunderstood “Uncle Joe” Stalin, and George Bush misread the eyes of Vladimir Putin. This mistake of diplomacy reflects the peculiar Western arrogant belief that the whole world is just like us and wants the same things we want––political freedom, leisure, material affluence, and peaceful relations with neighbors. Some Iranians may want those things too, but a critical mass wants obedience to Allah and his commands more. Obama’s endemic narcissism has made this flaw worse in his relations with the rest of the world, for he can’t believe that the leaders of other nations, many of them brutal realists indifferent to the opinions of the “international community,” aren’t as impressed as he is with his alleged brilliance and persuasive eloquence.</p>
<p>As a result we are on the brink of a dangerous realignment of the balance of power in the Middle East. Despite Iran’s continuing defiance of International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors, and its long record of lies and evasion, Obama allegedly has offered to raise the number of centrifuges enriching uranium from 4000 to 6000, bringing the mullahs closer to “nuclear latency”––in a regime that has officially been designated the world’s largest state sponsor of terrorism; that has threatened genocide against Israel, our most important strategic asset in the region; and that for the last 40 years has stained its hands with American blood.</p>
<p>Rather than the ornament of his foreign policy legacy, as Obama hopes, his pursuit of a deal that will make Iran a nuclear power will be remembered as his Munich.</p>
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		<title>&#8216;Negotiating&#8217; With the Left: A Waste of Time</title>
		<link>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2013/tom-blumer/negotiating-with-the-left-a-waste-of-time/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=negotiating-with-the-left-a-waste-of-time</link>
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		<pubDate>Thu, 03 Jan 2013 04:50:43 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Tom Blumer]]></dc:creator>
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		<description><![CDATA[John Boehner learns the hard way. ]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://frontpagemag.com/2013/tom-blumer/negotiating-with-the-left-a-waste-of-time/16b8f411851a1023240f6a7067008d01/" rel="attachment wp-att-171990"><img class="alignleft  wp-image-171990" title="16b8f411851a1023240f6a7067008d01" src="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/16b8f411851a1023240f6a7067008d01-450x338.jpg" alt="" width="270" height="203" /></a>Having lived in Greater Cincinnati for most of my life, I&#8217;ve had a chance to observe Congressman John Boehner&#8217;s actions and performance from a perspective most haven&#8217;t.</p>
<p>Most of what I saw until he became House Speaker in January 2011 was good &#8212; usually very good. What has transpired since has not been. Boehner and House Republicans have been unable to put the brakes on the country&#8217;s headlong rush towards insolvency driven by President Barack Obama, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, the federal regulatory leviathan, and the courts, or on their continued trampling of our fundamental freedoms.</p>
<p>I can already see the excuses: &#8220;Tom, the House of Representatives is only one-half of one of the three branches of government. You can&#8217;t expect Boehner and Republican leaders to withstand the daily assaults from all other quarters.&#8221; Sure, I get that. Add the adversarial, hostile, double standard-driven establishment press to the mix, and one can totally understand the daunting challenges the Speaker has faced.</p>
<p>There&#8217;s one problem with that attempt at justification, and it has nothing to do with ordinary expectations. It instead has everything to do with the heightened expectations Boehner and the Republican Party created in the run-up to the 2010 congressional elections, embodied in both the party&#8217;s <a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20017335-503544.html">Pledge to America</a> and Boehner&#8217;s <a href="http://www.bizzyblog.com/2010/10/08/delay-blogging-boehners-friday-speech/">October 2010 speech</a> just a few weeks before Election Day.</p>
<p>By that time, it was clear to almost everyone, thanks to the growing influence of the Tea Party movement, the pathetic economic recovery, and the unprecedentedly awful job market, that Nancy Pelosi&#8217;s reign as Speaker of the House was going to end, and that Boehner, with a solid post-election GOP majority, was a virtual lock to become its next Speaker.</p>
<p>Boehner&#8217;s speech and the party&#8217;s Pledge gave millions of frightened mainstream Americans hope that they could, and would, right the ship of state. Consider just a few things Boehner said in that October speech, and compare them to actual results.</p>
<p><em>&#8220;(This speech is) about the jobs that were promised to the American people by the current administration, and never delivered.&#8221;</em></p>
