The Donkey Pins the Tail on Itself
If there is no debt limit increase soon, the credit ratings of the United States will go down. If there is a deal but with no significant and credible reduction in spending soon, the credit ratings will go down. Standard and Poor’s does not yet expect a default; it is concerned that there must be “a ‘credible’ plan to increase the debt ceiling that also reduces the long-term budget deficit”:
Speaking publicly for the first time about the fiscal standoff, S&P President Deven Sharma said Wednesday that the bigger risk is a downgrade in the nation’s AAA credit rating because Congress and the White House cannot agree on a package of spending cuts and possible revenue increases. (emphasis added)
A diminished credit rating will increase the interest rates the government and the private sectors have to pay for new borrowing. Mr. Sharma, the president of Standard and Poor’s, commented:
A credit rating downgrade would force the U.S. to increase the interest rates on benchmark Treasury securities, a move that would have a cascading effect throughout the financial markets. Borrowing costs for mortgages and credit cards would rise, and mutual funds, pension funds and other investments would take a major hit.
This would be very unfortunate in an economy already worse than merely anemic. It would also diminish tax revenues, rather than increase them:
The U.S. economy stumbled badly in the first half of 2011 and came dangerously close to contracting in the January-March period, raising the risk of a recession if a stand-off over the nation’s debt does not end quickly.
The “risk” of a recession is already great. However, the debt is a symptom, not the cause. Nor is our debt likely to be diminished by increasing it — at higher cost:
The Commerce Department data on Friday also showed the current lull in the economy began earlier than had been thought, with the growth losing steam late last year.
That raised questions on the long held view by both Federal Reserve officials and independent economists that the slowdown in growth this year was mostly due to transitory factors.
. . . .
The economy grew at a 1.3 percent annual pace in the second quarter after expanding just 0.4 percent in the first three months of the year. First-quarter growth was revised from the previously reported 1.9 percent increase.
The Democrats demand, for political rather than economic reasons, a debt limit deal sufficient to carry the country through the November 2012 elections but with no significant and credible spending cuts. Former Speaker Pelosi wants to save the world as she likes it; she probably would prefer an even better world, as it was for her before the 2010 elections. And, of course, she is a mother; our government must, in her view, behave as a mother to her children.
The Republicans, particularly the “Tea Party Terrorists” — who “represent a clear and present danger to the United States of America and … must be stopped before it is too late” — refused to go along with the Boehner bill because it was flaky with inadequate credible spending cuts, because Senator Reid had declared it Dead on Arrival in the Senate if it passed the House, and because President Obama had promised, several times — most recently on July 29 — to veto it should it unexpectedly reach his desk for signature. Next up in the House after it passes the Senate will most likely be an even flakier Reid bill, probably amended slightly to secure quick Senate passage. The Republican opposition to it in the House will most likely surpass that to the Boehner bill.
Assume, however, that there are enough Democrats and Republicans in the House to pass the Reid bill (update: Boehner bill passes House) and that President Obama will sign it. The U.S. credit ratings will still go down because it will be clearer than ever before that the U.S. will increasingly continue to spend more than it receives in revenues; unless our already less than meager economic recovery improves dramatically, those revenues will continue to decline and government costs will continue to increase. The near certainty of another eventual debt limit “crisis” will add to the incentives for a credit rating drop — regardless of whether it happens before or after the November elections.
Even if another debt limit “crisis” is put off until after the November 2012 elections — which seems to be and to have been President Obama’s principal objective — the results of a credit ratings drop based on the absence of significant and credible spending cuts (along with declining tax revenues from a debilitated economy) will be felt well before then. This, combined with the current near flat-lining of the U.S. economy, will have a substantial and adverse “snowball” impact on business:
1. Due to increased borrowing costs, what modest business investment there is now will be reduced further, and along with it there will be reduced hiring of new workers and increased lay-offs of existing workers.
2. Failure to diminish regulatory impediments to business expansion, and uncertainty as to more of the same or worse, will add to the problem. Many business leaders, some of them from the Obama camp, are complaining that “President Obama’s policies are stifling job creation.”
