Economist: blame for deficit negotiation impasse directly at the feet of Republicans

"raising the limit is the responsible thing to do"

today's Repug deficit hawks were dubya's deficit doves, raising the debt limit 7 times without panic, while running the up national debt like it was St Ronnie all over again.

There is no deficit panic. The Repugs don't give a shit about future generations, the socioptaths don't give shit about the current generation.

The deficit results from a VRWC/Repug well-known policy decisions going back to the 1970s.

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Originally Posted by Th'Pusher

Sounds like an attempt by the Republicans to wash their hands of any responsibility.

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The Tea Party will not be easily reconciled to the power this measure would punt to the President. If it does get punted though, Obama will own the debt ceiling 100% and the Republicans can bury the president in resolutions of condemnation.

It sounds like a perfectly terrible idea and an institutional wuss-out to boot, but maybe it's just a ghost story McConnell is telling to frighten his own caucus into making a deal. Quien sabe?

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Originally Posted by Th'Pusher

Sounds like an attempt by the Republicans to wash their hands of any responsibility. They're scrambling to make this not look like their fault.

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Make what look like their fault? We haven't defaulted yet and you can be sure the business community has informed the GOP exactly how much time they have to "play tuff" before raising the cap.

Thats odd anyway you slice it but perhaps the motivation is the likelyhood that the debt ceiling is actually unconstitutional so the GOP may see this as the best way to spin it politically.

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Originally Posted by MannyIsGod

the GOP may see this as the best way to spin it politically.

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Crazy, but that don't surprise me much.

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Originally Posted by Winehole23

Make what look like their fault?

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Sorry, that could have been stated more clearly, but I was referring to the repubs complete unwillingness to negotiate. I don't think they're hard-line on 'tax-hikes' is in line with what the american people want as Boehner/Cantor/McConnell keep feeding us and they're looking increasingly intractable.

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Originally Posted by Winehole23

Make what look like their fault? We haven't defaulted yet and you can be sure the business community has informed the GOP exactly how much time they have to "play tuff" before raising the cap.

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They have informed them somewhat formally, but the real way that information will be transmitted is through financial market data.

So far, nary a blip, but I think that if things do start to shift, the results will be pretty dramatic, as the "fear" force kicks in.

At that point, it will be too late to put the cat back in the bag, and no one knows exactly where that tipping point is, because it isn't a conscious consensus.

Most believe that this is very empty posturing, and everything will be honky dory, but that can turn on a dime.

I think it is highly irresponsible to play this game, even if no consequences have materialized so far. It is maddening to see the kind of risks being taken for the sake of political gain to make tea party radicals happy. :bang

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Originally Posted by Th'Pusher

Sorry, that could have been stated more clearly, but I was referring to the repubs complete unwillingness to negotiate..

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It's to their advantage to look that way until the time comes to fold their hand, hold their noses and raise the cap.

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Originally Posted by RandomGuy

I think it is highly irresponsible to play this game, even if no consequences have materialized so far.

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It is highly irresponsible not to get reelected. How can you be a force for the good if you don't win the election?

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Originally Posted by RandomGuy

I think it is highly irresponsible to play this game, even if no consequences have materialized so far.

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Apparently the GOP fears the tea party more than default. Such is politics.

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Originally Posted by Economist

A gamble where you bet your country’s good name

This newspaper has a strong dislike of big government; we have long argued that the main way to right America’s finances is through spending cuts. But you cannot get there without any tax rises. In Britain, for instance, the coalition government aims to tame its deficit with a 3:1 ratio of cuts to hikes. America’s tax take is at its lowest level for decades: even Ronald Reagan raised taxes when he needed to do so.

And the closer you look, the more unprincipled the Republicans look. Earlier this year House Republicans produced a report noting that an 85%-15% split between spending cuts and tax rises was the average for successful fiscal consolidations, according to historical evidence. The White House is offering an 83%-17% split (hardly a huge distance) and a promise that none of the revenue increase will come from higher marginal rates, only from eliminating loopholes. If the Republicans were real tax reformers, they would seize this offer.

