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| Topic: GOP shoots self in foot with budget | |
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"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 U.S. Government cannot pay its own bills. It is a sign that we now depend on ongoing financial assistance from foreign countries to finance our governments reckless fiscal policies." Barack Obama, March 2006 But just a few years earlier.... Former Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill was told "deficits don't matter" when he warned of a looming fiscal crisis. O'Neill, fired in a shakeup of Bush's economic team in December 2002, raised objections to a new round of tax cuts and said the president balked at his more aggressive plan to combat corporate crime after a string of accounting scandals because of opposition from "the corporate crowd," a key constituency. O'Neill said he tried to warn Vice President Dick Cheney that growing budget deficits-expected to top $500 billion this fiscal year alone-posed a threat to the economy. Cheney cut him off. "You know, Paul, Reagan proved deficits don't matter," he said, according to excerpts. Cheney continued: "We won the midterms (congressional elections). This is our due." A month later, Cheney told the Treasury secretary he was fired. The vice president's office had no immediate comment, but John Snow, who replaced O'Neill, insisted that deficits "do matter" to the administration. Source: [X-ref O'Neill] Adam Entous, Reuters, on AOL News Jan 11, 2004 I also don't recall hearing complaints from the Republicans in most political forums when Bush/Cheney doubled the national debt by adding 5 trillion in their time in office. Back in the old days of the Internet, I don't recall hearing much complaining either about Regan raising the national debt by a factor of 3 from 900 billion to 2.7 trillion, either. And trickle-down economics still don't work, no matter how much you cut taxes on the top 1%--- they still won't hire more people or pay better wages by their own volitions. It this economy is ever to get going again, it will only happen when the average Joe gets a better deal, NOT a con job from political ideologues. -Kerry O. |
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They are all to blame but mark my words the Republicans are going to bear the brunt of it just like in '95-'96! They used the debt ceiling as budget leverage and boy are people hacked off! They have pretty much guaranteed Obama a win in 2012 and the turn from Repub to Dem will happen again in Congress. I think that is very likely now, Yes. Remarkably stupid politically. Astounding even. Of course Obama was a near lock before this as they have failed to find a single attractive candidate and the Teapartiers have torn the base in half. But yep this latest self-wounding is the coup de grace. Now we have headlines like: Small debt deal will rattle markets Debt fiasco risks double-dip recession and Debt ceiling: Will I get my Social Security check? Stock Markets Tremble As Debt Ceiling Debate Rages In Washington People ask "Why is this happening?" And they find the most plausible answer to be "Because the Republicans forced a link between the debt ceiling and their budget demands and turned down the Obama offer of multi-trillion tax cuts and spending curbs..." WOW. The GOP had already won the main battle. Yet they just couldn't resist...And just why couldn't the GOP leadership have foreseen this?  I mean like OMG this is not exactly a surprising revelation!! They can't help it-- they are like the story of the Frog and the Scorpion. Frog: Why did you sting me? Now we'll both drown! Scorpion: I couldn't help it. It's in my nature. -Kerry O. |
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I've asked my representatives to pass a new law that requires all future budget negotiations to be conducted while wearing bright red
noses and clown hats And mandate loud circus music during all meetings |
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From "Debt Deal or Not, Confidence in America Is Shredded
By Daniel Gross | Contrary Indicator – Sat, Jul 30, 2011" It's tempting to place the blame squarely on those crazy House Republicans. We've reached the point where even reliable right-wing Obamaphobic columnists like Niall Ferguson and Kathleen Parker are doing it. The House took what should have been a routine transaction and turned it into a hostage drama. It's worth repeating, once again, that officials like House Majority Leader Eric Cantor voted for the Bush tax cuts, voted for all the war spending, voted to create the Medicare prescription drug benefit (with no financing mechanism) and then just a few months ago signed off on a deal to extend the Bush-era tax cuts and add a new payroll tax cut -- a move that had the effect of hastening the arrival of the debt ceiling. But while the House Republicans may threaten to drive the fiscal car off a cliff, they had plenty of help from official Washington in assembling the vehicle. Jon Chait of the New Republic has pointed out that all the good-government, bipartisan, centrist deficit hawk institutions embraced the notion of using the debt-ceiling increase as a hammer to forge a grand bargain on revenues and spending. So did President Obama. The notion struck many, including this observer, as fanciful. Hadn't everybody been listening to the freshmen who said they had no interest in raising the debt limit, period? More significantly, hadn't they been paying attention for the last few years? Given the current dynamics, as we've noted before, when the question is "Deal or No Deal," the answer is usually "No Deal." Since the election of 2008, Congressional Republicans have shown that are they unwilling -- for emotional, psychological or for sound tactical reasons -- to make a deal, even on initiatives they had previously supported. Anything Obama thinks is a good idea is, by definition, anathema to them. Seriously, if the president were to propose putting Ronald Reagan on Mt. Rushmore, the House GOP would reject it en masse. Then, inspired by talk radio hotheads and Sarah Palin Facebook postings, they would quickly pass a motion to destroy the whole thing because it's expensive to maintain, pays homage to a government activist (Abraham Lincoln) and a Progressive (Theodore Roosevelt), and is really just inhibiting companies from drilling for oil and gas. The Obama administration hasn't just been guilty of naivete. Poor planning (the debt ceiling increase should have been part of the tax cut deal), a general lack of urgency and an inability to join forces with Senate Democrats and come up with a plan they could emphatically embrace and push as an alternative have aggravated matters. Pushing aggressively on the concept of compromise is much less effective than using the bully pulpit to push for a specific one. I still believe that the ultimate catastrophe will be averted, most likely with a small-ball deal. But it will come at a large cost -- to global confidence in America, to actual demand and to economic activity. Regulations may foment economic uncertainty, but so can threatening to blow up the entire financial system. http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/daniel-gross/debt-deal-not-confidence-america-shredded-183618611.html |
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 Soooooo ... one trillion over ten years is 100 billion ... substracted from almost two trillion per year? |
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