[M]any top business leaders remain largely unmoved, judging from the unemployment rate that stands at 9.2 percent. Corporate leaders are sitting on about $2 trillion in capital, and gaming magnate Steve Wynn, a self-described “Democratic businessman,” told investors two weeks ago that business leaders will be “sitting on their thumbs” until Mr. Obama leaves office.
That can’t be a very comfortable position, despite President Obama’s insistence on sitting on his own thumbs.
“This administration is the greatest wet blanket to business and progress and job-creation in my lifetime,” said Mr. Wynn, whose second-quarter earnings at Resorts were nevertheless up $300 million from the same period in 2010.
“And I could prove it and I could spend the next three hours giving you examples of all of us in this marketplace that are frightened to death about all the new regulations, our health care costs escalate, regulations coming from left and right, a president that seems — that keeps using that word ‘redistribution,’” he said.
Shared sacrifice of this sort, so dear to President Obama, may not help him; it certainly will help neither the economy nor those dependent upon it.
3. Some employees currently eligible for Social Security retirement benefits should they retire, but who don’t want to do so, may have no other choice due to layoffs. This will cause total federal outlays for Social Security retirement benefit to increase; the new retirees may not be happy living on monthly Social Security payments, significantly lower than the wages they are currently being paid.
Meanwhile, some things don’t change much and the country is in the very best of hands.
Qui Bono?
The Democrats may benefit within their own base, those who rely on or are ideologically attached to our welfare state and to its kissing cousin, unions. However, if the Reid bill becomes law, the Democrats will “own” our economic dishevelment as never before. They insisted on it and got it over strong Republican objections. Republicans have a majority in only one house of the Congress and Democrats control both the Senate and the presidency. With two to one against, the Republicans did the best that could have been done to restore some semblance of sanity but the Democrats won. This is what their win will get for their potential voters: You bought a lottery ticket to win good stuff. Now all you have to show for it is a worthless ticket stub. We wonder who won the jackpot. Don’t you? Bailouts, goodies for federal employees, goodies for foreign countries, United Nations apparatchiks and others but not you — is that making your life better or worse? Perhaps President Obama, who has consistently led from the rear, will go down in history as the modern-day General Jubilation T. Cornpone, who led to the rear.
Many who in 2010 were solidly in President Obama’s camp are hurting, very badly. Unemployment among blacks is very high — significantly higher than for other ethnic groups.
The national unemployment rate in July for black males is 17.9 percent, as compared to 8.1 percent for white males and 11.9 percent for Hispanic males. For college-educated black males, the figure drops to 6.5 percent, which is still higher than the 2.9 percent rate for college-educated whites.
Black voters are tending away from President Obama, quite significantly. Republicans should also attract more independents, already tending in their direction. The Republicans will benefit with their own base, and not only the “Tea Party Terrorists.” What about RINOs? Some may awaken and realize why the nation is in her present debilitated condition and inch a bit more toward the right; those who don’t may discover that they no longer own their congressional seats.
If the economic situation has worsened come next year, as seems very likely, President Obama may not have a complete lock on the Democratic nomination; Senator Sanders of Vermont is “thinking about trying to encourage somebody to run against President Obama in a primary election, claiming the president has drifted toward Republican positions because “no one will stand up to him.” There appears to be increasing leftist dissatisfaction with him for not keeping many of his campaign promises. This probably will not deny him the nomination, but it may well cause some of his former admirers to not bother voting for him. There may not be enough brain dead voters to reelect him. If the Republicans can mend their internecine divisions there should be an excellent chance of winning both houses of the Congress as well as the presidency.
The Democrats, by insisting that the nation spend more and more money and regulate business more and more into oblivion, unceasingly, have done a fine job of pinning the tail on themselves. The country will suffer for it and so will they. November of 2012 can’t get here soon enough.
“The Dem position on spending simply cannot end well for them.”
Are you kidding me? Every time the government takes a buck from person A and gives it to person B, a little bit of that money gets sidetracked into the wallets of pols and bureaucrats.
And, according to what I heard, the federal government is issuing 80,000,000 checks next month alone (and, I bet that’s a huge underestimate).
They’re pulling down fat bank off their welfare state scam.
Yep. And that just might be one of the reasons it doesn’t end well for the Dems.
