What is Going On in Washington?

I guess I should not be surprised by anything that happens in Washington these days but nevertheless, I am stunned at the attitude regarding the Bush Era tax rates. These rates expire at the end of the year and unless something is done, all Americans will face an increase. The Republicans have a united position of making the current rates permanent. The Democrats are all over the place. Some are holding to the $250,000 cut off and some want to raise it to $1 million. There are even some who don't want to raise any taxes, at least not now. Who can keep up with all their "ideas"? They all have known this was coming and yet they sit on their hands. If this is passed to the new Congress in January, there could be a huge mess, even if they retroactively make them permanent. According to Karl Rove, it could cause problems with tax returns and be a disaster. I am no economist so I can't say with any credibility that we should not raise taxes on the so called rich. But it doesn't seem to make sense to raise taxes on those who create jobs and hire people, drive innovation and have investment capital. Who has ever been hired by a poor person? The left doesn't seem to think that these people will generate jobs if they keep their money, they will just hoard it. They blame the tax rates for the current state of the economy, conveniently ignoring the housing market fiasco. Presidents Reagan, Kennedy, and way back when, Calvin Coolidge, all cut taxes and had economic growth. While private sector jobs are being shed at an alarming rate, government jobs are exploding and government employees are now making more than their private sector counterparts. Our 401Ks are shrinking and their pensions are bloated. Why should they be immune to what the rest of us are feeling. My company laid off 1400 people and restructured our time off policy, giving us fewer days. We still get a generous amount but I am sure that was more palatable than even more layoffs. Obama has said he will freeze government employee salaries but how about cutting the workforce and looking at the retirement system they have? Hard choices have to be made by everyone and that means looking at entitlements, earmarks and taxes. We actually do not have a taxing problem, we have a spending problem.