Four Strikes Is An Out; Obama Proposes Last Minute "Mini Deal" Essentially Scrapping All Cutbacks, While Adding Milk Lobby Bonus

The one thing I am always afraid of in budget negotiations is that virtually nothing is done, or worse yet, something counterproductive is done.

Obama's latest Fiscal Cliff "Mini-Deal" Proposal is exactly the kind of counterproductive nonsense I am talking about.

Assuming the above Atlantic Wire article is correct ...

1. The deal would delay or replace the vast majority of spending cuts called for in the automatic sequester.
2. The deal would extend unemployment benefits
3. The deal would stop planned cuts to Medicare reimbursements
4. Out of the blue, and probably an attempt to buy farm-state votes, the deal purportedly would include a "milk fix" that allegedly would avoid a dairy market catastrophe created by the failure to renew the farm bill

Four Strikes Is An Out

I am against all four ideas and it's hard to say which one is worse. Certainly we need to scrap all farm subsidies, not put back those that have been scrapped.

Hopefully the House punts this ball a mile high, or better yet, let's hope this does not clear the Senate in the first place.

Purportedly the deal would only be for 60-90 days which would in all likelihood do nothing but allow further watering down of the proposal in yet another can-kicking exercise at that time.

Since the market is not blasting higher on this preposterous idea, it's safe to assume this deal is Dead-on-Arrival in the House, if it were to get there.

As I have said on numerous occasions, the best offer on the table is to let the alleged "fiscal cliff" happen.

Mike "Mish" Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com