But won’t the print press and MSM go into turbo-charged overdrive to bash Boehner and the GOP, although only they kept producing proposals?
More like half sticks to the bureacracy. More for some programs, less for others.
When you rob Peter to pay Paul, you can always count on the undying support of Paul.
But though we had plenty of money, there was nothing our money could buy,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said “If you don’t work, you die.”
You’d almost think he wasn’t writing this a hundred years ago.
For those of us with a more limited literary education, the following refers to the origin of the preceeding:
As Rudyard Kipling, who was right about nearly everything, once wrote:
In the Carboniferous Epoch we were promised abundance for all,
By robbing selected Peter to pay for collective Paul;
But, though we had plenty of money, there was nothing our money could buy,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: “If you don’t work you die.”
You mean if we don’t raise the debt ceiling the 1.9% growth rate might be in jeopardy ?
A balanced budget offends Democrats
More spending is needed for SEIU and Acorn people !
We can’t continue to grow the welfare state without overspending !
Obama’s over budget by 1.4 trillion and has the gall to try to raise taxes ?
Its not taxes; its revenue and now it’s Patriotic !!
No wonder over 50% want to raise taxes as 50% DON’T PAY TAXES
Let’s cut the spending and let all the altruistic Democrats contribute as they tell us we should Soros Buffett Hollywood etc
As noted in the article,
So it’s not even a 1.9% growth rate, nor has it been that high all year.
Yep, growth is less than the real inflation rate. How’s that whole standard of living thing working out for the moonbats now?
Titanic update, July 29, 2011:
The “real” inflation rate, i.e. including food and energy costs is 9.7% as of June 30, 2011. So we be sinking fellows. I guess that bump was an iceberg after all.
Remember the oath to protect against all enemies foreign AND domestic.
Here’s another little piece of arithmetic to ponder – if the first quarter supposedly grew by 1.9% but was then revised down by 1.5% to 0.4%, what happens if the second quarter’s growth of 1.3% is also revised down by 1.5%? Oh, yeah, -0.2%! That seems to be what I see around here. And that will mark the start of the “new”, as in, we actually never really got out of it, recession.
In the land of government numbers, the first quarter had to be revised down to mask the second quarters decline.
The House just passed the Boehner bill with 218 Republican votes and Zero Democrat votes. Isn’t that great
!?well…there were 22 patriots…
the republicans made an unforced error. the only good thing is boehner’s days as speaker are coming to an end.
if they can’t stand on principal then they are not principled.
I am glad the bil has passed. It is not what I want but it is timet stop beating up on republican for a little while.
Time to make th Democrats be responsible for something. I don’t expec anything good from them
On the other hand the Republians in the Senate should make te emocrats get the matter out there then make longlong debates….let the democrats sit i their own soup for a while.
The Sentors shoul e saying we get omething at 6:00 on Friday….uh Harry get back with us next Friday
Dan I think you will see that the dems turn this around by gutting the boehner bill and sending it back where the RINO’s and dems will vote for it …making it the obama dem plan.
..sure we are all screwed (well not me) and the public will for the most part go with the MSM and think it was the republicans that brought us (well not me) to the brink.
the real issue is spending not debt ceiling and that means a downgrade since nothing comes close to the spending required.
time for people to shed their socialist ways. …the american people have all gotten soiled by accepting bribes of their own money.
As Niall Ferguson has written: “It beggars belief that the GOP is willing to risk national default for the sake of antitax purity.”
It beggars belief that the Democrats are willing to risk national default for the sake of spendthrift purity.
What beggars belief is that Ferguson thinks there will be a default.
The Treasury decides what gets paid, and there is currently no threat of defaulting on anything, and default would not occur on Aug 2, anyway. The exact date would be a litle later, if Treasury decided to allow it.
However, it does not beggar belief that the lamestream, pimping, corrupt media continues to lie about this matter of default. As does our Treasury Secretary, but he is as corrupt as anyone who has ever held that office.
Patriots are attempting to prevent our nation’s financial demise by bringing a halt to the insane spending, and this is what we get from people who should and do know better. A pox on all of their houses.
