OPINION: Will Gang Of 12 Use The Same Misguided Policies?

The Congressional Budget Office issued a warning to the Gang of 12 Super Committee yesterday – arguing that the nation is on the verge of another recession – and the Gang of 12’s actions could make it worse. 

“If policymakers wanted to achieve both a short-term economic boost and medium- and long-term fiscal sustainability,” CBO chief Doug Elmendorf told the committee, then they would have to put in place, “changes in taxes and spending that would widen the deficit now but narrow it later in the decade.”

Elmendorf’s message is back-dropped by troubling Census data reports showing the income of a typical American family has dropped for the third year in a row – and inflation-adjusted earnings for men who work full-time jobs have dropped down to levels not seen since 1978.  Not to mention that yesterday brought us news that the United States – the wealthiest nation on the planet – just got a heck of a lot poorer – with more than 15% of our people living in poverty.

That’s 46.2 million people in poverty – the most ever recorded in the history of this nation. 

So the point is – Bush and Reagan’s economics of tax cuts for the rich and screwing over working people got us into this mess – and it’s up the Gang of 12 to NOT use the same misguided policies to get us out of it.  That means they need to tax the oligarchs – just like FDR did – just like Truman did – just like Eisenhower did – just like Kennedy and Johnson did – just like Nixon and Ford and Carter did – and just like Bill Clinton did.

Let’s hope they get the message.