GOP threatens to do real damage to country
“One day after being named to a presidential task force to negotiate deficit reduction, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor fired off a stark warning to Democrats that the GOP “will not grant their request for a debt limit increase” without major spending cuts or budget process reforms.
The Virginia Republican’s missive is a clear escalation in the long-running Washington spending war, with no less than the full faith and credit of the United States hanging in the balance….
People close to Cantor say that he hopes to make clear that small concessions from Democrats, including President Barack Obama, will not be enough to deliver the GOP on a debt increase.”
Great. Take the national economy hostage, stick a loaded pistol to its temple and threaten to pull the trigger unless you get your way. This is what we’ve come to. This is “leadership” and “statesmanship” in the modern American era. Cantor and his colleagues are trying to convince us that they really are childish, stupid and destructive enough to bring the country down to its knees if their demands aren’t fully satisfied.
I cannot imagine leaders of any other era, of any party or ideology, threatening to do severe long-term damage to the country as a means of winning a political argument, at least not since the years leading up to the Civil War. It would have been inconceivable to previous generations, and I can think of no historical parallel to it. Ronald Reagan, for example, would be appalled by the extremist tactics of those who claim to honor him.
Oh, and as to compromise? As Cantor said last week, “We can’t raise taxes. That was settled last November during the elections.”
– Jay Bookman
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662 comments Add your comment
deegee
April 21st, 2011
9:33 am
If they are really serious about spending cuts then let’s go after the Pentagon. I’ll bet you can find a few billion right there.
Jackie
April 21st, 2011
9:33 am
It appears the current discussion about the debt ceiling is merely a diversion by the so-called conservatives to erase the enormous blunders made during the Bush Administration.
President Bush came into office with a budget surplus and he and the Repubs promptly gave away the surplus, started two unfunded wars without having the means to pay for them and voting to put the cost in the budget, overpaid for Medicare Part D, gave tax cuts to the rich, aided in the decimation of jobs in the USA by taking away enforcement of tax laws for the corporations.
These things have been identified as major contributors to the financial meltdown of the American economy, albeit the world’s economy.
Given those actions, the Repubs are currently attempting to erase all those items from our collective memories and giving themselves a a pat-on-the-back for “saving us” from the evils of liberals.
TaxPayer
April 21st, 2011
9:34 am
And you could tax the producers at 100% of their income and still not reduce our annual deficits within 5 years and our debt in less than 20 years.
It took decades with those tax cuts for the wealthiest to get us here so why would you not expect it to take time to undo it.
Good little liberal
April 21st, 2011
9:34 am
Paul
Obama came from humble roots? Attended Panahou Private school in Honolulu, raised by the Dunhams on one of the few properties on Oahu that actually owned their land as opposed to everyone else who have to buy 100 year leases.
Humble compared to who? The Kennedies?
Paul
April 21st, 2011
9:34 am
md
“All you folks that hate personal analogies can skip this, but how many of you get to call your credit card companies and demand they raise your limits??”
Happens all the time. In fact, I’ve had it happen when I’ve never asked it be raised –
but I take your point -
JKL2
April 21st, 2011
9:35 am
@@- Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin
He’s another crook from Chicago. Wouldn’t know what a hard day of labor is. Luckily for me I can say that without being a racist because he’s white.
jm
April 21st, 2011
9:35 am
interesting and morbid update on the air france crash
http://noir.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=aICmNQKsxIv4&pos=11
@@
April 21st, 2011
9:36 am
When the GAO discovers waste in the hundreds of billions for the year 2010, I have to ask….”Was Obama really serious about eliminating waste?” He made that commitment in 2009, and yet in the following year? BOOM!
In her testimony before Congress last month, Kathleen M. King, Director of Health Care at the U.S. General Accountability Office (GAO), reported “improper payments” under the Medicare and Medicaid programs amounting to almost $70.5 billion for fiscal year 2010.
Is the guy just slow or what?
And from “Citizens Against Government Waste”?
