Big Numbers are Down

What a show !  Sen.Bob Corker, from here in Tennessee, has made the media rounds today,advertising his plan for a fiscal fix. Not all of his proposals are necessarily unworkable, but may well be unachievable, given the current climate in D.C. Apparently, Corker wants to move away from the 250K threshold the Administration demands on tax hike relief up to a higher number. So does Buffett, 500K, but the real meaningful numbers for tax revenue are down.

Corker says he is free from the Tax Reform pledge he signed, now that he has been re-elected to a new term. Mr. Norquist says the pledge is good for the duration of his time in Congress.

Corker wants  to cap the deductions at 50K. Probably no serious numbers coming from that change. Does this mean no deduction reform? Tax rates are near historic lows, but Corker don’t want to mess with them. He wants Medicare reform, but keep in place fee for service. That works, if men were angels, but we know better. He wants means testing for Social Security, but that changes the original meaning of the program.

I have a simpler answer; a more sustainable answer; and a boon for the country, but extremely painful for politicians. It is also relevant for the current impasse. But, it would be nothing short of voluntary retirement for many in Congress. It would be like putting the country ahead of yourself. The Republicans would have to abandon “trickle-down” economics or what they call supply-side. A failure of gigantic proportions, that has distorted most everything, economically speaking.  Democrats especially, and Republicans alike, would have to abandon the “welfare-state concept”, which provides largess for the many, and the loud, and also the wealthy. It is the road to ruin.