George Bush and the Supercommittee

The Washington Post is running an article with the heading, "Supercommittee’s failure pushes Bush tax cuts to forefront of 2012 campaign." The article states, "(Bush's) tax changes have repeatedly provoked fiery partisan debate since they were enacted during President George W. Bush’s first term. Now, with the cuts due to expire at the end of 2012 and their fate left unresolved by the supercommittee, both parties are already positioning themselves to exploit the issue for maximum electoral advantage."

Questions for Discussion

1. Do you think that people with more money should be forced to pay more money in taxes than people with less money? Why or why not? Argue both the positive and negative sides of this question.

2. The Supercommittee is not expected to successfully reach an agreement. What can we learn about Washington, D.C., from the fact that the Supercommittee was unsuccessful?

3. Do you think that the leaders of Congress thought that the committee would be able to successfully propose ways to make the deficit smaller when they first created it? Why or why not?

4. If you could tell the members of Congress one thing that they most likely have not heard before what would you tell them? Why would you tell this to them?