If all the fraudsters and goldbricks currently ripping off the government werre not paid, we could avoid default for at least 500 years, without any new taxes at all. And if the markets knew that was the fact, they would be producing new tax revenues like crazy, even at existing rates. What is Ferguson talking about? He is obviously lying for partisan, racist purposes. Shame on him.
Its really interesting to get the Democratic view. Its so slanted that it isn’t really realistic. Still they stoke the fires blaming everything on the Republicans especially those darn Tea Party Activists. I think its time for the country to learn to sip some tea, not champagne. Maybe reuse that tea bag a few times before tossing it. People, who have never had to earn a living, can never be taught to live within a budget. After all, they are spending somebody else’s buck.
““It beggars belief that the GOP is willing to risk national default for the sake of antitax purity.”
default only happens when tax cheat tim doesn’t send a check to our bond holders. “default” is an obama/dem/mbm/gop establishment strawman.
And anyone who thinks B.O. and Timmy the tax cheat won’t default on our bond holders just wasn’t paying attention during the General Motors debacle.
Not the point- the point is that if default happens it’s 100% Obama’s fault. The Republicans would have not the tiniest amount of blame for it.
One thing worth remembering is that if 1,000,000 people believe something that is wrong and 1 person believes something that is right the 1 person is still right. And largely irrelevant.
And as long as Brian and Scott and whoever (sorry, can’t be bothered) stick to the narrative it’s going to be really hard to do what we need to do. Maybe impossible.
I don’t think it’s a given that the credit rating will go down nor that it will impact the interest rate on US bonds.
Where are mega bond buyers to go? What country is a better risk? Despite the obvious danger the marxists Obama poses, there is still a good possibility that he will be deposed in 2012 or will be forced into oblivion by Republicans winning the Senate. And even if he is still able to wreck his ruin after 2012, the US is still the safest haven for money, at least for a few more years. Long-term bonds might go up. Medium and short-term probably won’t move much, certainly not because the the descredited corruptocrats at S&P downgrading them.
This whole “fight” is basically a tune-up exhibition. Everybody knows that the main event is 2012.
Republicans shouldn’t even be playing. It was enough to pass CCB. Rather than play along with the scripted chaos, conservatives would be better to off to let the damn limit be raised and keep our powder dry for 2012.
This is one time when the usually reliable talk-show guys have done us a disservice. Principles are good, except that winning principles are much better. There is the time to keep the forces intact for the decisive battle to come.
If they abandon their principles now, after campaigning on them last year, they will have no principles left to run on in 2012.
They have a job to do– not a game to play. Obama has taken this country to the brink, and I am not convinced it is not on purpose.
the only winning principal was to not raise the debt ceiling. they failed, status quo and the rinos hold the day.
the cuts to spending are insufficient so unless S&P was joking then the rating will be cut..
Democrats have never had to earn a living? What are you sipping? It seems even stronger than the kool aid…
Just because a large corporation can stay competitive doesn’t necessarily mean it considers any interests but its shareholders nor that it cares very much for our national security. Crappy US schools? Hire abroad.
Small business tends to innovate more and employ more people.
Those corporations “too big to fail” and others deeply connected with national security require clear and transparent regulation and third party verification. The criminal and negligent practices represent a threat to our economic health and competitiveness.
2 trillion waiting to see the safest bet for shareholders?
Close their loopholes and forces their ante. This is our future we’re talking about, not a private crap game.
There are many things that can drive small business.
The populist sentiments by both parties advocates for small business, but the picture I see are elites in both parties covering for Big Business. Well, different parts of Big business.
If you’re really pro small business, you don’t mind closing loopholes. You envy corproate medical insurance rates. You consider the ease of their capital flows against your own tight credit lines. You know your account by name.
2 trillion waiting? How will that be spent in our national interest more than the stimulus was? Just because it creates a spike in corporate employment (provided they don’t outsource the jobs)?
Democrats must examine how they’re really helping small business and not just using populism for political gain. Is the Union their slice of the Middle Class?
Republicans must break free from the image of being in bed with Big business, attacking every regulation and closing of loopholes. Not a single new tax but two new ones on my cell phone bill. One can encumber the regulatory apparatus by increasing enforcement. One can drastically reduce the corporate tax rate but still increase penalties and restrictions on the game played. Corporations closely tied to national security should have even more restrictions as the price of their unique source of funding -the American People for the purpose of national defense.
