Obama Stands Firm On Cuts/Taxes

I don't know whether it's because he is tired of Republican obstructionism or because an election is coming up in a few moths, but recently President Obama seems to have re-discovered his backbone and is making good use of it. He is no longer willing to make "compromises" with Republicans that just result in social program cuts that hurt ordinary Americans and tax cuts for the rich.

Last year the Congress, with the agreement of the White House, appointed a "super committee" to agree on cuts and/or tax increases to reduce government deficits and debt. That agreement included across-the-board cuts to all government programs (including the military budget) if the super committee couldn't reach agreement on what to do. Well, they never reached any agreement, and now those cuts are scheduled to take effect starting in 2013.

But now the Republicans want to renege on the agreement they made last year. They want to break their word and violate the agreement they made last year because the agreement would make cuts to the military budget. They are afraid these cuts might affect some of their buddies in the military industrial complex -- corporations that are making a fortune producing unneeded weapons (some of which don't even work) at the expense of American taxpayers.

These Republicans are now whining that the military cuts, which they agreed to, will seriously damage the ability of the United States to defend itself. That is a ludicrous charge. The United States spends far more money on its military than is necessary for self-defense. In fact, the U.S. accounts for more than 40% of all the military spending by all of the countries in the world (and that doesn't include the money spent on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan). The next 15 countries spending the most on their military don't match the military spending of the United States -- even when they are all added together.

Fortunately, the president is not buying the feeble argument of the Republicans. He says he will not accept any changes to the agreement -- unless those changes are accompanied by increased taxes on those making more than a million dollars a year. That means he will veto any effort to restore the military funds to the budget without some provision that the rich will pay more in taxes.

The Republicans claim to be the party that wants to reduce the deficit, but the restoration of these funds to the military budget will increase the deficit (or result in more cuts that punish already-hurting Americans). The president is right on this issue. His position to honor the cuts, or pass new taxes on the rich, will reduce the deficit without hurting the United States or its citizens.