WASHINGTON–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Today, Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) issued its weekly spending cut alert aimed at eliminating the Legal Services Corporation (LSC). LSC, which received $420 million in fiscal year (FY) 2010, distributes grant money to 138 nonprofit legal aid organizations across the country in an effort to provide free legal services for the poor. However, LSC has often used its taxpayer-provided funds not to grant legal representation to impoverished citizens, but to promote political agendas that have nothing to do with the indigent.
$420,000,000 intended to help the poor but spent elsewhere?
The GOVERNMENT is too DAMN BIG!!!!! One hand doesn’t know what the other’s doing or maybe they do.
Why should they care? It’s not their money that’s being wasted.
deegee
April 21st, 2011
9:36 am
“DHS To Replace Color-Coded Threat Scale With Two-Level Alert System.”
How much did they spend on that nonsense? Cut that crap out of the budget.
md
April 21st, 2011
9:36 am
“It’s not a credit card, this isn’t a family budget; it’s the most powerful, richest nation ever on this planet, and if you can’t grasp that, go ride the flippin’ Tilt-a-Whirl or something else less intimidating.”
Denial of the situation will not make it go away……………
When S&P warns of a downgrade on the debt………for the first time ever……..folks might want to sit up and take notice……….they don’t do that because there is no problem………
Not too long ago, we bailed out some of the richest most powerful corporations in the entire world…………..
And out of curiosity, think the USSR “planned” to go bankrupt……..
jm
April 21st, 2011
9:36 am
Paul 9:17 – they’re trying to find whatever leverage they can, because without it, the Dems get their way. That is the way of washington, power and politics.
Smokewagon
April 21st, 2011
9:37 am
Bush tried to raise the debt ceiling earlier and it was voted down by Democrats including Barak Hussein Obama. Shoe is on the other foot now isn’t it?
Paul
April 21st, 2011
9:38 am
Good little
Good catch. How about we change that line to “attended public schools” then proceed on?
WOW
April 21st, 2011
9:40 am
It’s time we stop letting China pay our bills.Sure nobody wants to see a tax increase.But every credible economist has said spending cuts alone won’t do it.In the end even Ronald Reagan conceded that amd raised taxes.But let’s put some honesty in the conversation.If it means bringing down the country to make President Obama look bad,it’s a damn shame but they are willing.
Del
April 21st, 2011
9:40 am
The sanctimony coming from the left and the party of irresponsibility is unbelievable. On second thought it is believable because sanctimony is a leftist trademark. The pacifier of deficit spending and absurd tax the wealthy solutions has to be removed from these spoiled children in the White House and in congress. If that means holding the debt ceiling so these fools can’t borrow anymore money, then that’s exactly what needs to be done. Hopefully, the campaigner and chief narcissist will face up to the fact that serious spending and debt reduction is an absolute must.
ken
April 21st, 2011
9:41 am
“We will do it on the backs of the poor”,,what a pathetic man Obama is
josh
April 21st, 2011
9:41 am
soon as you have to as well. no problemo with me.
if it’s no problem for you, then go right ahead and cut the government a check for more than you owe and let them waste some more of your money. personally, i’m tired of both sides going on spending sprees.
larry
April 21st, 2011
9:41 am
All of these posters telling people to voluntary give more money to the government, we do it anyway. This year it is an extra $2200.
Lets go after these tax cheats because it is raising taxes for everyone.
http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/daily-ticker/tax-cheats-cost-uncle-sam-3-trillion-cost-173224779.html
Paul
April 21st, 2011
9:41 am
@@
I made the point days ago – the GAO issues a study documenting hundreds of billions of dollars of waste, duplication, etc. Yet Democrats do not say ‘this is waste, we can cut it without harming the target audience” AND Republicans ignore it, instead pressing on with their program to cut social services and gut Medicare.
I kinda think reducing federal spending by the hundreds of billions identified would go a long way toward addressing the problems.
Lil' Barry Bailout
April 21st, 2011
9:42 am
I hear a bunch of the Obozo fellators whining about the cost of Medicare Part D, but they somehow never get around to calling for reducing or eliminating it. You do know that your Idiot Messiah made it even MORE expensive adding new benefits to it, right?
Hypocrites.
