A further thought about the debt “deal”
From what I can tell the only thing the President absolutely held the line on was no further debt ceiling negotiations until after the re-election campaign of 2012. I see where his priorities lie.
Archive of entries posted on July 2011
Amazing
Never in a million years did I think hostage-taking would be institutionalized in the US Congress. The most dangerous part of this game is the Grand Bargain we’ve already agreed to, which is that the very economy of the United States can be held hostage, successfully, in exchange for increasingly radical partisan concessions. The moment …
And if you believe that . . .
Senator Mitch McConnell, expressing optimism a debt ceiling deal can be reached before Tuesday: “We need to be in a position where all of us in the leadership can come back here and say that we think we reached a framework of an agreement that we can recommend to our members,” he said. “So that’s …
Dear Speaker Boehner
The simplest way out of the box you find yourself in with your idiotic Tea Party members is to draft a bill which raises the debt ceiling with no deficit-cutting amendments. It takes 217 votes to pass a bill out of the House. There are currently 193 Democrats and 240 Republicans. If you brought up …
Half of Americans pay no taxes?
You’ve probably heard that a lot from the Republicans and their colleagues in the media. It’s a disingenuous statement. As they well know, most Americans pay taxes in many forms to many different entities. They pay Social Security taxes, Medicare taxes, sales taxes, property taxes, state income taxes, estate taxes, gasoline taxes, cigarette and liquor …
An imagined dialogue
Michael Grunwald at Swampland: If the debt-limit debate had anything to do with reality, every story about it would include a few basic facts. Starting with: President Obama inherited a $1.2 trillion budget deficit. And: Republican leaders supported the tax cuts and wars that (along with the recession, another pre-Obama phenomenon) created that deficit. Also: …
Skeeters!
How the hell do they get into one’s bathroom?
Who knew I could do this?
Yesterday afternoon I suggested that President Obama ask the American people to call their Representatives in the US House and exhort them to get a debt ceiling deal done. Well, he did and they did. Behold my power! Caveat: I have no idea what the mix of calls is/was. For all I know every Tea …
What I’d like to hear Obama say this evening
“Ladies and Gentlemen, “I’ve tried my hardest. I’ve compromised and compromised. Still the Republicans in the House refuse to raise the debt ceiling. “Now I’m asking you: if you live in a Congressional District represented by a Republican, call his or her office tomorrow and tell them you do not want the interest rate on …
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“Both sides” are not equally at fault here
Krugman: [Clive Crook] accurately describes the destructive behavior of the GOP and how it’s making the country ungovernable. But does he then condemn the perpetrators? Not exactly. Instead, he calls a plague on both houses: If positions were reversed, Democrats would feel just as entitled to disable, by any means necessary, their enemies’ legislative accomplishments. …
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