DKG on political compromise

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Discussion between David Gregory and Doris Kearns Goodwin this morning on Meet the Press.

Doris, as usual, nails the historical context to what's going on in DC.

MR. GREGORY: Doris, sometimes satire can be the most damning in terms of summing up where we are. And The Onion newspaper, the satirical newspaper, has this headline this week. Headline: "Congress Continues Debate Over Whether Or Not Nation Should Be Economically Ruined." If the question is whether Washington is broken, make the case that the answer is yes.

MS. DORIS KEARNS GOODWIN: I think there's no question it's broken. You know, our country was created on the principle of compromise. Think about it, the states vs. the federal government; Senate vs. House; North vs. South. And some--I remember once one of the old framers was asked, "What are the three principles of this new government you've created?" "Well, the first is compromise, the second is compromise, the third is compromise." Something's happened where compromise has become a terrible word in Washington. It's partly because the parties have become more ideologically separated. Henry Clay was the great compromiser. Lincoln's idol was Henry Clay. Now a lot of people feel that you're undoing your convictions. What do you go to Washington for unless you're trying to work out solutions? Solutions, in a diverse country like ours, is going to require compromise.

MR. GREGORY: Mm-hmm.

MS. GOODWIN: And I don't see any of that attitude there. And I think the kind of people who come to Washington now don't want to do that. And it's only going to make it worse because the caliber of people gets less.

a few minutes further along, this very apt commentary by Chuck Hagel:

MR. GREGORY: Senator Hagel, Norm Ornstein wrote a piece in Foreign Policy on Thursday kind of summing up, again, the case against Washington working, and he writes this, the headline, "Americans have complained for years that their government is broken. This time they're right." Look at "what we've got now: a long-term debt disaster with viable bipartisan solutions on the table but ignored or cast aside in Congress; an impasse over the usually perfunctory matter of raising the statutory debt limit placing the United States in jeopardy of its first-ever default; sniping and guerilla warfare over two major policy steps enacted in the last Congress, healthcare reform and financial regulation; no serious action or movement on climate change, jobs or the continuing mortgage crisis; and major trade deals stalled yet again despite bipartisan and presidential support."

FMR. SEN. CHUCK HAGEL (R-NE): Well, I think where you start is with this fact, at least I believe this, politics just reflects society. And what we are seeing today, I believe, is a new emerging governing coalition being built in this country, a new political center of gravity. Evidence of that abounds. Start with Gallup's numbers on registered independents. Registered independents now represent more than 40 percent of all the registered voters in America. Republicans sink like a rock, Democrats sink like a rock. And you, you, you can bolster that argument in many, many ways. Point being we are living at a time when society is the most complicated, interconnected, immediate we've ever seen. That also reflects on a world order that is being rebuilt. We haven't seen a world order being rebuilt since World War II. Really, the implosion of the Soviet Union in 1991 started it. So, obviously, what's happening in Washington is going to reflect what's happening across this country and the world. The emergence of the tea party, for example, whatever that is, a philosophy about government, that was born out of frustration, disappointment, high expectations in your leaders. To Doris' point, you're supposed to come to Washington to help govern, find solutions, solve problems. We're not seeing that. This just didn't start, by the way, with this president. I saw this in the Senate emerging over the last 12 years. Both parties are to blame. We have, I think, a vacuum of some leadership, some courage. Courage has never been an abundant commodity in Washington.

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Mike Bloomberg doesn't mind paying his taxes, is willing to pay more, and thinks he gets good value for his tax money. He also agrees that additional revenue along with spending cuts need to be part of any deal to close the deficit gap.

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/michael-bloomberg-impossible-reduce-long-term-deficits-spending/story?id=14146540

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg believes a U.S. default on its debt obligations would be a "seismic event" that would damage "America's word" and its status as a dependable financial standard.

He even is willing to see his taxes increase in order to reach a long-term budget agreement.

"I don't think anybody will look ever again at America and the dollar as the reserve currency, where this is the standard by which all other risks are measured," if the U.S. defaults on its debt obligations, Bloomberg told "This Week" anchor Christiane Amanpour. "It's one seismic event that says you can never depend 100 percent on America's word anymore."

"The world won't come to an end," Bloomberg added. "We will find a way to pay people afterwards and get government going again, but it puts a doubt in the back of people's minds that you would find it very difficult to erase."

Bloomberg said he believes "it's impossible" to reduce long-term deficits with spending cuts alone, insisting that revenue increases must be part of the final budget deal still being negotiated.

"There's just no way if you look at the numbers. You can't cut enough to balance the budget, and you have to if we're going to eliminate the deficit and reduce the debt," Bloomberg said. "You have to raise money from someplace."

The billionaire mayor said that he is willing to see his own taxes go up as part of a long-term deal to reduce the deficit.

"I get pretty good value for my taxes... We get a lot for our tax dollars," Bloomberg said. "I don't want to pay any more taxes than is necessary, but I do want the services, and I want us to live within our means. So, if we want more services, we've got to come up with the revenue."

Bloomberg does not think the Bush-era tax cuts for the wealthy should be eliminated right now while the economy is still weak, but does think they should be allowed to expire in the future.

"I think right now is not exactly the right time to let those tax cuts expire," Bloomberg said. "But if you told me six months from now or a year from now, when the economy was better and job creation was better, yes, I don't have a problem with that."

He does believe a final budget deal will be reached before the nation defaults on its debt obligations.

"I cannot believe that either party or either end of Pennsylvania Avenue wants to let the government shut down, which is essentially what would happen for a short period of time," Bloomberg said.

Beyond the current budget debate, Bloomberg said "we've lost track" at the city, state, and federal level of "the fiscal sanity of living within your budgets."

"At some point, the public's got to say, 'look, I'm tired of these shenanigans,' whether it's in Washington or state capitals or cities," Bloomberg said. "We're just not acting responsibly, we're not acting as adults, we're not making the long term investments… We're mortgaging our kids' future. We're destroying this country."