Stalemate. If America wants to move past this deficit she must allow one side, either left or right, to follow through with a plan. A shitty plan is better than no plan. A plan with follow-through is better than a shitty plan.
Reid Bitch Slaps Boehner
- Thread starter seneca_roman
- Start date
Stalemate. If America wants to move past this deficit she must allow one side, either left or right, to follow through with a plan. A shitty plan is better than no plan. A plan with follow-through is better than a shitty plan.
I congratulate you for packing so many wrongheaded notions into one post.
Let's just simplify matters. Republicans have one real chance to win the 2012 elections, barring some unforeseen event. That is to convince people they are the only hope of saving the country. Obama and Reid are so frightening to normal voters, it should be a straightforward task. No new taxes, no new spending, cut government like the private sector was forced to cut.
For that strategy to work however, the republicans need to draw a sharp line between themselves and obama. This is their opportunity. If they get suckered into some sort of compromise again, they will lose their base. Boehner seems to dimly recognizre this, hence his speech in NY. If he caves from trillions to a few billion, he might as well resign as Speaker.
so republican are willing to gamble that they dont create a default disaster as ploy to dupe the public in to voting for them in the next election? its not about what is good for the country. its what is good for republicans?
Thank you, likewise.
"Republicans have one real chance to win the 2012 elections, barring some unforeseen event. That is to convince people they are the only hope of saving the country. Obama and Reid are so frightening to normal voters, it should be a straightforward task."
You could be right, but before you convince people of that, you have to convince them that the country needs to be "saved". Republican efforts at fearmongering, spreading the plague of handwringing, have worked to a degree. Sadly [for them], the economy is improving quite robustly.
As to Obama being frightening, I guess you missed the news this morning... ?
I don't thnk too many republicans believe out of control spending and raising taxes are good for the country.
As for the debt ceiling creating a disaster, I hear echoes of the bailouts. Life as we knew it would end if we didn't bail out FNM, FRE, AIG, GS, C and all the other big banks, every big hedge fund (via AIG), GM, Chrysler, California, Illinois and a bunch of other states that depend on overpaid government unionized workers to keep dems in power, etc etc. Would we fall for that again? Doubtful.
But we fell for it then, and the result is we have run up more debt in two years than the entire history of the country, even including Bush, who I don't spare from some blame. We are so far in the hole, even the drastic cuts in the Ryan plan don't really save us. As for Obama's so-called plan, even the Washgnton Post said it was a joke.
If failure to raise the debt ceiling will legitimately be a disaster, and I don't buy it, obama has two choices. He can drop his far left approach and reach agreement with Boehner, realizing that Boehner is really the only thing protecting Obama from the full wrath of the Tea Party. Or, he can do what any company with cash flow problems does. Prioritize, cut nonessential spending, save cash or, if necessary, restructure. It won't be the first time we've welched on obligations, and I doubt it will be the last.
Personally, I htink Boehner was foolish to throw out the trillions number, but now he is stuck with it. I really don't see how he can back down and stay as Speaker.
republicans dont care about spending cuts. they only want to dismantle the social safety net. they refuse to consider spending cuts for oil company subsidies, farm subsidies, corporate welfare subsidies, military spending ect.
I'm imagining a guy who loses his job, sees his debt begin rising rapidly, and thinks to cut his non-essential spending, like the cable subscription and the once a week dinner out. Good call, fella, but guess what, you're still gonna have to get a job. I hope you get my point. Republicans have painted themselves into a corner with 1) no new taxes! and 2) we can't count on any other future income--we're all gonna die!!1! Thus, spending cuts are the only tool in their kit, and of course they'll have to be drastic. (We'll ignore for the moment that drastic spending cuts also cut future sales. They do for a small firm, too, but the pool to absorb those new non-consumers in is relatively much larger.)
Now, I'll admit that I think it's a cryin' shame that we've let our debt grow so large, not thinking of those inevitable rainy days to come, and we've consequently put a lot of pressure on ourselves to raise our income. But you tell me why, when we've got a surplus (referring to the deficit, not debt), we can't seem to sock away money for the next rainy day? Oh yeah, that's right, if we have a surplus then it must be because taxes are too high--we're all gonna die!!1!
So yeah, Boehner was foolish to say "trillions". But he was pandering to fear.
