…Obama needs a tax cut and his liberal base won’t let him cut taxes that need cutting.  Jim Quinn over at Zero Hedge explains the problem:

…The party that presents Social Security as a well run outstanding example of government at its finest has decided the best way to create jobs is to double down on you paying even less in payroll taxes than you did this year. We know for a fact the average person will get between 25% and 125% more than they paid into Social Security. The Obama plan last year and again this year is to drastically reduce the amount paid into the Trust fund, so you can have the privilege of consuming the same amount of food and energy at a much higher price. Brilliant plan! It is amazing how liberals and Keynesians can have such disregard and scorn for future generations who will be handed this bill with no means to pay.

The Republicans went along with the 2011 payroll tax cut of 2%. They will go along with the 3.1% payroll tax cut. You see, this is how politics works. Since the payroll tax was “temporarily” cut, whoever lets the payroll tax cut expire will be declared a tax hiker. Therefore, the “temporary” payroll tax cut will be extended indefinitely, further impoverishing future generations. Meanwhile, how many jobs did the first payroll tax cut create? How many will the extended and increased payroll tax cut create? None! Obama is using the George Bush tax rebate check method of destroying the country. Both decided to address a government spending problem by reducing revenues. This is par for the course and explains why the economy is teetering on the verge of collapse…

And we really shouldn’t go along with Obama’s next installment in “temporary” payroll tax reductions.  I know, I know – for us GOPers, a tax cut is always a good thing…and it is, at the end of the day, better that people keep more of their own money.  But if we go along with this, then all we’ll have done is allow Obama to get a campaign talking point while further shoving us in to bankruptcy.  We must balance our budget – this is not a thing we can kid around with or kick down the road.  We have, at most, three or four years before the whole thing falls apart and our government finances become like Greece’s.

For us in the GOP, our duty is to demand massive, across-the-board budget cuts – and, yes, demand tax reform, too; but budget cuts come first.  And in the end, balancing the budget is so important that we must not even shy away from tax cuts…but not until at least $500 billion is reduced from spending.  And I don’t mean “over ten years”…I mean that in FY 2012 (which starts October 1st) we must spend at least $500 billion less than we spent in FY 2011.  If we can’t get at least that, then no tax increase in any way, shape or form can be agreed to.

To call this a serious moment in our nation’s history is to downplay what we’re going through.  Our economy and the global economy teeter on the brink of collapse.  If it does collapse, then hundreds of millions of people will begin to suffer very gravely.  In spite of asinine stories about China replacing us, the fact is that unless the United States pulls out of recession, no one really will.  Only America, properly governed and with a rational economic policy can do what needs to be done.  Our payout if we don’t act properly will be poverty and, very likely, a rapid rise in global tyranny leading to eventual war.

This is not the time for gimmicks – but that is likely all we’re going to get from Obama.  But we, of the Republican party, must have none of that – we must stand for solid, responsible policies which will actually cure the illness…and we must be courageous enough to go in 2012 on such a platform.  Let Obama and his liberals play games, let us save America.