Government shutdown: The Republicans are preparing to cave to the Democrats

   The details of the latest Republican proposal to end the government shutdown are still sketchy but if all of the reports are true it looks as if they are about to cave to the Democrats and give them virtually everything they wanted in the first place.

  The debt ceiling will be raised, the government will be reopened, Obamacare will be funded,the individual mandate will not be delayed, and worst of all, many of the sequester cuts will be reversed. The Republican proposal is a temporary proposal for it lifts the debt ceiling for six weeks and only funds the government through the middle of December, at that point we have to live through this theater yet again. The temporary aspect of this proposal is a blatantly obvious attempt at saving face, but it is not the only face saving measure being proposed.

  In addition to this the Republicans are trying to save face by proposing a repeal of the unpopular medical device tax and the promise of future negotiations on spending cuts. So let me see if I have this correct; the Republicans are going to allow the sequester spending cuts to be reversed and then after this spending is raised they are going to go back to the table to talk about spending cuts. Does that make any sense even if the future spending cut negotiations ever come to pass, which I highly doubt. 

  Do they really believe any re-instituted spending will be cut in the future, or do they think we are too stupid to see the little game they are playing? All that the American people are going to get out of this deal is the repeal of a tax that both parties wanted to see repealed in the first place and we are supposed to believe the Republicans are heroes for repealing a tax that even the Democrats  wanted to see repealed?

  The only reason why this tax has not yet been repealed is because each side has not wanted the other side to get credit for the repeal. With this deal both sides will be able to take credit for repealing the medical device tax and that is really all they are interested in, they have been playing both sides against the American people and they finally have a way to ensure they both take credit for this.

  Time and time again we see the Republicans agree to immediate taxes for the promise of future spending reductions which never take place. The one instance where we actually saw a spending cut (if you want to call a reduction in the rate of spending growth a reduction) was with the sequester and now they are undoing that.

  What a bunch of ball-less bastards! If the Republicans agree to this compromise they will be shellacked in the 2014 election and personally I look forward to it because it is exactly what they deserve. The worse they get destroyed in 2014 the happier it will make me. Schadenfreude, thine is my name.