The New York Times article In Senate, Republicans Block Debate on ‘Buffett Rule’, is exactly what we had expected.

The National Republican Congressional Committee said vulnerable House Democrats could “either focus on growing small businesses by providing them tax relief to create jobs or help his party leaders raise taxes to fuel their spending addictions.”

The same old tired baloney.  With all the tax cuts that have already been given out,  the economy ought to be booming.  Major corporations are sitting on tons of cash. Their profits have never been better.  So why aren’t they spending this money to create jobs?  No freaking customers is the answer.  Or at least not enough customers to require them to open up their mothballed factories and put people to work.

If the corporations and the wealthy paid more taxes to take the strain off the middle-class, they would have the customers they need.  They would have to spend their hordes of cash gearing up to satisfy the new demand.  Instead, this cash they sit on has been sucked right out of the economy and is sitting idle in inflated “investments”.

For the so-called party of business, the Republicans sure do pretend not to know how the economy really works.  Of course they really know full well, but it is more important for their constituents to be able to brag about what a large part of the economic pie that they have than it is to grow that pie for everyone to share.

We really do need to have Elizabeth Warren to replace Scott Brown.  With Scott Brown’s deer in the headlights appearance, perhaps he really does not know how this economy really works.  On the other hand, Elizabeth Warren is an expert.

This is from the Warren campaign team leadership roles packets.

America’s middle class has been hammered for a generation now. If you are the oil industry and getting billions of subsidies, you better believe Washington is working for you. If you run a hedge fund and you manage to get paid in stock, Washington is really working well for you. But, if you’re trying to raise a family, if you’re trying yo get through college or send a kid through college, if you’re a senior trying to live on a fixed income, then Washington isn’t working so much for you. So for me, that’s what this race is all about. It’s about what kind of people we are and what kind of country we are going to build.

– Elizabeth Warren

Why are we asking students to take on more debt to get an education and seniors to live on less, while major corporations pay nothing in federal income taxes? It didn’t used to be that way. Coming out of World War II we made two remarkable decisions as a country. First, in a boom-and-bust world, we created a basic set of fair rules that ended the financial panics and provided almost a half-century of economic stability and growth. Second, we invested in ourselves and our children, creating the basic building blocks for a strong middle class and a strong economy: education, roads and bridges, mass transit and rail, water and sewage, research, and energy. It worked. America’s middle class prospered. We celebrated success, but also looked ahead, making sure that the basic ingredients would be in place so the next generation could do even better.

Then, about a generation ago, Washington turned in a different direction and the rules changed.

Financial cops were taken off the beat, and government regulators began to work for those they were supposed to regulate. We fought wars we couldn’t pay for, recklessly piling on debt. Powerful companies got subsidies, while ordinary families and small businesses became increasingly burdened. We didn’t repair our roads and bridges, and we cut back on research. We stopped investing in our future.

This did not happen by accident. Washington spent their time looking out for the billion dollar corporations and for Wall Street – and it all finally came crashing down in the economic crisis of 2008 and all that has followed.

In the midst of all this turmoil, there was one voice that spoke clearly, loudly, and courageously – not only describing what had happened, but naming those responsible, in order to both hold them accountable, and to make sure this never happened again. That person is Elizabeth Warren.

And now she’s running for the Senate here in MA.

But…

This election is not only about who will be the next Senator from Massachusetts. It’s really about what kind of people we are and what kind of country we are going to build.

Are we going to be a country that continues to subsidize already profitable industries like big oil? Or are we going to be a country that invests in the future, like education and clean energy?

Are we going to be a country that continues to provide giveaways to the big banks that brought down the economy? Or are we going to hold them accountable and help level the playing field so that middle class families can build a future?

Are we going to be a country that says, I got mine, and the rest of you are on your own? Or are we a country that believes in making investments in our future so that our children can be better off than we are?

We need Elizabeth to be our voice in Washington, to strongly demand that this country, once again, invests in our future and places value on creating opportunities for our children. To do this, we must first elect her the next US Senator from Massachusetts.

Oh, yes that nasty spending addiction of the Democrats. They are addicted to funding the promised, bought, and paid for Social Security benefits, health care for all, and investments in the future of the economy. I guess the Republicans don’t think this economy “needs no stinkin’ future”.