The Carnivore
April 21st, 2011
9:42 am
We can’t raise the debt limit any longer. We must cut back significantly on everything, right now. Spending should revert to 1997 levels, not 2009 levels. Our credit rating is about to be downgraded. Social Security will not be around in 30 years anyway no matter what is done; we need to be slowly phasing it out now rather than trying to keep it alive and making things worse.
I am not willing to steal from future generations anymore. Let’s take the axe to everything.
md
April 21st, 2011
9:43 am
Paul and Tp,
Guess I should have included “with all the same conditions” in my analogy……….doubt highly either of you would have your limits raised if your outstanding balance was bumping up against the limit………
But you 2 do prove my point to an extent……..don’t spend too much, and one won’t have the problem.
Paul
April 21st, 2011
9:43 am
poor lil
It appears, from what I read, he attended one year of public school in his primary years. Three at Catholic school.
But you get the drift from the other elements listed -
Libertarian
April 21st, 2011
9:44 am
the GOP “will not grant their request for a debt limit increase” without major spending cuts or budget process reforms.
OH THE HORROR!
S&P’s negative outlook wasn’t enough of a warning that something needs to be done??
The Truth
April 21st, 2011
9:45 am
April 21st, 2011
9:29 am
” it’s the most powerful, richest nation ever on this planet”
Dave R, there is no rationale with this bunch, they have sniffed Obama’s rear so long they can not think for their selves.For example saying we are the richest nation on this planet, wealth is nothing when there is an IDIOT in the White House that does not know how to balance a check book or know when his credit card is over the limit.
UGA1999
April 21st, 2011
9:45 am
Jay….GOP “will not grant their request for a debt limit increase
Are you really surprised….didnt you say that we should attack the debt issue from all sides?
“Taking the nation hostage” that really depends from what viewpoint you are looking from.
USMC dawg
April 21st, 2011
9:46 am
“Jay the Liberal, tax and spend guy! WE DO NOT HAVE AN INCOME PROBLEM IN THE FED. GOVT., WE HAVE A SPENDING PROBLEM! When will you guys understand this!!!! Hello!”
-Taxguy
Jay understands this very well. He is blinded by his twisted world views “FAIRNESS” and loathing of American societal norms.
That is why his Intellectual Dishonesty is so evident in all of his articles. He uses charts and such for his Ditto-head minions to get a good clap, but Jay realizes deep down that if you confiscate ALL 100% of the top earners income our problem will not go away.
Our country has a SPENDING problem.
As usual, Jay, while a super nice and well meaning guy in my opinion, is guilty of letting his far leftwing political philosophy trump his better judgment.
josh
April 21st, 2011
9:46 am
larry,
the tax loopholes are there b/c of politicians. they’re the ones who created the tax code in the first place. you can’t blame these “evil corporations” for taking advantage of the current tax code. individual citizens do it every day with bogus write-offs…it’s just on a much smaller scale than big companies. the politicians are to blame for the tax code.
john
April 21st, 2011
9:47 am
The GOP would like to take us back to the “Good old days” No health insurance, no social security, no helping the poor and needy. Wow, what a great political party to belong too!
Ivan
April 21st, 2011
9:47 am
You complain about a statement a Republican made about taxes, yet Obama extended those “tax cuts for the rich”.
I thought actions spoke louder than words.
Paul
April 21st, 2011
9:48 am
9:40
WOW?
Is that really you?
http://tinyurl.com/3gr37yh
Scott
April 21st, 2011
9:48 am
Jay ” i cannot imagine leaders of any other era, of any party or ideology, threatening to do severe long-term damage to the country as a means of winning a political argument”
I can…Start with our current president when he voted against raising the debt, later stating that the move was merely political. He did then what Cantor is saying he wants to do now. I am sure you were okay with it then though right because there was a Rep in the White House.
Dave R.
April 21st, 2011
9:49 am
Libertarian: “S&P’s negative outlook wasn’t enough of a warning that something needs to be done??”
Smartest post of the day!
Southern Comfort (aka The Man)
April 21st, 2011
9:49 am
Good little liberal
????