<p>At the time, total seasonally adjusted private-sector employment as measured by the Establishment Survey at the Bureau of Labor Statistics was eight million below its January 2008 peak. 25 months later, private-sector employment, which should by now have jumped to several million above that 2008 high, is still down by 3.7 million. Even those grim statistics understate the gravity of the employment situation and how little improvement we&#8217;ve seen, especially in comparison to past recoveries. Full-time employment as measured by the BLS&#8217;s Household Survey is still 6.2 million lower than its peak in late 2007, while part-time employment is up by 2.8 million. Since the recession officially ended in June 2009, over 800,000 of the 3.3 million net jobs added have gone to those who toil at temporary help firms.</p>
<p><em>&#8220;The greatest threat to job creation in our country is the flawed idea that we can tax, spend and borrow our way to prosperity.&#8221;</em></p>
<p>In the 24 months Boehner has been Speaker, the government has run a deficit of over $2 trillion, spent over $7 trillion, increased the national debt by over $2.4 trillion, and done almost nothing to contain the explosive growth of entitlements.</p>
<p><em>&#8220;Our plan cuts spending immediately, back to pre-stimulus, pre-bailout levels.&#8221;</em></p>
<p>If that were currently the case, the government would be spending about $2.9 trillion annually &#8212; still far more than necessary to carry out its constitutionally assigned functions (a topic for another day). Instead, it has spent $3.4 to $3.6 trillion during <a href="http://fms.treas.gov/mts/mts0912.txt">each of</a> the <a href="http://fms.treas.gov/mts/mts0910.txt">past four</a> fiscal years, and is off <a href="http://fms.treas.gov/mts/mts1112.txt">to a record-shattering start</a> in fiscal 2013.</p>
<p><em>&#8220;Your government is out of control. Do you have to accept it? Do you have to take it? Hell no you don’t! That’s what elections are for! In </em>Common Sense<em>, Thomas Paine wrote that &#8216;we have it in our power to begin the world over again.&#8217; In just 25 days, voters will have a chance to do just that.&#8221;</em></p>
<p>Unlike many others, I really believe that John Boehner intended to get what he described as an &#8220;out of control&#8221; government back on track. Nobody who heard that speech could possibly have imagined that he would acquiesce to an August 2011 debt-ceiling deal that put off serious consideration of what we are doing to our children, grandchildren and generations yet to be born until after the 2012 elections, seriously crippling 2012 GOP election campaigns across the land. There was also no reason to believe that Boehner would just over two years later get behind fiscal cliff-preventing legislation which <a href="http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2012/12/31/Fiscal-cliff-deal-41-1-in-tax-increases-to-spending-cuts-ratio">by some accounts</a> involves $41 in tax increases for ever dollar in spending &#8220;cuts,&#8221; which we know really means &#8220;reductions in projected spending increases.&#8221; A January 2 <a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323820104578215400767461788.html?mod=djemEditorialPage_h"><em>Wall Street Journal</em> editorial</a> asserts that the legislation involved represents &#8220;the biggest tax increase in 20 years&#8221; coupled with &#8220;spending <em>increases</em>.&#8221;</p>
<p>So what happened? Boehner, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, and Washington Republicans have naively believed, and probably still do despite their repeated humiliations, that there can be honest negotiations with Washington Democrats led by the most radical president in U.S. history. That is not possible.</p>
<p>Boehner&#8217;s only alternative from Day 1 of his speakership, something which I erroneously thought he finally realized in that 2010 speech, was to:</p>
<p>• Insist on constitutional grounds that the House would consider no revenue-raising legislation originating in the Senate. (<a href="http://www.usconstitution.net/xconst_A1Sec7.html">Article 1, Section 7</a>: &#8220;All bills for raising Revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives.&#8221;)</p>
<p>• Pass comprehensive legislation to accomplish the goals articulated in the Pledge for America.</p>
<p>• Adjourn, and don&#8217;t come back. If the Senate or the President wouldn&#8217;t sign, then the government would shut down, and it would be blindingly obvious to anyone with an ounce of sense who caused it.</p>
<p>The People&#8217;s House has the constitutional power of the purse. John Boehner hasn&#8217;t leveraged it. Until he or the next Speaker does, the left will rule the fiscal roost in Washington, and our nation&#8217;s rapid descent into bankruptcy will be virtually assured.</p>
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		<title>No &#8216;Fiscal Cliff&#8217; Middle Ground</title>
