Here we go again.

Congressional Republicans are about to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

Vice President Biden and Sen. Mitch McConnell were locked in urgent talks late Sunday over the “fiscal cliff” after Democrats offered several significant concessions on taxes, including a proposal to raise rates only on earnings over $450,000 a year.

With a New Year’s Eve deadline hours away, Democrats abandoned their earlier demand to raise tax rates on household income over $250,000 a year, as President Obama vowed during the recent presidential campaign.

They also relented on the politically sensitive issue of the estate tax, according to a detailed account of the Democratic offer obtained by The Washington Post, promising to stage a vote in the Senate that would guarantee that taxes on inherited estates remain at their current low levels, a key GOP demand.

This “good news” is actually truly horrible for our children and their financial futures. It’s not good at all.

As I noted over the weekend, the best medicine right now for an electorate addicted to ‘big-government for free’ is a healthy dose of fiscal responsibility. Here is a quote from an excellent piece that captures the madness of a GOP compromise:

Ideally, we would stop the spending binge and live within our means. But if the nation is not up to that, then we should all pitch in and pay for it — all of us.

Without the Clinton tax rates keyed to go into effect tomorrow, our children will be hit with an additional half-a-trillion dollars in new debt – next year ALONE! By bringing back the Clinton tax rates in total, the government will have to borrow $600 Billion less this year to feed the bureaucratic beast. And if we miss this opportunity to bring back the Clinton tax rates, there never will be a time where pols have the will power needed to force the voters to pay for the government they continue to suckle [talk about a failure to launch].

A deal that ‘protects’ middle and lower class voters from the generational theft is going to condemn this nation to decades of deficits and generations of lost hope. If the GOP ‘leaders’ wimp out again, I for one will be all for relegating them to the dustbin of history.

Since GOP is doing will be doing  the same to our children’s futures, seems only fair to return the favor. [click image to see source of graph and other disturbing projections]

Update: Ed Morrissey notes we may be saved by those pesky Tea Party types after all.

Without legislative language, the likelihood of stopping the leap seems pretty low. Even if Harry Reid and Mitch McConnell reach a deal this morning, they’d have to schedule a vote by this afternoon — and hope it gets a floor vote with no debate by unanimous consent. What’s the likelihood that Rand Paul will allow that?  Remote.

More here on how the Tea Party members of Congress are the only sanity left to protect the voters from all this Nirvana nonsense. Nirvana being – of course – that mythical time in the near future when DC will live within its means because those financial wizards in Congress (note: they don’t work on Main Street or Wall Street) were able to finally deliver a growing economy. Either that or Santa Claus will finally come and fix things – end update

Tags: Clinton Tax Rates, Fiscal Cliff