Democracy Now: Geithner: Admin “Absolutely” Prepared to Go Over Fiscal Cliff if GOP Doesn’t Budge on Tax Hike
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner says the Obama administration is prepared to see the United States go over the looming “fiscal cliff” rather than cave to Republican demands for a continued tax break for the wealthiest Americans. Geithner made the statement in an interview with CNBC.
Steve Liesman: “I want to understand the administration’s position when it comes to raising taxes on the wealthy, those making more than $250,000. If Republicans do not agree to that, is the administration prepared to go over the fiscal cliff?”
Timothy Geithner: “Oh, absolutely. Again, we see there’s no prospect to an agreement that doesn’t involve those rates going up on the top 2 percent of the wealthiest Americans. Remember, it’s only 2 percent.”
Speaking, meanwhile, to the Business Roundtable group of corporate executives in Washington, President Obama said Republicans need to accept the reality that tax rates will rise for the wealthiest Americans.
President Obama: “We’ve seen some movement over the last several days among some Republicans. I think there’s a recognition that maybe they can accept some rate increases as long as it’s combined with serious entitlement reform and additional spending cuts. And if we can get the leadership on the Republican side to take that framework, to acknowledge that reality, then the numbers actually aren’t that far apart. Another way of putting this is, we can probably solve this in about a week; it’s not that tough.”
Aware and Outraged 