		<link>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2012/arnold-ahlert/no-fiscal-cliff-middle-ground/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=no-fiscal-cliff-middle-ground</link>
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		<pubDate>Fri, 07 Dec 2012 04:59:50 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Arnold Ahlert]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Daily Mailer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[FrontPage]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[fiscal cliff]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[John Boehner]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[negotiation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Obama]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Spending]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Taxes]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://frontpagemag.com/?p=168157</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Obama proves he's not afraid to go over the precipice as long as Republicans take the blame.]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://frontpagemag.com/2012/arnold-ahlert/no-fiscal-cliff-middle-ground/obama-east_room-ap717076281218_620x350/" rel="attachment wp-att-168365"><img class="alignleft  wp-image-168365" title="obama-east_room-AP717076281218_620x350" src="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/obama-east_room-AP717076281218_620x350.jpg" alt="" width="257" height="209" /></a>The latest machinations surrounding the so-called fiscal cliff, a combination of tax increases and spending cuts many economists insist would put the nation back into recession, continue. Ironically, the current impasse has far less to do with economic realities than ideological intransigence. The lion&#8217;s share of that intransigence belongs to the president, who has made it increasingly clear that <em>any</em> deal, even one that includes increased revenue, is DOA unless it includes higher taxes on the &#8220;rich.&#8221; Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/fiscal-cliff-talks-at-a-stalemate-over-tax-hikes/2012/12/02/1c31b98a-3cc6-11e2-bca3-aadc9b7e29c5_story.html">illuminated</a> the administration&#8217;s position on Sunday. “There’s no path to an agreement that does not involve Republicans acknowledging that rates have to go up on the wealthiest Americans,” he said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”</p>
<p>Yet on Monday, Republicans made an offer described as a <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/gop-fiscal-cliff-offer-2012-12">&#8220;savvy tactical move,&#8221;</a> or an effort to regain the <a href="http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/Articles/2012/12/04/GOP-Regains-High-Ground-with-Cliff-Counteroffer.aspx#page1">high ground</a> in the debate. House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) sent a <a href="http://www.speaker.gov/sites/speaker.house.gov/files/documents/letter_to_wh_121203.pdf">letter</a> to the president that embraced many of the ideas put forward by Democrat Eskine Bowles, who was part of the <a href="http://www.thepoliticalguide.com/Issues/Simpson-Bowles/">Simpson-Bowles Commission</a> put together in 2010 by Obama himself. It was an ostensible effort to rein in the nation&#8217;s burgeoning debt, currently standing at more than $16.2 trillion. The commission came up with a series of recommendations, including a cap on discretionary spending, some tax increases, and overall tax reform. It was subsequently <a href="http://www.aei-ideas.org/2012/02/larry-summers-spills-the-beans-on-the-real-reason-why-obama-rejected-bowles-simpson/">rejected</a> by the president, likely due to the reality that it recommended cutting individual tax rates to as low as 23 percent, and capping federal spending and revenue at 21 percent of GDP. It is the latter proposal that likely irked a president determined to maintain government spending and revenue at the current 24 percent of GDP, <a href="http://cnsnews.com/blog/terence-p-jeffrey/obama-fdr-set-modern-records-gdp-spending">matched</a> only by FDR during WWll.</p>
<p>The proposal offered by Boehner endorsed a 10-year plan, including $800 billion in new tax revenues, $600 billion in health savings, another $600 billion in a combination of &#8220;mandatory&#8221; and &#8220;discretionary&#8221; savings, and a revision of the Consumer Price Index (CPI) used to calculate future Social Security benefits that would save another $200 billion. Such savings total $2.2 trillion. It was a genuine compromise, as evidenced by the reality that it <a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323401904578159292998710054.html">irritated</a> many Republicans.</p>
