A Pyrrhic Victory

It is truly a word: "pyre", as anyone who has listened closely to the words "Come On Baby Light My Fire" would attest to. Of course it has only one meaning, and that is a "funeral pyre".

So what is a pyrrhic victory? A dead victory. Which is what the Republicans achieved today in the Senate. For seven weeks I've been watching them (cspan is my life, thank you for cspan, I love cspan, well in any case its a living) try to pass HR 4213 - the "Tax Extenders" bill. To extend unemployment, provide Medicaid match funds to states (states that *are* *counting* on this money), and crank up the tax on oil barrels, close foreign tax loopholes, etc. It used to include bizarre things like aid to the Wool Trust Fund, but I think they've slimmed it down some.

The Rs are adamant - we must offset all costs. Everything in the bill must be paid for and not add to the deficit. Well they got it to the point where everything was "offset" - mainly by raiding unspent Stimulus funds (that had already been obligated for other purposes..) and playing little tricks with 10 year paybacks, and increasing carried interest tax on hedge fund managers.

They got it down to everything being offset xc for unemployment - a little matter of $30Billion. When they get back to their constituencies, many of them will say they are out of work, out of unemployment, and storm their plush offices.

So the Rs won the standoff. I hope they can find it in their hearts and wallets to give a job to each one of their constituents, and the numbers will be growing, each one who has applied for 100s of jobs and been turned away. A living wage job, to feed their family, continue to live in their community. To not have to walk away from their mortgage for lack of income, and sleep in the park with their family, or worse split up and each find a separate couch to sleep on.

I hope they can find the solution that seems to evade me. Or is each individual out there on their own? I used to think we were going too far in the direction of ruthless capitalism, but now we've gone even farther. So I am curious what their master plan is.

I don't think its merely obstructionism. I know some Republicans and some are nice people. Some are even smart people. So they have to have a plan, right? A plan for the out of work individuals? Or is it simply a plan in the abstract. A pyrrhic plan.