Modern Politics; i.e., The Game of Chicken

[LoveLife&Laughter]

President Obama is cutting his Christmas holiday short, returning to Washington for a last attempt at avoiding the fiscal cliff. But he's running headlong into the Republican strategy of fanaticism.

It's a long-established principle of game theory (see Thomas Schelling's classic 1956 essay in theAmerican Economic Review) that a fanatic who restricts his freedom to avert a disaster puts maximum pressure on his opponent to give ground.

In a game of highway chicken, for example, the driver that can't swerve because he's tied his hands to the steering wheel and chained his foot to the accelerator forces the other to swerve in order to avoid crashing.

The trick is for the first driver to convince the second that he's crazy enough to have committed himself to instant death if the second doesn't act rationally.

House Speaker John Boehner's failure to persuade rank-and-file House Republicans to raise taxes even on millionaires fits the fanatic's strategy exactly. Boehner can now credibly claim he has no choice in the matter -- Republican fanatics in the House have tied his hands and manacled his feet -- so the only way to avoid going over the cliff is for Obama and the Democrats to make more concessions." Read more...

So, according to Robert Reich, the Republicans win again?

[LoveLife&Laughter]

This is pretty much what the Tea Party wanted, I guess they win.  Of course the purpose of intentionally creating this mess was to destroy evil socialist programs Social Security and Medicare so Job Creators and Corporations won't have to pay payroll taxes and then can make more money for themselves.  

If that doesn't happen then all of this is for nought.