<p>In his letter, Boehner explained the rationale for such a plan. After noting that the election essentially maintained the status quo of a Republican House, along with a Democratic Senate and presidency, Boehner contended that &#8220;the American people rightly expect both parties to come together on a fair middle ground and address the nation&#8217;s most pressing challenges.&#8221; He further emphasized that the plan Obama submitted to Congress last week was a re-hash of the president&#8217;s &#8220;Plan for Economic Growth and Deficit Reduction,&#8221; submitted in September 2011. &#8220;We cannot in good conscience agree to this approach, which is neither balanced nor realistic. If we were to take your Administration&#8217;s proposal at face value, then we would counter with the House-passed Budget Resolution [Paul Ryan's budget plan].&#8221;</p>
<p>Boehner then put the proverbial ball in the administration&#8217;s court. &#8220;This is by no means an adequate long-term solution, as resolving our fiscal crisis will require fundamental entitlement reform. Indeed the Bowles plan is the kind of imperfect but fair middle ground that allows us to avert the fiscal cliff without hurting our economy and destroying jobs. We believe it warrants immediate consideration.&#8221;</p>
<p>The administration did consider it &#8212; sort of. Senior administration officials contended the plan wasn&#8217;t serious enough to <a href="http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2012/12/03/white-house-wont-counter-boehners-fiscal-proposal/?utm_source=twitterfeed&amp;utm_medium=twitter&amp;utm_campaign=Feed:+rss/cnn_politicalticker+(Blog:+Political+Ticker)">merit</a> a counter-proposal. White House Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer claimed it &#8220;does not meet the test of balance. In fact, it actually promises to lower rates for the wealthy and sticks the middle class with the bill.&#8221; He then reiterated the administration&#8217;s immutable demand. &#8220;Until the Republicans in Congress are willing to get serious about asking the wealthiest to pay slightly higher tax rates, we won&#8217;t be able to achieve a significant, balanced approach to reduce our deficit,&#8221; he added. CNN then laid out the administration&#8217;s real aims: &#8220;Senior administration officials said they are confident the public will blame Republicans and not the president if the United States reaches the end of the year without a deal to avert the fiscal cliff.&#8221;</p>
<p>With ample assistance from the mainstream media, that is virtually certain. But such thinking reveals an almost unprecedented level of cynicism. In effect, administration officials have admitted that what benefits Democrats politically trumps what benefits the nation. So much so, they are willing to let the country slide back into recession, as long as Republicans get blamed for it.</p>
<p>In an <a href="http://freebeacon.com/price-obama-more-interested-in-raising-tax-rates-than-in-gaining-economic-vitality/">interview</a> with MSNBC&#8217;s Andrea Mitchell, Rep. Tom Price (R-GA) revealed the disingenuousness of the administration&#8217;s insistence that taxing the rich is a panacea. &#8220;The president’s plan to increase taxes on the upper two percent covers the spending by this federal government not for eight years, not for eight months, not for eight weeks but for eight days. Eight days only,&#8221; said Price. &#8220;It’s not a real solution. So, again, I’m puzzled by an administration that seems to be more interested in raising tax rates than in gaining economic vitality.&#8221;</p>
<p>Furthermore, a usually reliable media is not marching in lockstep with Democrats. Politico&#8217;s Ben White <a href="http://www.politico.com/morningmoney/">called</a> the GOP&#8217;s proposal &#8220;significant,&#8221; noting that it is &#8220;less fanciful than the original administration request, which included phony savings (the war wind-downs), a gratuitous fork-in-the-eye (unlimited debt ceiling authority) and some new stimulus (just to make GOP blood boil and warm liberal hearts).&#8221; Bloomberg&#8217;s Josh Barro also <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-12-04/the-white-house-s-fiscal-cliff-irresponsibility.html">saw</a> the cynicism expressed by the aforementioned senior officials, contending that &#8220;if the White House really is willing to risk an austerity crisis unless it gets its way on an unrelated policy matter &#8212; then the Obama Administration is as irresponsible as it often accuses Republicans of being.&#8221;</p>
<p>The <em>Washington Post&#8217;s</em> Robert Samuels <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/robert-samuelson-whos-not-bargaining-in-good-faith/2012/12/02/9db4c5e2-3b13-11e2-b01f-5f55b193f58f_story.html">laid it out</a> even better. &#8220;Put Social Security on the table &#8212; clearly and irrevocably,&#8221; he writes. &#8220;Protecting retiree benefits is the left’s political equivalent of the right’s &#8216;no new taxes&#8217; pledge. Congressional Republicans are abandoning their untenable position. Now it is time for President Obama and congressional Democrats to do the same. As long as they don’t, they aren’t bargaining in good faith, or in the national interest.&#8221;</p>
