It is hard to determine who is the most incompetent, or stupid:   President Barack Obama, The United States Senate, or the U.S. House of Representatives.  None of them have a clue with regard to the impact of their latest political game.

Obama ordered congress to stay in town over the Christmas Holiday, while he planned on surfing in Hawaii.  (Okay…body surfing.  There is no evidence Obama can actually surf).  He was finally shamed into staying in town, so he sent Michelle and the kids ahead, at taxpayers’ expense.  He stayed behind to light the Washington Christmas tree, which apparently has nothing to do with celebrating Christmas, or Jesus Christ, but does have a large ornament adorning it saying, “I Love President Obama.”  The House responded by passing an idiotic one-year extension in the Social Security Tax cut.  Social Security is already broke, so this already cost the Social Security Trust Fund $120 billion last year, while providing zero stimulus to the economy.  If they repeat this dumb decision, it will cost another $250 billion, while still providing zero stimulus to the economy.  But both political parties are doing the irresponsible because they know they will be crucified by the main stream media if they dare act like adults.

The Senate managed to take an incredibly dumb idea and double down on the stupidity.  They want to extend this tax cut for only two months.  That is, by far, the most irresponsible position possible.  Unbelievably six RINOs are giving vocal support to this unbelievable naïve and irrational proposal. 

They are obviously just kicking the can down the road so we can have the same argument in February.  Why on earth would anyone expect a different result in February?  If congress cannot find the ability to reach an agreement when they are threatened with missing Christmas, delaying Ground Hog day is unlikely to change hearts and minds.  But the real problem is that this is likely to have a devastating impact on the economy, particularly with regard to creating any jobs.

What the geniuses in Washington failed to consider is that this legislation affects every business in the United States that issues a paycheck.  As of right now, no one knows how much Social Security tax to withhold on January 1.  Since it looks like there will be no tax extension passed, all the systems need to be immediately reprogrammed from 4.2% to 6.2%, assuming they haven’t been programmed already.  Probably not, since a few days ago everyone was predicting an extension.  Since no one could predict what congress and President Obama would do, odds are nothing was done.   There is no way this can be done by the end of the year.  In some cases that won’t be done by the end of January.  That means employers are probably going to do hand calculations to issue payroll checks, if they can issue them at all.  This is a massive undertaking.  Unbelievably, the only thing certain is change.  So if congress changes its mind and extends the payroll tax after all, the computers will need to be re-programmed again.  In the meantime don’t be surprised if a lot of people end up not getting paid at all.  It is an expensive nightmare that never should have happened.

Democrats are practically foaming at the mouth in the rush to blame Republicans for a massive tax increase.  The main stream media will almost certainly blame everything on Republicans for trying to protect the filthy rich from a miniscule increase in taxes while heaping an enormous tax increase on the poor.  In the meantime there doesn’t seem to be a single Republican capable to explaining the reality of the situation to the American people.  I don’t know which is more infuriating:  a liberal left wing Democratic Party willing to drive our economy into a complete meltdown, while cheered on by the liberal main stream media,  or a Republican Party that seems incapable of pointing out the obvious.  I am so tired of Republicans getting all defensive and saying things like “I don’t think it’s a good idea to raise taxes on anyone during a recession.”  ARE YOU KIDDING ME?  IS THAT THE BEST WE GOT?

I wish just one Republican leader, any Republican leader, would have the courage to stand up and say the obvious: 

You’re darn right Republicans are unwilling to compromise with Democrats.  It is no virtue to compromise with the Captain of the Ship of State when he is steering us toward disaster.  Refusal to compromise, when things are headed in the wrong direction is the only responsible course of action.  Compromising with President Obama and the Democratic Party will only make things worse.  We don’t need to compromise with a disastrous economic policy, we need to reverse course before it is too late. 

In the meantime Democrats and Republican have gathered around in a circular firing squad guaranteed to damage everyone inside the circle and a lot of innocent bystanders.

TDM