It’s about time for the rubber to hit the road on budget reform, and you can see the different lobbies pre-positioning and drawing their lines in the sand. Too many of the GOP and Democrat senators are going into this with the thought that it’s time to cut entitlements, but that’s wrong and unfair. Social Security, Medicare, Obamacare, and the rest should not be on the table.

People deserve the benefits of the social contract that they signed up for, not the GOP moving the goal posts just to save the uber rich a few percent on their taxes which they won’t really notice anyway.

We’ve already seen that type of reform already — my friend Digby has to wait 2 years longer for full retirement on Social Security than I do even though we grew up in the same place. The only difference is that I graduated a couple years later than her. That’s just not right nor fair since we’ve both been subject to the same deductions and scales most of our lives. We shouldn’t be disassembling these support systems for future generations for the greed a few just as they are becoming most needed.

money.cnn.com

Washington should stay away from touching the mortgage interest tax deduction, warns the U.S. housing industry.
Lately, housing is on the mend and one of the few bright spots in a lumbering economic recovery. Taking away a key tax break could throw a wrench into home buying plans and hurt a long-sputtering recovery.
Lawmakers in both parties are on the lookout for tax revenue as a way to avert the fiscal cliff.
But the housing industry is preparing to fight against any move to get rid of the mortgage interest tax break.
“[Getting rid of it] would throw the housing sector into turmoil … and chill the market just as it is trying to recover,” said Jerry Howard, CEO of the National Association of Home Builders.