Democrats resort to 'Washington Monument' strategy to defend their big tax and spend addiction

Washington Examiner:

Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., claims that the Republicans' opposition to tax increases and any increase in the national debt ceiling is a sign that they really want to throw Granny and the military over the cliff. The GOP, he said, "would rather stop paying our men and women fighting overseas, force deep cuts to Social Security and Medicare ... than tell big oil companies and corporate jet owners to pay their fair share." This is known as the Washington Monument Strategy, and professional politicians resort to it whenever their spending addiction is seriously threatened. Here's how the WMS works: When revenue is short, the politicians threaten to shut down the most vital public services first. Locally, it's the police and firemen, while in Washington, it's Social Security checks and military pay. That's how the politicians insure that a maximum number of people feel the pain and will cave in to demands for tax increases instead of spending cuts.

Schumer, President Obama and other Democratic leaders have adopted this strategy in hopes of making political gains, but their arguments are full of false premises. If the debt ceiling is not raised soon and taxes are not increased, then spending cuts will be unavoidable. But the Government Accountability Office has made clear that Obama's treasury secretary, Timothy Geithner, would be responsible for deciding which of the government's obligations be paid first. And Washington will still be receiving trillions of dollars in taxes paid. So if Social Security checks aren't issued or soldiers don't get paid on time, it will be because Obama's treasury secretary decided to do it that way.

...

Cutting the salaries for Democrat demagogues she be the top priority. If Sen. Schumer is putting himself ahead of the military and Social Security recipients then we will know just how out of whack his priorities are. In fact Democrats have voted down a proposal by Sen. Toomay that would prioritize payments and make sure that the concerns about the military and Social Security recipients are dealt with.