GOP Senator, a deficit hawk and tax reform champion: Let's Raise Rates

[Frodo]

Now that the GOP has gone flexible on taxes, we should go flexible on entitlements.  You cannot realistically expect to make a deal without giving them something in exchange, like the following:    

-enacting medical malpractice reform,
-increasing the Medicare and Social Security eligibility age to 70,
-reducing the tax break for employer-provided health insurance,
-capping Medicare growth beginning FY 2013,
-tightening eligibility for Social Security disability benefits,
-indexing Social Security benefits to inflation as opposed to wages,

[Frodo]

LOL -it's so easy to criticise.  What do you all propose, then, to reform the entitlement programs to shore them up so they don't bankrupt us?  And suggest something you know that congressional Republicans can agree to.  

[Frodo]

When I proposed that list, I wasn't expecting every single thing to be agreed to and adopted in their current form.  It is an outline, not an actual proposal.  That said, I am glad I am not the only Democrat interested in compromise.

Also, Sen. Bob Corker (R -TN) advises his fellow Republicans to concede the tax fight to President Obama:

Corker: Obama's tax offer may be 'best route' for GOP

By JOSH GERSTEIN | 12/9/12 9:55 AM EST

Republicans may need to concede the current tax fight to President Barack Obama, who holds the "upper hand" in that battle, Sen. Bob Corker said Sunday.

"There is a growing group of folks looking at this and realizing that we don’t have a lot of cards as it relates to the tax issue," the Tennessee Republican told "Fox News Sunday." "I think [that notion] has merit....I actually am beginning to believe that is the best route for us to take."

Corker said ceding to Obama and preserving current tax rates for 98 percent of Americans while allowing rates to rise to Clinton-era levels on the top 2 percent would allow Republicans to pick up the fight over spending and entitlements next year.

Corker also said the GOP will have more leverage in the spending and entitlements debate next year because it can use the threat of not raising the debt ceiling to craft a favorable deal with Obama.

"There's a growing body of folks who are willing to look at the rate on the top 2 percent," Corker. "The shift in focus in entitlements is where we need to go.....Republicans know they have the debt ceiling that's coming up around the corner and the leverage is going to shift as soon as we get beyond this issue—the leverage is going to shift to our side."
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Are we witnessing the end of the Reagan Revolution at last? 

[Frodo]

Now that the GOP has gone flexible on taxes, we should go flexible on entitlements.  You cannot realistically expect to make a deal without giving them something in exchange, like the following:    

-enacting medical malpractice reform,
-increasing the Medicare and Social Security eligibility age to 70,
-reducing the tax break for employer-provided health insurance,
-capping Medicare growth beginning FY 2013,
-tightening eligibility for Social Security disability benefits,
-indexing Social Security benefits to inflation as opposed to wages,

F that!  The reason they're folding is they have no cards.  Give them as little as possible, and damn sure nothing like what you're describing.  There is no reason to give in on any of those things.

Even if it meant that entitlement spending -unreformed- would eventually bankrupt us, and crowd out other priorities that we would like to spend on, like education, infrastructure investment, and environmental protection?

[Frodo]

I do hope there aren't more of you who are in denial.