Both sides retreating to their garrisons under slogans that don’t reflect their actual ties, is a losing proposition, for shareholders and the rest of us Americans……
funny (well not hahah funny) but big business CEO’s and board of directors are much more likely to be liberals then conservatives. it is the “old boys network” and they always go with the democrats (plus the dems are easier to buy off).
Well I don’t know about that. Bank of America, Exxon, ALCOA, BOEING…I’m not sure they’re all Liberals. Would you offer some proof?
But hey, Krugman takes a shot at me: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/29/opinion/krugman-the-centrist-cop-out.html?_r=1&src=ISMR_AP_LO_MST_FB
Resolve the national debt in a month or a week? And resolve it without the reform, regulation, waste and fraud management etc? Or would you “resolve” it with tax cuts and spending cuts alone?
you could add Caterpillar to your list of big corporations that have a conservative bent. most don’t. sorry I have no evidence at hand but the old boys are often not conservative. believe what you think.
the debt ceiling isn’t the issue the spending is. I would not raise it. How did it get so high to begin with? (rhetorical question)
resolve it in a week ..month you say. this didn’t happen yesterday. obama played the republicans and squashed them.
obama is trying to destroy the economy like a good marxist. what do you think the spending is ..it is a tax increase. …deferred tax increase. forced wealth redistribution.
also I meant un-encumber the regulatory apparatus…..
a MUST read article. This guy is genius.
http://sultanknish.blogspot.com/
The problem with the stupid in this country is that they cannot distinguish between the debt ceiling debate and the other issue of fiscal responsibility. Are you getting this yet, Sarah Palin and the Tea Party? Raising the debt ceiling is not allowing for more money to spend on new future obligations, it is to pay for obligations that have already been spent. Does anyone remember the 2 wars and the Bush tax cuts from the previous administration? One of the wars being unjustifiable and unwarranted? How do you pay for 2 simultaneous wars with tax cuts on top of that? Ask any economist with half a mind how that could possibly work? So bingo, we arrived to where we are today with this debt crisis. Plus, keep in mind that this $14.3 trillion national debt has been passed over from one presidency to the next without any strong attempt at creating solvency against this enormous debt. So what become of the end result? The answer to that is what we see today, a national debt ballooning to this enormous figure. To somehow blame this President solely for this debt is either the workings of a very stupid or ignorant mind. Folks, this has been happening since the day this country first decided to borrow external money and balloon the debt to where it is today.
So raising the debt ceiling is to pay for obligations of the past that are already made. Then working on tackling this enormous national debt within this 10 year span with yearly fiscal spending cuts and yes, without new revenues, this national debt would never get resolved. The solution to this has to come from all avenues. These are 2 separate issues and should not be held hostage by the Tea Party. This is not socialism for the stupid out there; this is fiscal responsibility to resolve this national debt once and for all.
Metaphorically, when you really think about the current time that we are facing, I am reminded of a movie called Deep Impact and it is comparable to this current situation. In the movie Deep Impact, you have a sitting president who is black and is helpless against an impending comet that is about to collide with Earth and cause an Armageddon. Every attempt was made against this comet to stop it from destroying Earth without success. The end result was the comet hitting Earth and causing a near total devastation.
In reality, we also have a sitting president who is also black and is also helpless against an impending comet that is about to collide with Earth and cause an Armageddon. Every attempt was also made against this comet to stop it from destroying Earth without success. Folks, this comet are Sarah Palin and the Tea Party. Will we have the same end result?
That was a very racist comment, Dave.
nickel,
Your infantile reverse psychology will not work here so go away, kiddo.
Dave,
GWB was not a favorite of mine, but the last budget he had anything to do with ended Sept. 30, 2009. Anything since that date has been solely created by BHO, Pelosi, & Reid. The GOP House will finally have a direct say on the budget come this October. All the present Kabuki dances are related to are how to fund the existing Dem budget trainwrecks.