Honestly, I don’t care what two people do, or what races they do it with. Everyone’s entitled to be with whomever they choose to be with. End of that discussion.
Paul
April 21st, 2011
9:50 am
md
Like I said earlier, in spite of that , I take your point -
stands for decibels
April 21st, 2011
9:50 am
think the USSR “planned” to go bankrupt…
Who knows. All I know is, we’re in much better financial shape than the USSR could have ever hoped to have been, md.
When Texas and, oh, let’s say Washington Sate have exploded into armed civil conflict, and we’re also sending massive ground troops into Mexico to keep the drug war from spilling over here, we might have a somewhat parallel situation.
getalife
April 21st, 2011
9:50 am
Playing politics then giving us fake reforms is politics as usual.
Nothing changes until we get election and lobbyists reform.
Nobody is even proposing it.
Everybody is gaming governments systems with little accountability.
Another collapse is inevitable and will be more expensive next time.
Lil' Barry Bailout
April 21st, 2011
9:51 am
john
April 21st, 2011
9:47 am
The GOP would like to take us back to the “Good old days” No health insurance, no social security, no helping the poor and needy. Wow, what a great political party to belong too!
———–
Link please.
Didn’t think so.
jconservative
April 21st, 2011
9:51 am
Some interesting numbers on the National Debt by the Fiscal Year ending. Notice that both Democrats and Republicans are fully responsible; there are no “holier than thou’s” in this crowd.
9/30/2009 11,909,829,003,511.70 Last Bush budget
9/30/2001 5,807,463,412,200.06 Last Clinton Budget
9/30/1993 4,411,488,883,139.38 Last Bush Budget
9/29/1989 2,857,430,960,187.32 Last Reagan Budget
9/30/1981 997,855,000,000.00 Last Carter Budget
9/30/1977 698,840,000,000.00 Last Nixon/Ford Budget
6/30/1969 353,720,253,841.41 Last Johnson Budget
Notice the debt really begins to expand under Carter. And remember that the American people only started screaming about the numbers immediately after Obama was sworn in in January 2009.
The increasingly large deficits and increasing National Debt did not seem to bother the American voter for the last 31 years. Despite large deficits Reagan, Clinton and Bush 43 were reelected by the voters.
In short, the National Debt we have today of $14.4 trillion was allowed to accumulate by the American voters.
Congratulations on your achievement.
TaxPayer
April 21st, 2011
9:51 am
I see GE has made more profit this past quarter. Perhaps Obama is planning on borrowing some from Immelt. It would only be the fair thing for Immelt to do given that he borrowed from us when he needed money.
md
April 21st, 2011
9:52 am
“The GOP would like to take us back to the “Good old days” No health insurance, no social security, no helping the poor and needy. Wow, what a great political party to belong too!”
Do you think those programs will be available if we end up in bankruptcy?
Ask the good folks from the USSR if they got to keep all the goodies……..or Greece…..
stands for decibels
April 21st, 2011
9:53 am
????
it’s true, SoCo. I can’t tell you how often I have to fend off all these hawt attractive married sistahz ringing me up. Drives the Mrs. crazy it does.
Mighty Righty
April 21st, 2011
9:53 am
The present “gun to the head” holder is the dishonest Obama, the Democrts and the liberal controlled media. It would be helpful if the media would become part of the solution instead of the part of the problem, but unfortunately, their political loyalty out weigh common sense. This President, and Nancy Pelosi’s Congress and Harry Reid’s Senate, not George Bush, not Eric Kantor, not Paul Ryan; spent more tax dollars, and put this country deeper in debt, than any group of politicians, ever in the history of this country. These same people, Obama, Pelosi, and Reid, now blame the “Rich” taxpayors for what they themselves did. For the President and his hacks to blame the so called “Rich” for the debt crisis is like blaming a thermometer for the temperature. Obama and the Democrats spent more of our money than the entire income of the “Rich.” Now these “economic geniuses” who caused this problem are going to solve the problem by guess what, spending more, excuse me, investing more. Please, please, Republicans, stop this madness. The Democrats are destroying our country. Paul Ryan may not have all of the answers, but he does understand one thing that no Democrat, and no member of the liberal media seem to be able to grasp. He understands that to reduce spending, one must reduce spending. The very fact, that liberals don’t understand this axiom is all one needs to know to understand how we got into this mess and why as long as liberals control the white house and the senate there is no hope for a solution.
