you could have a dead-end job, and to paul ryan s point, if you could have a dead-end job, a part-time gig, enough so you qualify for a subsidy which is underwritten by somebody who works 60, 70 hours a week, what incentive is there for somebody to get on the ladder, fight their way up, to maximum opportunity in the u.s., what we re built on, if they could coast. he has a bad view of the american public if he thinks people would like to live in an extremely marginal, impoverished way. you could go on the dole. you could do that now. you can do that now. he s making a simple mathematical point. if you have a part-time job and you re getting a big subsidy and you re offered say a better job, you do the calculation, the marginal tax on the first dollar, on the last dollar you re going to earn in the new job is probably going to be 80% or 90%, which is just a fact. that s why elmendorf is saying it s a huge incentive not to
there are plenty of places to cut. give me three places. hold on just a minute and let me finish. then ul giyou ll give me th three places? my constituents believe the military needs to be protected. mr. elmendorf s comments pertain largely to the military. if you re looking at accelerated layoffs that would take place with some of the civilian employees, here is what is happening. it s not just the military, it s food and safety inspectors. you ve made this all about the military and i dig that, you represent a part of tennessee where that s very popular. no, no, no. see, there are so many places, a great example, if you want to talk about discretionary spending, non-defense discretionary, take for example the gao report, we have 342 different economic development programs in the federal government. you know what? all of those have a thiefdom and
accept substantially less in government benefits and services or both. reporter: if a lame-duck congress and the president are unable to resolve the expiration of the bush era tax cuts after the november elections, what some are calling taxmageddon , elmendorf says the nation will be thrown into another recession. jon? jon: sobering numbers there. doug, thank you. arthel: we have a fox news weather alert. the national weather service issued a new alert on tropical storm isaac which is gaining strength in the caribbean right now. a hurricane warning is in effect for parts. dominican republic and haiti. of course all eyes are on tampa which is preparing for 50,000 people to arrive for the republican convention there. now for the possibility of isaac hitting the city at hurricane strength. steve triggs the is communications manager for orange county and joins me live on the phone. steve, first of all even if it doesn t hit hurricane
either way. about other issues but as to the cliff, either way, if romney or obama are elected we don t go over a cliff. what incentive will obama have to work with house republicans once he is given re-election? because it s the house republicans sit on their hands and you can t enact anything unless they agree, then obama has what elmendorf reported. a crash in the economy, 9% unemployment, second recession. obama does not want to start a second term with a ruined economy. it makes no sense. he will work out the same deal he worked out with mcconnell in 2010. after winning instead of losing? bret: they could break the republicans if they win with a mandate from the u.s. people there won t be a mandate for obama or romney. under the constitutional system he is not a dictator. he can t enact a mandate
on december 31 because that way, five days later they can reinstate some of the tax cut if not all of them so they are tax cutters instead of people who raised taxes. bret: you re sitting on the couch, charles, at home and you have to sit at the table and do your budget do you look at washington and say what is going on there? well, this is kind of crazy way to do business. i feel strange equanimity about the cliff. i d like to get my shorts in a twist. i can t make myself. only two options. obama wins or romney wins in november. if obama wins, elmendorf warning is useful one. everybody knows if nothing happens we re going over a cliff and have a recession. assume obama win, he doesn t want to have a recession or a worse economy starting off a second term than he had in the first. assuming the republicans retain the house, a good assumption. he has the come to a