Boehner erred by trying to create the solution more than once. He started negotiating with himself, and painted himself into a corner. Had he left the Ryan plan operative, the onus would have been on the Senate to make a counterproposal. He let them off the hook twice now. One House doesn’t allow him to dictate, but neither do the two thirds that the Dems control.
Both sides agree that excess spending is the problem, with the Dems adding that insufficient revenues add to the problem. No one on the right opposes closing ALL the loopholes, both sidees lose sacred cows, but we prefer to adjust rates to make the alteration revenue neutral to start. The engendered new growth from the lower rates would redound to the betterment of the balance sheet. But the Dems only will allow cuts to the military. There is obviously some waste there, but not enough to resolve the shortfall, and the now three wars are still active by BHO’s choice and must be funded.
Boehner should vote down the Reid bill, and adjourn on August 5th for recess. The adjournment message should be for Reid & BHO to propose a plan that can pass the House upon Congress’ return which reflects the most current expressed will of the People. To cut spending, rein in the debt, and repeal Obamacare were the three planks of that historic victory. The third can’t be done while BHO is in office. The other two are reflected in the current stand off.
curtmilr,
I welcome you to read Amendment 14 of our Constitution that basically states that the U.S. debt ceiling shall not be questioned. It was not questioned 19 times during the Reagan Administration and 9 times during the Bush Administration. Raising the debt ceiling is to pay for obligations that are already there or already made, it is NOT to pay for future obligations. That is why it should not be questioned, as Amendment 14 stated, and should not be held hostage by the Tea Party Republicans in the House. Raising the debt ceiling and tackling fiscal responsibility is 2 separate issues and one should never be used to take hostage of the other.
That’s what Section 4 of the Fourteenth Amendment says. Notice that it does not say anything about enforcement. That’s where Section 5 comes in. It says, “The Congress shall have power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.”(emphasis added)
Nowhere does any amendment to the Constitution override Article II, Section 8, which provides,
Those roles are pretty clearly within the sole authority of the Congress. A debt limit abrogation by the President would be to borrow additional money on the credit of the United States, authority to do which Article II does not grant Him and which the Fourteenth Amendment does not grant Him either. If Section 4 of the Fourteenth Amendment were wrongly construed to permit President Obama to borrow new money to maintain federal spending at its present level, it might as well be construed to authorize him to nationalize and sell Ford Motor Company for that purpose.
The problem is that although the President has no authority to override the Constitution (just as Willie Sutton had no authority to rob banks) He has the power to do so (just as Willie Sutton had the power to rob banks) until the Supreme Court catches up with Him. In this case, it is doubtful that it would ever do so because it would be very difficult to show “standing” to sue. And, even were that managed, it would take years for a case to wend its way through a district court, an appellate court and, just maybe, get to the Supreme Court. Should it eventually get there, the Supreme Court might well conclude that the question is a political one, not for it to decide.
I very much hope He doesn’t do it. However, if He does, it will be very difficult to claim with any persuasiveness that everything bad that happens to the economy is the fault of the “obstructionist” Republicans. That’s the only possible good I can see coming from it, but it could be very useful come next year.
Dan Miller,
I am totally aware of what Amendment 14 states in its entirety. I know that the President can invoke this amendment but does not have the authority to raise the debt ceiling on his own. It has to be brought in front of the Supreme Court for the decision. This is what the Tea Party in the House is pushing this country to. They are using this debt ceiling debate to push the country to its brink. They are completely holding this country hostage. Why fiscal responsibility was never brought up this adamantly during the Bush Administration’s 2 terms? Why it was never brought up when he spent $1 trillion on the unjustifiable Iraq War alone? Why was the debt ceiling raised 9 times and never questioned during the Bush Administration in spite of this runaway spending during his tenure? Why is the country being held hostage now when President Obama is trying to bring this country back on its tracks from the deep mess that Bush left him with? This will go down as America’s biggest irony.
Dave,
I am delighted that we agree at least on this: “the President can invoke this amendment but does not have the authority to raise the debt ceiling on his own.” On the other stuff we disagree, but so be it.
