It seems like only yesterday that I was saying that Congress uses a Christmas tree approach to legislation. Actually, it was two days ago. The concept seems to be catching on. From Bloomberg:
WASHINGTON (AP) – In the spirit of the holiday season, President Barack Obama’s tax-cut deal with Republicans is becoming a Christmas tree tinseled with gifts for lobbyists and lawmakers. But that hardly stopped the squabbling on Friday, with Bill Clinton even back at the White House pleading the president’s case.
In this case the more add-ons, the harder it will be to pass the bill. The left blogosphere denounced the proposal right from the start. I’ve already seen right blogosphere condemnations of the Senate’s version of the bill on precisely those grounds.
The take-away is that people who oppose the bill hate Christmas; they are grinches, destined to be haunted by the spirits of the past and the present. The future can wait for another day, it’s pretty ugly.
Personally, my support vanished when the tree stopped looking like the one in the Peanuts show and more like the one in Whoville.
Careful, guys. The bill has a lot of problems, and hopefully those will get rectified, if not now, later. But no bill could mean double dip. And that will mean lot’s more decficit, and lot’s of needless unemployment.