Any person truly serious about debt and deficit reduction would be in favor of letting the Bush rates expire, and having all tax rates return to where they once were. We paid those rates not that long ago, without any big problem that I recall. The economic growth and trickle-down prosperity that the Bush cuts were supposed to create didn't happen. The opposite occurred. And our government was in better financial health before Dubya decided to give it a pay cut.
Obama wanted higher taxes on incomes over $250,000. Boehner said no. Obama said, how about $400,000? Boehner said no, and countered with "Plan B", with higher taxes only on those making $1,000,000 or more, and threatened to pass it in a House bill. (Never mind that it would have DOA in the Senate.)
Turns out the Orange Man couldn't get his goofy anti-tax-for-any-reason Tea Bag faction to agree to Plan B. Oops! There would be no House bill. It was "Plan See You Later", and Congress went home for the holidays. The Republicans have never been anywhere close to serious about deficit reduction, so their mulish stubbornness can't count as a surprise.
In just a few days, the Fiscal Cliff/Off-Ramp/Gentle Downhill Slope will kick in, and all tax rates will return to pre-Bush levels. And all these jack-ass R's will get exactly what they don't want.
Boehner's negotiating tactics make the NHL strike talks look positively productive.
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