Mark, I wholeheartedly agree that it is ridiculous that we don’t know what our tax rates will be in a few days, and am not sure why you think I disagree.
Beyond that, we do have a few disagreements. Your numbers are wrong: You are confusing the summer-2011 deal over the debt limit with the spring-2011 deal over the continuing resolution to fund the government. Half of the debt-ceiling deal’s cuts come from domestic discretionary spending, which Democrats definitely do care about.
But back to agreement: As I said in the post and you also suggested, it was a mistake to make the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts temporary. And I am sure you would have driven a much harder bargain over the debt ceiling had you been in charge of congressional Republicans. But that doesn’t really help us evaluate our options now.