The Thin Guy
April 21st, 2011
9:53 am
Since this is a day ending in ay we have another column by Jay Bookman accusing the GOP of imperiling the nation. And, for once, he’s right. The GOP didn’t go nearly far enough. We need massive spending cuts and massive tax cuts. Economics is more black magic than science. George Bernard Shaw said if all the economists in the world were laid end to end they still wouldn’t reach a conclusion (often attributed to Harry Truman). Truman did say he’d like to find a one handed economist. But there are some simple principles that are obvious. Such as the worth of anything is inversely proportional to its volume. If gold were as common place as sand it would be worthless. So if the government keeps printing money as fast as the ink will go on paper, no matter how much you have, its value will decrease. If taxes are cut, taxes revenues will increase because that is the only thing that stimulates the economy. It is not trickle down. It is torrent down. The Porkulus bill in 2008 stimulated absolutely nothing. And Marxist Medicine when its kicks in 3 years from now will totally destroy our economy and the quality of American medical care. But this is what George Soros wants and his puppet Jug Ears is more than happy to shovel the dirt on our graves.
Del
April 21st, 2011
9:54 am
Democrats continue to do real damage to country.
@@
April 21st, 2011
9:54 am
Paul:
I would argue that there’s a critical difference between Reagan and Obama.
Reagan was, at one time, a Democrat (of the old school) who saw the light. With age comes wisdom.
Obama is a democrat of the new left order. He’s still wet behind the ears ’cause his brain’s been sweated. He has no lifetime experience on which to draw.
USMC dawg
April 21st, 2011
9:54 am
“Nothing changes until we get election and lobbyists reform.”-getalife
Obama Already Breaking Promises On No Lobbyists In Administration:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2SlBlvirqA0
Hope and Change!
JKL2
April 21st, 2011
9:54 am
Mary- I don’t want to shift the cost of healthcare to the American people; I want to reduce healthcare costs
I guess he should of thought of that before shoving obamacare down our throats. I guess he’ll have to repeal his own bill now.
getalife
April 21st, 2011
9:55 am
rove is blasting you cons for ruining the gop’s chance in 12.
He gets unlimited corp. donations but can’t win us Independents with decisive, unhinged cons pulling the gop into radical territory.
Keep up the good work cons because rove is right.
Go radicals.
PJ
April 21st, 2011
9:56 am
Paul @9:28 am – Very astute observations.
Jackie
April 21st, 2011
9:57 am
Did anyone notice that those who have been loaning us money having been shorting the market in that they have moved from purchasing long-term bonds (30 years) to the more short-term (3 and 5 year) bonds.
Many savvy investors have noticed that we gave away the store during the Bush era to satisfy and political objective.
Did someone mention the adults were now in charge?
md
April 21st, 2011
9:58 am
“Who knows. All I know is, we’re in much better financial shape than the USSR could have ever hoped to have been, md.”
Are we??
Hasn’t Japan been trying to come out of a funk for the past decade??
I understand the optimism based on historical data/performance, but what happens if the “projected” income never materializes?
Take a look at the budgets……they are based on projections……..not worse case scenarios.
Ever do any 5 or 10 year plans where you take all options/courses into account??
Projected income is a gamble…….we are banking on the better outcomes.
UGA1999
April 21st, 2011
9:59 am
Getalife….have you looked at the latest polls?? Trump is virtually in a dead heat with Obama. Wait until the debates start. This is going to be fun.
getalife
April 21st, 2011
9:59 am
dawg,
The President was crushed by corporate media, corporate power and the coc (chamber of commerce) when he tried to fight citizen united.
He is playing the game now and plays it well.
You keep posting old con talking points and articles that have been posted many times here.
Try something different dawg.
Try an original thought like I just posted.
Glad I could help.
