First it was Geithner. Now Volcker.
Volcker, who falls under the “not a spring chicken” heading of politicos, is the current chair of the newly formed Economic Recovery Advisory Board. Before that, the was the Chairman of the Federal Reserve under Presidents Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan. So, the man has been witness to a federal budget or two.
Despite his history, he clearly hasn’t figured out how politics work. Yes, we’re in a record deficit. And yes, we’re not collecting revenue like we used to. And yes, we’ve decided we can continue to spend like a drunken soldier anyway.
But raise taxes to fix all that? Pish. Who says that out loud?
Volcker did – on yesterday in New York (and Geither before that – though he back tracked very quickly on his statements).
And now, the Obama administration is treating him like the weird girl on the playground – people might really like and respect her down deep but nobody is going to actually pretend like they know her. It would be social suicide.
So, despite the fact that Mr. Volcker is an influential advisor to the President, the White House has issued the following statement:
Mr. Volcker was speaking for himself and not the administration. The president has not proposed this idea nor is it under consideration.
Oh snap.
In other words, Volcker, play nice, or we won’t let you be on our team.
Heh. Nothing like a little truthful reality to get politicians shaking. Of course Volcker is right – we have to increase taxes. How much, and from whom, is the question. Until we dump the crazy idea that taxes are bad, we will never have both a balanced budget and a civilized society. Paying taxes is a patriotic duty
Eh, he is only saying what most know…that higher taxes are on the way whether we like it or not
And Republicans wanting less taxes are laughably ignorant of how their short spending cuts are nothing whatsoever to the ACTUAL cuts needed to take effect
It’s why most Republicans Gov are in such debt….their cuts are soft on spending and yet their tax cuts are not and thus the deficit keeps growing