<p>Even Erskin Bowles, who <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2012/12/03/gop-cliff-counteroffer/1743307/">insisted</a> that the GOP plan was not representative of his efforts, or those of the Simpson-Bowles plan, called for compromise. &#8220;Every offer put forward brings us closer to a deal, but to reach an agreement, it will be necessary for both sides to move beyond their opening positions and reach agreement on a comprehensive plan which avoids the fiscal cliff and puts the debt on a clear downward path relative to the economy,&#8221; he said in a statement.</p>
<p>The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) <a href="http://www.cbo.gov/sites/default/files/cbofiles/attachments/43698-Nov-MBR.pdf">offers</a> a sobering look as to why such an agreement is necessary. In 2012, non-interest federal spending totaled $3.25 trillion. $762 billion was for Social Security, $469 billion for Medicare, $251 billion for Medicaid, and $651 billion for defense. These expenditures account for 66 percent of the federal budget. Since the federal government borrows <a href="http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2012/09/25/america_faces_a_sea_of_red_ink_115571.html">forty cents of every dollar</a> it spends, America is already in the red financing <em>just these four</em> <em>programs </em>&#8211; and that&#8217;s <em>before</em> the bulk of the Baby Boomer generation retires, driving at least three of these costs far higher.</p>
<p>Interest payments on America&#8217;s <a href="http://www.treasurydirect.gov/govt/reports/ir/ir_expense.htm">outstanding debt</a> are also part of the mix. In 2012 that payment was $359 billion, financed at record low interest rates of approximately 2.8 percent. The Federal Reserve claims it will keep interest rates at near-zero until 2014. Based on current rates of spending, the national debt will likely approach $20 trillion by then. If interest rates return to a historical average of 4 percent, a staggering $800 billion will be needed just to pay the interest on that debt. There is also the &#8220;unfunded obligations&#8221; problem. Unfunded obligations are promises the government has made to such entities as seniors, veterans and retired employees. By 2011, America&#8217;s unfunded obligations <a href="http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/washington/2011-06-06-us-owes-62-trillion-in-debt_n.htm?loc=interstitialskip">totaled</a> $61.6 trillion.</p>
<p>In short, the idea that &#8220;taxing the rich&#8221; is a make or break part of any deal &#8212; even as entitlement reform remains off the table &#8212; borders on insanity.</p>
<p>Yet two realities are readily apparent. First, that insanity is ideologically driven. This was made clear during the 2008 Democratic primary debates, when ABC&#8217;s Charlie Gibson <a href="http://spectator.org/archives/2012/02/13/stuck-on-fairness">asked</a> the president why he supported an increase in the capital gains tax rate, given a historical record that repeatedly shows the government losing revenue as a result. &#8220;Well, Charlie, what I&#8217;ve said is that I would look at raising the capital gains tax for purposes of fairness,&#8221; he answered. This goes a long way towards explaining why the president would rather kill a deal than accept tax reform as a viable alternative for raising revenue.</p>
<p>If such &#8220;fairness&#8221; precipitates a recession&#8211;or worse&#8211;in 2013, due to an inability to reach a compromise? As long as Republicans get blamed, all is well. That Democrats as a party, or the president as an individual, see themselves as the ultimate arbiters of fairness&#8211;for the entire nation&#8211;demonstrates a breathtaking level of arrogance.</p>
<p>Second, whether they realize it or not, it is this combination of arrogance and fiscal irresponsibility that Americans re-empowered on November 6. Despite an election that reinforced the status quo, Obama and Democrats believe they were given a mandate, and that Republicans are nothing more than an inconvenient impediment in their efforts to transform the nation into a Euro-style welfare state, even if another recession is necessary to do so.</p>
<p>Finally, Americans need to realize that President Obama&#8217;s campaign pledge to raise taxes on &#8220;millionaires and billionaires&#8221; is really targeting individuals making $200K, and families making $250K &#8212; right now. Since that additional revenue would only run the government for eight days, the public might want to consider what other sources of revenue the president and his party will subsequently target. That is worth remembering when the definition of millionaires and billionaires is &#8220;revised&#8221; once again. Perhaps in the not-too-distant future, anyone earning $150K &#8212; or less &#8212; will be surprised find themselves on the &#8220;wrong” side of the Democrats&#8217; never-ending class warfare campaign. They shouldn&#8217;t be. To paraphrase Willie Sutton, the middle class will be the next target because, &#8220;that&#8217;s where the money is.&#8221;</p>
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