Paul
April 21st, 2011
9:59 am
@@
“Reagan was, at one time, a Democrat (of the old school) who saw the light. With age comes wisdom.”
Yeah, but in spite of changing party labels, Reagan just couldn’t give up those Democratic ideals of massively increasing the debt and massively increasing taxes, could he?
Scott
April 21st, 2011
9:59 am
Jay, if you are saying that is the GOP holding the gun to economy’s head, why didn’t you say the same thing with the Dems and having to get Obamacare passed? That costly behemoth only increases our deficit, kills jobs, and the economy. While people were losing their jobs left and right and the economy was losing steam, rather than focusing on measures to increase job growth, all the Dems wanted to do was “never let a serious crisis go to waste” and pass a pork laden bill that most people do not want. Way to put the gun to the economy’s head Pelosi, Reid, and Obama.
Atlas Shrugging
April 21st, 2011
10:00 am
So Obozo’s campaign strategy is to go college campuses, where almost no one PAYS “income tax”, to buy votes with the money stolen from those of us that do PAY “income tax”. New definition of taxation without representation.
jm
April 21st, 2011
10:00 am
“Obama: Republican budget plan is ‘radical’”
Hyperbole
retired early
April 21st, 2011
10:00 am
The Democrats budget reduction plan will be the product of bipartisan input, will be reviewed by the CBO to verify it’s accuracy and will Actually reduce the deficit. This is why raising the debt ceiling is not the time to do an annual budget…they are separate issues. The Talking heads on the Right want you to think we Dems have no plan…which they know is BS…but it gives them something to “talk about”.
Where was Boehner ,Cantor, McConnell, Limbaugh from 2000 to 2006…the first 3 were serving in the GOP legislature…now they are “budget hawks”. do you know the definition of a hypocrite ….the entire GOP under Bush who are now “Tea Partiers”.
getalife
April 21st, 2011
10:00 am
UGA1999 ,
trump is a publicity stunt and will not run.
He is broke.
Dave R.
April 21st, 2011
10:00 am
Jackie, here’s a clue:
Bush is no longer President.
If you keep trying to assign blame, without trying to fix the problem, the problem NEVER gets fixed.
Where is your solution? Or for that matter, where’s one from Congressional Democrats?
Paul
April 21st, 2011
10:01 am
@@
“He has no lifetime experience on which to draw.”
Funny, I always pictured you and Pres Obama as about the same age – you, maybe even a bit younger.
getalife
April 21st, 2011
10:01 am
jm,
Voting to end Medicare is radical.
Jackie
April 21st, 2011
10:01 am
It should have read “to satisfy a political objective.”
TaxPayer
April 21st, 2011
10:02 am
I propose starting to reduce the deficit by implementing the absence of a continued tax cut on the wealthiest starting in 2013.
Southern Comfort (aka The Man)
April 21st, 2011
10:03 am
dB
Dave R.
April 21st, 2011
10:03 am
“will be reviewed by the CBO to verify it’s accuracy”
There’s your sign . . .
Dave R.
April 21st, 2011
10:04 am
“Voting to end Medicare is radical.”
Except that there is no proposal to do so . . .
Fletch
April 21st, 2011
10:05 am
jconservative – “In short, the National Debt we have today of $14.4 trillion was allowed to accumulate by the American voters.”
Nice!
getalife
April 21st, 2011
10:05 am
Lets cut the crap cons.
You don’t want the wealthy to sacrifice anything so you are lying about caring about the deficit
You are playing radical games and rove is begging you to stop but you can’t because you are children.
larry
April 21st, 2011
10:06 am
Voting to end Medicare is radical.
And i don’t think its going to happen judging the reception Mr. Ryan got at his townhall meeting last night.
TaxPayer
April 21st, 2011
10:06 am
I know. Let’s rely on analysis from the Heritage Foundation. After all, they can perform miracles such as getting unemployment down to 2%. That must be why Ryan used them to help come up with his yellow brick road map.
getalife
April 21st, 2011
10:07 am
“Except that there is no proposal to do so . .”
Stop lying dave.
