(Almost) Everyone got played by the budget deal.

In the immediately preceding post, Jon praises "the genius that allows editorial cartoonists to distill a complex subject into a humorous picture." Sorry, what I have is not humorous. But it is an excellent, short distillation of a complex picture. It doesn't require a "Read more" link at the bottom.

Everyone got played by the budget deal.

by LaFeminista

The right wing bloggers may well be angry and so are many on the left.

In a bipartisan flurry in DC all but the top 1% got screwed by shared sacrifice.

The plot so far:

A flurry of "free" money was used to finance every crack pot loan for decades resulted in the rich got richer and the poor got deeper in debt.

When the inevitable defaults began we bailed the rich out with a shot of TARP and a dram of TALF. The interest in the loans were so low you could pay for them by loaning the money back and still walk away with a handsome profit all you needed were some dodgy securities. In other words you had to be wealthy to get your welfare check without even the hint of risk.

The solutions proposed for this extravaganza

Extension of the tax cuts that helped dig the hole in the first place.

A cut in the payroll tax to destabilize social security just a little bit more.

Meanwhile some of the richest corporations pay zero tax.

TALF also assisted offshored and foreign companies and banks.

In other words the greatest heist of the century.

What do we get in return?

Shared sacrifice where any program that helps those that really need it will be cut.

The feeling we have been had.

I think it is time that we all were somewhat pissed off by the deal since most of us are supporting this socialism for the wealthiest. Perhaps we didn't share the pain to the level the right wing wanted; but don't tell me this was a good deal and we won.