Dan Miller,
The saddest thing that I am witnessing about this country is that this presidency is being blamed for just about anything and everything even though his intentions are good in regards to doing whatever he can to get us out of the mess that the previous administration left him with. The other saddest thing that I witnessed is that the Bush Administration got off scot free in spite of all the things that he did and the extremely bad legacy that he left behind. Keep in mind, there was no Sarah Palin or the Tea Party to contest the Bush Administration at that time. The guy was even given credit for capturing and killing Osama Bin Laden. Was this the truth of God or just the truth that mankind made up? One man brought the country from a good economy and a federal surplus down to the brink of a total collapse and got off scot free, while another man is completely condemned and challenged since his inauguration by the likes of Sarah Palin and the Tea Party for having good intentions of turning this country around from its near total collapse. Am I the only child under God that sees this injustice? This issue that I am bringing up has nothing at all to do with party affiliations but has everything to do with the common decency of right and wrong.
The very idea of President Obama scares the hell out of Americans in that; he is the ideal example that if you study hard in school, work hard in life to achieve all your goals to its full potential, you can be president regardless of race, religion, and sexual orientation as long as you fit all of the criteria for the presidency. Since his inauguration, he has given hope to people of nature that this is possible and I have seen clearly, under the eyes of God, that this is now seen as America’s biggest threat. The saddest part of all of this is that it should never have been seen in this sense at all. We are all children of God and Earth is the vessel in which God gave us all equally to live together in peace.
Washington has a spending problem. Tax cuts don’t increase deficits anymore than tax increases decrease deficits. Deficits are decreased by spending less. I wonder how many of the folks who quote this nonsense have ever budgeted their own money. If they find they are spending more than they take in, do they demand raise from their boss?
No President of the United States can create either a budget deficit or a budget surplus. All spending bills originate in the House of Representatives and all taxes are voted into law by Congress. This means Bill Clinton did not balance the budget, the Republicans did.
Democrats controlled both houses of Congress before Barack Obama became president. The deficit he inherited was created by the Congressional Democrats, including Senator Barack Obama, who did absolutely nothing to oppose the runaway spending. He was one of the biggest of the big spenders.
Well, well, well…..since the Democrats have controlled the purse strings of congress since 2006, it would appear that Obama is merely continuing the slow destruction of our economy that was started by the democrat’s. Why is it they can’t take the blame for things when they go badly as fast as they take the credit “if” things go better? Oh, and by the way, unemployment was under 7% near the end of the Bush administration, the deficit was actually only about $400 billion, and the government wasn’t in the car business!
Washington76,
Where was all the spending complaints during the Bush Administration’s 2 terms? Where was the Tea Party at that time? One president spent carelessly and recklessly on a unjustifiable war while another president spent to get us out of a mess that the previous administration left him with.
Hey, take a look a this new, no-need-for-Congress to act solution to the debt ceiling crisis. I really like the idea of the Treasury just minting several 1 Trillion dollar coins to finance the US budget shortfall.
http://justoneminute.typepad.com/main/2011/07/the-t-coin-for-the-tea-party.html
This website analyzes the idea more seriously.
http://pragcap.com/coin-seigniorage-a-legal-alternative-to-the-debt-ceiling
This won’t end well. Either way, We Americans are F*CKED.
Hyperbole and Insanity in D.C.
It’s sometimes challenging to attempt to separate the wheat from the chaff, the real from the unreal, the merely mistaken from the blatantly hyperbolic, the dumb from the patently maniacal ideas and blatherings emanating from Washington, D.C. nowadays.
Okay, it’s always a challenge and not just lately. Of late, however, some of the chaffish, unreal, hyperbolic rantings from Democrat politicians lead objective observers to wonder whether some of their ilk have gone, literally, insane.
If not for the state of the art air conditioning in the Capitol, I could attribute it all to the effects of D.C. heat.
A leader of the Dem pack, former and wannabe-future Speaker of the House, multi-millionaire Nancy Patricia D’Alesandro Pelosi, (CA), has always been an enigma to those who were mystified as to how a DNC hack could rise to the position of third in succession to the presidency of the United States.
In her role as Speaker, Pelosi further mystified with ineptitude supplemented by outrageous ignorance, more graciously termed inexperienced naiveté, as when she freely admitted she hadn’t the bloodiest idea of what was contained in the most significant social legislation her House had passed in generations, Obamacare.
