Initially, I had relatively high hopes that the Congressional supercommittee would be able to overcome political hurdles and come up with a worthwhile tax-reform plan. (I was hoping for it because I don't see any other way to escape from the Obama recovery.) Such a plan would lower marginal rates while eliminating deductions and has significant bipartisan support (intellectually if not politically). Yesterday, such a plan was put on the table by Republican members of the supercommittee and was rejected out of hand by Democrats because it didn't raise marginal tax rates on the rich. This is despite the fact that the plan would have added billions in coveted tax revenue (mostly from the rich), even under static scoring, which doesn't account for the higher growth that would result from such a plan. Apparently, success in the supercommittee would mean the death of the President's contrived meme about Republican obstructionism, on which he is basing his entire campaign.
I think it's become pretty clear that everything that happens in the Administration and in Congress is about the 2012 election, regardless of the effect that it has on the country as a whole. How's that Hope and Change going now?
