But, of course, it still involves raising the debt ceiling. As I’ve repeatedly note don Tammy Radio, the end result, through whatever process, will be a raising of the debt ceiling along with meaningless cuts that will maintain the status quo through 2012. This also allows the parasite of ObamaCare to continue to grow and feed on us. This reinforces the fact that the 2012 election is the Establishment versus Us.
House to Vote on $2.4 Trillion Debt Increase, Spending Cuts
U.S. House Republicans plan a vote next week on a measure to raise the government’s debt limit by $2.4 trillion, cut spending, cap expenditures and include a proposed constitutional amendment to balance the budget.
While the plan could win acceptance by the Republican-led House, the Democrat-controlled Senate is unlikely to approve it, according to Representative Steny Hoyer of Maryland, the House’s No. 2 Democrat. It will enable Republicans to put their stance on the record while offering no immediate resolution to talks in Washington aimed at reaching a deficit-cutting deal by an Aug. 2 deadline for raising the U.S. debt ceiling.
“You’ll probably see the House vote on a couple of things just to make political statements,” President Barack Obama said at a news conference at the White House after the Republicans announced their plan.
Calling his bluff. With wet noodles.
In the meantime, on some netherworld, Urkel informed us in his press conference that we all want more taxes. After all, we’ve got to do something with all that extra cash laying around.
President Obama on Friday kept up the pressure on Republicans to agree to revenue increases in a deal to raise the debt ceiling, claiming 80 percent of the public supports Democrats’ demand for tax increases.
“The American people are sold,” Obama said. “The problem is members of Congress are dug in ideologically.”
80%? The big fat lie tree must be growing next to the money tree in Michelle’s garden.
“The American people are sold,” Obama said. “The problem is members of Congress are dug in ideologically.”
The American people are soldMembers of Congress are sold. Theproblempoint ismembers of CongressThe American people are dug in ideologically.There. Fixed it. 🙂
I think the bottom line is it’s pretty clear that the economy is going to be in atrocious shape going into the election, and everybody is posturing to blame the other side. Obama holds a lot of cards here, and he may end up dealing the country a serious blow if he thinks the majority of the public will blame the Republicans rather than himself.
As we all get fixated on our favorite details, I keep getting back to the fundamental point that they’re going to end up raising the debt ceiling by two and a half trillion dollars. So what do any of these details matter if we still end up borrowing that insane amount of money? I mean, if all these negotiations actually accomplished anything useful, wouldn’t that number be reduced? Only if it’s all a meaningless abstraction, jockeying for position, do they go through these motions and then continue to borrow at this pace.
I have always thought the nation needed a balanced budget amendment, and we desperately need one now. Maybe it doesn’t matter, since the monster that is Washington no longer feels bound by that contract with the people that limits the size and scope and reach of the Federal government. But if the Constitution means anything, then one thing Washington does have is the legitimate power to borrow, and that power must be taken away from our legislators because the history of the recent era proves beyond any doubt that they cannot handle this responsibility. So it’s not helpful to say Washington should “do its job”; part of that job is borrowing under the current rules. Washington borrows because it can; the rules must be changed so it can’t.
I just had an epiphany. You know that big birthday bash that Obama’s going to throw the day after America goes broke? It turns out it’s his 50th birthday. 50. Does that number mean anything to you? 50 is the year of the Jubilee. Look it up. That’s the year debts are forgiven. No wonder he’s is running up the spending; he figures it all gets canceled out at his big Jubilee bash.
I keep going between two possibilities with the Republicans. The cynic in me says this whole thing about a fight is a charade, that both sides want the same thing. They just get it done in a way they can get away with with their voters. They set up some drama to make it look like they’re on our side (wink, wink), but in the end it was all a charade, and the status quo stays put. The more forgiving side of me thinks that they hate seeing a disaster happen, and so they save the Democrats from their own messes, but every time they do they inadvertently reward the Democrats’ irresponsible behavior, and they take the blame every time like good sacrificial lambs. What the Republicans say is they’re scared to death of a government shutdown, because maybe they’ll accomplish what they want, but they’ll get blamed for whatever !@#$ happens, and we’ll get a second Obama term in the bargain, just like with Clinton.
I’ve felt like just for once (okay, a second time in the last 20 years. It seems like a long time) would the Republicans please act as irresponsibly as the Democrats, take a responsible stand on principle (I know that sounds oxymoronic, but what I mean is stick to their guns about spending cuts, and be irresponsible about not caving to “save us”), and if the sky does fall because the Democrats won’t go along, let it happen, because at some point the @#$^ has got to hit the fan. The point being this behavior must stop. If things come crashing down, well, we’ve deserved it. The situation couldn’t go on much longer anyway. We either get financial disaster because we default, or get financial disaster because creditors lose faith in our ability to repay down the road. If things don’t come crashing down, and we service our debt like we should, then we can see that the worries about the debt ceiling were just a scare tactic to keep running up the credit card, to keep America spending, and to make sure politicians can continue to buy our votes. The jig will be up in either case.
The Democrat meme is shaping up as, “We could have balanced the budget, except the Republicans are sacrificing the nation in order to protect the rich from having to pay their fair share.”
The Republican response is (or should be), “God doesn’t have enough money to pay for Washington’s insane spending. We could give you your tax hike and we’d still be a trillion dollars short, aside from killing jobs. And if you’re so keen on this tax hike, why didn’t you pass it last year when you had your supermajorities and could have done anything you wanted? Instead you gave us that lunatic murderous healthcare bill that stinks and will have to be repealed, assuming the courts don’t throw it out first. And now you shout at the Republicans for not doing the thing you didn’t have the balls to do yourself, whereas we ran for office saying we weren’t going to raise taxes.”