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The sticking-point is not on the spending side. It is because the vast majority of Republicans, driven on by the wilder-eyed members of their party and the cacophony of conservative media, are clinging to the position that not a single cent of deficit reduction must come from a higher tax take. This is economically illiterate and disgracefully cynical.

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They aren't holding back here.

http://images1.dailykos.com/i/user/2...20colorKOS.png

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/23/us...l.html?_r=1&hp

These fuckin' republicans are just stupid.

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Originally Posted by NYT article, July 22, 2011

WASHINGTON — An angry and frustrated President Obama accused Republican leaders on Friday night of walking away from “an extraordinarily fair deal” to raise the nation’s debt limit. In a hastily called news conference at the White house, a grim-faced Mr. Obama demanded that congressional leaders appear at the White House on Saturday.

“I want them here at 11 a.m. tomorrow,” Mr. Obama told reporters. “They are going to have to explain to me how it is that we are going to avoid default.”

The president spoke moments after House Speaker John A. Boehner, the Republican from Ohio, released a letter that he had sent to House colleagues, saying he was breaking off the budget negotiations because of differences over revenues and would instead try to strike an agreement with Senate leaders to raise the debt limit. The abrupt end of the negotiations leaves slightly more than a week for lawmakers to come to some resolution over increasing the debt limit before sending the government into a potential default.

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:bang

I became a firm Democrat after the 2003-2006 Republican fuck-up in Iraq, and all the asshats trying desperately to defend the incompant mother fuckers in the Bush administration whose negligence was killing our troops, but I swear if the Republicans fuck this up too...

The GOP is looking back to the budget deal that Bush I passed back in 1991. It included raised taxes and it obviously blew up in his face. The read my lips nonsense if any of you recall.

I will say it again. The GOP is great at campaigning. They are at it all the time. They suck ass at policy making.

The prospects are looking better going forward. Party identification of people coming out of college is becoming less and less. Maybe one day soon we will start to see ballots without party identification on the candidates.

How many times you think WC has hit the lever over the republican column on election day? Who needs to think when they do it for you?

"They suck ass at policy making."

Government Is The Problem

They don't give a shit about governing, or The American People. The better they mis-govern by transferring taxpayer $Ts to the corps and capitalists, they better they like it.

Norquist-sucking Repugs walk out of Saturday's WH talks.

This week, Repugs voted to keep ALL of the subsidies and tax expenditures for BigCarbon.

"Obama would be impeached if he blocked debt payments"

http://thinkprogress.org/politics/20...ment-defaults/

I figured the debt thing would be over by now. Good for the ball baggers to keep everyone on their toes. We need a third, forth party. The dems need to come up with a alternative to them. .

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Originally Posted by jack sommerset

I figured the debt thing would be over by now. Good for the ball baggers to keep everyone on their toes. We need a third, forth party. The dems need to come up with a alternative to them. .

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The problem is that the donors that pay for those campaigns are all the same, and want all the same 'benefits'. A third or fourth party won't change that dynamic. It would be a different label to differentiate themselves in marketing speak, but same content.

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Originally Posted by boutons_deux

"Obama would be impeached if he blocked debt payments"

http://thinkprogress.org/politics/20...ment-defaults/

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They don't have the votes to keep us from defaulting, and now he thinks they have the votes to impeach which is an even higher threshold? That's pretty much the level of thinking you get from republicans.

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Originally Posted by boutons_deux

"They suck ass at policy making."

Government Is The Problem

They don't give a shit about governing, or The American People. The better they mis-govern by transferring taxpayer $Ts to the corps and capitalists, they better they like it.

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taking me paying social security taxes and not be able to pay it to me is wrong
let me have that money and let me do what I WANt with it
if a lose it fine I will not ask the gov to help me out. I would atleast have a chance of having it. I have no chance NOW

"I will not ask the gov to help me out."

but taxpayers are already committed to accept you at taxpayer-funded medical facilities if you can't pay.