The ryan death budget.
Admit it .
reebok
April 21st, 2011
10:07 am
the GOP has no interest in solutions, they want a fight and they want the power back. we moderates has watched with bemusement as the GOP tacked relentlessly to the right, treating kooks and has- beens like Palin, Trump and Gingrich as if they are relevant, figuring they are only hurting themsleves…now, however, i agree with Jay…this has stopped being about ‘the loyal opposition’ or politics as usual and become an obvious willingness to wreck an economic recovery in the name of partisanship and ideology.
OK, that’s my rant for the morning, back to work…
Scott
April 21st, 2011
10:08 am
Atlas Shrugging….The funny part is that the guy is trying to get votes of the nation’s youth who will not even realize that their votes for this clown will hurt them a lot in the future. They have no idea that they will not reap any of the benefits of the social security or medicare when he is through destroying this country. They have no idea that by voting for him, they are basically voting for future tax increases on themselves. He takes advantage of the nation’s youth because he realizes that they don’t care about issues…only about voting for the next American Idol. Sad….but true.
md
April 21st, 2011
10:09 am
“Did anyone notice that those who have been loaning us money having been shorting the market in that they have moved from purchasing long-term bonds (30 years) to the more short-term (3 and 5 year) bonds.”
And what is interesting, it is US buyers that are bailing on the bonds…………………
vince neil
April 21st, 2011
10:09 am
so going to 08 spending amounts is a catastrophic event? My spending has had to be decreased due to changes in income and I will make it happen….just DAMN!
BMDPD
April 21st, 2011
10:09 am
I guess the Democrats have only done fake damage with organizations like Fannie and Freddie, right?
Keep Up the Good Fight!
April 21st, 2011
10:10 am
Sadly Scott underestimates the nation’s youth. But don’t worry, the Republicans will use all efforts to deny them their constitutional vote.
Jackie
April 21st, 2011
10:10 am
@Dave R.
For starters, President Obama is the President of the USA.
Secondly, to fix the problem, we have to raise the debt limit; let the Bush-era taxes expire; remove “special” items from the corporate tax code; tax those corporations that maintain their corporate offices in the USA but move their monies offshore; get our troops out of Afghanistan and Iraq; reduce the out-of-control Pentagon budget by $500 Billion IMMEDIATELY; reduce the Medicare Part D funding; bring about a single-payer health care system; have a %7 percent tax paid by citizens to cover all health care, much like that of Australia; reallocate funding for our schools and infrastructure.
These are just a few of the things we could do to bring our economy back to equilibrium.
md
April 21st, 2011
10:11 am
“The Democrats budget reduction plan will be the product of bipartisan input, will be reviewed by the CBO to verify it’s accuracy and will Actually reduce the deficit. This is why raising the debt ceiling is not the time to do an annual budget…they are separate issues. The Talking heads on the Right want you to think we Dems have no plan…which they know is BS…but it gives them something to “talk about”.”
Probably would have helped if they had actually done a budget when it was supposed to be done……..pushing them all back a year isn’t a very good strategy……….
Scott
April 21st, 2011
10:12 am
larry “Voting to end Medicare is radical.
And i don’t think its going to happen judging the reception Mr. Ryan got at his townhall meeting last night.”
Unfortunately, nobody even understands what the guy is proposing. The lib media spins it totally out of control stating that everybody will lose medicare benefits, including those already in the system. When you actually read the bill and listen to Ryan, that is not at all what is being proposed. He is talking about transforming future benefits, but that falls on deaf ears because the media only wants to believe the lies being spewed by Obama, Pelosi and Reid. Such a scam.
Dr. Pangloss
April 21st, 2011
10:12 am
In Texas we like to tell Aggie jokes.
An Aggie comes home and finds his wife in bed with another man. He pulls out a gun and aims it at his own head. They both start laughing at him. “You laugh, you sumbitches, but you’re next,” he retorts.
Republicans must be Aggies.
