this time he has been doing that and he has put the republicans in a terrible spot. she s basically said, look, here are my revenue proposals. that s what i was all about. you guys were all about spending. tell me what you want to cut. go ahead. and they ve, of course, had a little trouble with that. right. go ahead, make my day. john, the washington post today is reporting that investors are preparing to go off the cliff, shifting around assets. wealthy survival skills 101, so to speak. ceo says there must be a deal now. are republicans feeling this pressure from the super rich in the country? there s a real problem in that there s a real fear that what the republicans are going to do is look at the election results and basically roll over. if that happens you re going to use this outcry and plus you have an awful lot of wealthy small businesspeople that would invest in businesses now moving those assets, it looks like. i think both sides have an addiction to spending in washing
like the grinch. the president s spending cuts and the longer the white house slow walk this is process, the closer our economy gets to the fiscal cliff. the american people have to be scratching their heads and wondering, when is the president going to get serious? if there s one fact that should not be in dispute it ought to be this. the president unlike any other party to these negotiations has put forward detailed spending cuts as well as detailed revenue proposals. it is a simple fact. i was hoping for actual video of the grinch. to help sort things out today, we have joan walsh, editor at large of salon and did many, many things in her career and besides being steve s own boss. we are obligated to say that every single time she is on. congratulations for hiring steve. i think we have covered that. good job, joan.
both sides seem to be digging in for a fight. the white house saying it will not agree to a deal without raising taxes on the wealthiest americans. the gop says they want to see changes made to medicare, medicaid and social security. here is republican senator kelly ayotte of new hampshire. i was disappointed by the president s proposal. i think it is essentially a rerun of his budget proposal. i mean the revenue proposals are $1.6 trillion in revenue and tax increases. it is a massive tax increase but also, also not significant and meaningsful entitlement reforms. jon: a piece today in the wall street journal says more is at stake than just the fiscal cliff. quote, democratic lawmakers and party strategists say the success of his second term could ride on how this early battle unfolds. if mr. obama can cement a bipartisan deal to his liking many believe his approach to the negotiations could serve as template for tackling major issues that could play out over the next
what on earth are we waiting for? republican leaders in congress may have sounded conciliatory when president obama first announced the american jobs act, but they have become predictably critical of the bill since the president announced how he wants to pay for it by asking how income earners, corporate jet owner, oil companies and hedge fund managers to pay more in taxes. that s basically all he s proposing here. temporary stimulus to be paid for later by permanent tax hikes. today at a jobs summit in washington, house majority leader eric cantor said he would be willing to consider tax cuts for businesses but dismissed the other proposals in the american jobs act. and, of course, the revenue proposals to pay for it. in ohio, the president kept the legislative strategy simple. in his 16-minute speech, he called on congress to pass this bill 18 times.
i view that as a bit of a bluff and brinksmanship going on. this is something as you were just saying is designed to be politically unpalatable to both sides and to maintain they re okay with letting it happen i don t think i fully believe that. but, you know, obama is on offense and he s trying to stay on offense on absolutely every issue. not letting anyone else control the narrative even on the issues of the budget and taxes and spending. where i think republicans thought especially since they put off the debt ceiling fight they d be able to take control of this issue. let s play what mitch mcconnell said just yesterday slamming the democrats for floating new revenue proposals. this is just another opportunity to trot out the democrat focus group approved policy stunt. if this is another fake fight designed by the white house to push us to the brink, then republicans are really not interested in playing along.