Saying we would all have to wait until the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act was rammed through on Christmas Eve, 2009 before we–and she and her fellow Democrats who had done the ramming–would know what the PPACA contained should have led to her summary impeachment. Instead, it led to accolades for Pelosi’s leadership.
Go figure.
What is beyond figuring are the most recent statements of this current Democrat Leader of the House and her congressional cohorts.
On Thursday, Leader Pelosi delivered what may best be described as a head-shaker regarding the debt limit debate, which the Senate Majority Leader on Friday all but guaranteed would go down to the Tuesday wire.
Rep. Pelosi clarified the essential issue in that debate for us nincompoops who just can’t grasp essentials when she said, “What we [that would be Democrats] are trying to do is save the world from the Republican budget. We’re trying to save life on this planet as we know it today.” (http://bit.ly/ql288h)
Got it now, fellow nincompoops? And you thought that Obama spending scarce taxpayer money like a drunken Dem and adding trilions to the national debt in just 28 months, his refusal to accept the Republican proposal for a balanced budget, and his demonstrable financial ineptitude were the problems! You probably also believe legislation should be read before it’s approved!
We should trust Aunt Nancy to preserve the planet, all life thereon, and the American way, forever and ever. Amen.
Harry Reid (NV) is another Dem who has either gone over the rhetorical top–or has simply gone bonkers. . .
(Read more at http://www.genelalor.com/blog1/?p=5115)
A “Great” Quote
“The fact that we are here today to debate raising America ‘s debt limit is a sign of leadership failure. It is a sign that the US Government can not pay its own bills. It is a sign that we now depend on ongoing financial assistance from foreign countries to finance our Government’s reckless fiscal policies.
Increasing America ‘s debt weakens us domestically and internationally. Leadership means that the buck stops here. Instead, Washington is shifting the burden of bad choices today onto the backs of our children and grandchildren. America has a debt problem and a failure of leadership.
Americans deserve better.”
SENATOR BARACK H. OBAMA, MARCH, 2006
BTW, I urge you all to send a copy of this to the white house web site and to each and every one of your senators and congressmen. Make him eat his own words.
This should be in a nation wide commercial.
Chris in California,
Like many Americans, I know that you suffer from ADD but here are some short facts for you -
1) President Obama did not take over a good economy from ex President Bush and brought it right down to the ground. Ex President Bush took over a good economy from ex President Clinton and brought it right down to the ground.
2) President Obama did not take over a federal surplus from ex President Bush and squandered all of it away. Ex President Bush took over a federal surplus from ex President Clinton and squandered all of it away.
You can keep trying to rewrite history all that you want but the facts will remain in that, you will still be on the wrong side of history. Human beings can be sheeps to mistruths and total lies but people like you will never fool our heavenly Father.
In all the odd coincidences about our Leader, President Barack Obama there is one fact that has always puzzled me:
That Obama’s mama, Ann Stanley Dunham Obama Soetoro, the quirky aethistic, hippy chick, worked for Tim Geitner’s father, Peter F. Geithner. During the early 1980s, Peter Geithner oversaw the Ford Foundation’s microfinance programs in Indonesia being developed by Ann Dunham Soetoro, President Barack Obama’s mother, and they met in person at least once.[10]
Now that is a real coincidence. Who would have thought that a tax cheat from the Federal Reserve bureacracy would be the only man with the required skills to fill the job of US Treasury?
Enquiring minds want to know, exactly who put these clowns in charge of the most powerful economy with the unquestioned dominant military in the world?
If there is no debt limit increase soon, the credit ratings of the United States will go down.
And if the debt limit is increased soon, the credit rating of the USA will go down.
Clue: it’s not about the debt limit. It’s about the banks recognizing that we are spending beyond our means.
“The “risk” of a recession is already great.”
It’s not a risk, It’s a certainty. Real Estate prices are falling, so the money supply will shrink further.
“If I had a world of my own, everything would be nonsense. Nothing would be what it is because everything would be what it isn’t. And contrary-wise; what it is it wouldn’t be, and what it wouldn’t be, it would. You see?”
Harry in Wonderland