Fletch
April 21st, 2011
10:12 am
Hey, if the Republicans didn’t want to deal with Obama, they shouldn’t have let him win the election by witholding the secret Kenyan Birth scenario until after he won.
deegee
April 21st, 2011
10:12 am
LOLOLOL! I saw the Michelle Bachmann interview yesterday morning. Apparently the Republican talking points include hanging the extension of the Bush tax cuts exclusively on Obama. I couldn’t believe that George Stephanopolous let that one slip by but he was marching on to the birth certificate issue.
UGA1999
April 21st, 2011
10:13 am
Keep…..and you are so sure the way the “youth” will vote? Why is that? Have you seen the lastest polls?
How do you think the Repubs will deny them their votes?? This should be good.
stands for decibels
April 21st, 2011
10:14 am
Are we??
Hasn’t Japan been trying to come out of a funk for the past decade??
While both are/were major economic powerhouses with some lessons to impart, whose health or lack thereof affected vast numbers of people–neither are/were in a position to literally dictate terms to others in a manner that we are today.
(that said, I imagine if one asked the average median-incomed Japanese if they’d trade places with their median-incomed counterparts in the States during those economically funky times. Somehow I doubt there’d be many takers.)
md
April 21st, 2011
10:14 am
“You don’t want the wealthy to sacrifice anything so you are lying about caring about the deficit”
Hmm……wonder how many of those wealthy are still paying loans from not sacrificing 15 years of their lives going to school……………….
outlawgod
April 21st, 2011
10:14 am
I see, Democrats create a new social program (SS, Medicare, etc), republicans spend the rest of their existence weakening/killing the program, and then Republicans have the gall to say the program is a failure
getalife
April 21st, 2011
10:15 am
Scott,
Your lies will not work here.
Try kyle wingnut’s blog con hack.
ryan’s death budget is radical.
Jackie
April 21st, 2011
10:15 am
@md
Do you realize there is a law that requires all excess Social Security funds be invest in USA bonds?
Scott
April 21st, 2011
10:16 am
Keep up… “Republicans will use all efforts to deny them their constitutional vote.”
Yeah…I guess we will have a couple of guys from the Black Panthers sitting outside of polling places with baseball bats. Oh wait….that was the Dems doing that. Sorry.
Why would I think that our youth only treats the Presidential election as a popularity contest? It obviously worked on somebody as narrow-minded and oblivious to reality like you.
Keep Up the Good Fight!
April 21st, 2011
10:17 am
uga — I have no idea how the “youth” will vote. I do support the right of all citizens to vote and participate in government.
UGA1999
April 21st, 2011
10:17 am
Getalife….why are you so hostile? Lets try to have an adult debate/conversation.
md
April 21st, 2011
10:17 am
“Sadly Scott underestimates the nation’s youth.”
Probably not………they’re being skimmed as suckers on their student loans and most probably aren’t even aware of it…………….
larry
April 21st, 2011
10:18 am
Scott, i know exactly what he is proposing and nobody likes it at all.
I mean in ten years we start getting a voucher to buy private insurance instead of Medicare.
I would like to know how many private insurance companies are going to insure 65 year olds with pre-existing conditions? My guess is none. So there is the reason why people in his own district were booing him last night. It is a bad plan and it will go nowhere.
UGA1999
April 21st, 2011
10:18 am
Keep….as do I. I am just trying to understand the nature of your last comment.
TnGelding
April 21st, 2011
10:18 am
Somebody remind him there’s another election coming up next year, but I see no reason why the budgeting process couldn’t be changed to accomodate everyone. Something drastic clearly needs to be done. What about a progressive tax of 10, 20 or 30% on gross income with no deductions and no exemptions on the first $100, $200 and $300k?
If the vote can get to the floor it will pass with bipartisan support. The interest on the debt is going to eat us alive unless we can start working it down. Fortunately, most of it goes to the government in an accounting entry or to U.S. entities.
Keep Up the Good Fight!
April 21st, 2011
10:19 am
Scott, or you could have Rove or some of those Houston area tea party guys hanging outside or discouraging voting by any number of means. You still scared of 3 guys? Boo!
jm
April 21st, 2011
10:20 am
getalife – it is not the end of Medicare. And in particular for those 55 and older.