The 'Perfect Absurdity'

"The Perfect Absurdity"


Those were Nancy Pelosi's words on the floor of the House, contradicting what was being said by John Boehner  in the media when he said this standoff over the debt ceiling could have been done and over with a week ago when he had the support of the top leaders in the Senate and House for his plan.  It was a lie.  If he had their support they wouldn't still be battling over the crisis that didn't have to be.  Mitch McConnell says they are close, that they have been in talks with the President and that we 'will not default for the first time in this countries history', things are close and he has confidence they will make an agreement soon. Harry Reid on the floor of the Senate mentioned their speech for the press said that was not true that, " telling the press that we have a plan, does not make it so.  When Harry Reid mentioned it on the Senate floor, is the first we find out that Mitch McConnell had been one the phone with Vice President Biden.  Seems to me there is a whole lot of chaos going on over there.  


Troops are calling from Iraq, and the areas of the other wars, wondering if they are going to get paid?  They want to know what is going to happen to their families while they are away.  Is this really what we need to have them focusing on when their focus needs to be on what is happening where they are?.


The Democrats could, and I wish they would, throw it back at the Republicans, and say that had they simply passed the debt ceiling increase like it has been passed every time before this, there would be no crisis at all. There is no precedent for what is going on.  The Republicans started this whole mess by holding the debt ceiling increase hostage. Period.  Yes, our economy is in bad shape and we need to make some cuts but we also need to bring in some revenue. I can't help but think about what Chris O'Donelll said about the new Tea Party backed congressmen who have been newly elected.  There is a time for politics and there is a time to govern.  The time for politics is over and they need to start governing.  They are there to do a job, and its not to take dictation from the Tea Party.


The Republicans keep saying that this is really the President's mess to clean up.  Actually, its not.  Any plan they come up with has to go through the Senate and then the House before it even makes it to his desk.  All he can do is make known what he will sign and not sign, in order for them to work towards a deal everyone can live with.  I have a feeling the Republicans are going to play this game right up until the deadline, and when that deadline comes they will tell President Obama he really doesn't have a choice.  At that point I hope he pulls out the 14th Amendment, Section 4 and smacks them in the face with it.  


Section 4 of the 14th Amendment states:


     "The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned. But neither the United States nor any State shall assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or any claim for the loss or emancipation of any slave; but all such debts, obligations and claims shall be held illegal and void."


Now, since the Republicans want the Constitution interpreted according to its original intent, they maybe should have made sure they read the whole thing before they decided to let the Tea Party dictate to them what they would allow them to do.  President Obama knows the constitution very well.  He taught Constitutional Law at the University of Chicago Law School. I'd be willing to bet that the Tea Party doesn't exactly check the Constitution before they start pulling the Republican strings. If the Republicans play this game up until the last minute, and the 14th Amendment gets used, they will look like fools.  President Obama has tabled the 14th Amendment for now, but I have a feeling if push comes to shove he will pull it out.


Mitch McConnell has said several times that he and the GOP were going to do everything in their power to make sure that President Obama was a one term President.  They are pretty blatant about their hate for the man.  Their idea of a motivational movie clip included a clip from a Ben Afleck movie titled "The Town" in which Ben Aflecks character says, "I need you help.  Can't tell you what it is.  You can never ask me about it later.  And we are going to hurt some people."  The other character thinks about it for a minute and asks, "Whose car are we going to take.  They then put on ski masks and go out and bludgeon two guys with a stick and shot another guy in  the leg.  That is your House Majority in action.  Who exactly is it they think they are going to hurt (I don't mean physically)?  The President?  The Democrats?  The American people?  Where does it stop?  With all the problems going on with this country, and the work that needs to be done, their primary focus is making sure the President doesn't get re-elected next year?  When does it become important enough for them to focus on what needs to be taken care of now, in a responsible manner?  Some spending can be cut, but do you know how we get out of a recession?  Spending.  Do you know why?  If you don't, you end up putting a lot of people out of work.  If you do that we get another recession, but more likely a depression.  And don't forget, that while we not only crash our economy to the ground, we take a lot of the rest of the world's economy with us.  


On CNN this morning they had on Republican Senator Pat Toomey and Florida Governor Rick Scott.  Two economist were trying to explain this concept to them, not only did they refuse to grasp it, but they were justifying why defaulting wasn't going to be such a bad thing.  Good thing  those people get to keep those Bush tax cuts, that way when the depression comes, they won't be hurting.  Just the rest of the world will.


Its amazing what hate can do.


(I have tried and tried to fix the font color of the comment link on this post to no avail.  If you want to leave a comment, click on the barely visible black link at the bottom of the post, right after the date and time posted.) 

The Fabricated Debt Crisis

The debt ceiling increase, which normally goes through without a problem, is being held hostage by Congress in the hopes of getting cuts they know they would not get any other way.  They don't care about what they are doing to the country, as long as they get what they want.  The Republicans are doing a lot of grandstanding around calling President Obama's bluff, and thinking that in the end he will have no choice but to bow to their bullying.  The truth is, there are Republicans who would vote for a sense compromise, but can't because they have allowed their hands to be tied by outside groups that helped them to get elected. 

The Republicans rendered themselves ineffective when they let The Tea Party and Americans for Tax Reform (ATR), not just tie their hands behind their backs, but suspend them by hooks and put targets on their heads.  During the last elections they loved The Tea Party, it was their own version of the Obama's grassroots organization, with one exception.  Obama and his people led their grassroots people, and the Republicans allowed themselves to be run by theirs.  Republicans running their own party is simply an illusion at this point.  What a lot of people don't know, or maybe they do, is that many Republicans signed contracts with ATR stating they would under no circumstances vote for tax increases.  It has been made clear to them that any rollback of the Bush tax cuts (the most common sense solution to increasing revenue) would be considered tax increase.  If they sign a bill that includes rolling back the Bush tax cuts, the ATR and The Tea Party will do everything they can to get them out of office.  They aren't willing to take that chance, especially the younger ones that just got elected for the first time.  Getting re-elected is more important to them than what they are doing to the country.  How's that for patriotic?

When Bush implemented the tax cuts for the top 1%, he did so because at that time there was a projected $125 billion surplus.  After 9/11 and the start of two wars, that projected surplus became a $9 billion deficit.  That should have been the end of the tax cuts right then and there. They were never intended to be permanent, and wars are not cheap, especially when you have billions of dollars going missing and no one bothering to figure out where it went.  Not only did he NOT suspend those tax cuts, he gave further tax cuts in 2003 with The Jobs and Growth Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2003.  This was a law that reduced taxes on dividends and provided a cut in the capital gains tax rate. Though the 2003 tax cuts were meant to be permanent, the 2001 tax cuts weren't.  I hate to say it, but with the economy already in trouble, Obama was irresponsible for letting those tax cuts continue.  At this late date, no one in their right mind should think continuing those tax cuts is anything but bad for this country.

When you have a bill you can't pay, you cuts back spending and find extra income to pay it or have your credit rating affected.  That is the position we are in.  It is simple common sense.  Though Obama shouldn't have to negotiate for the debt ceiling increase, he was willing to give the Republicans $4 trillion dollars in spending cuts in exchange for putting an end to the tax cuts that should have never been. They refused it.  Putting and end to this mess they have fabricated gives the Republicans a better chance of getting re-elected than playing this 'all or nothing, I'm gonna call your bluff' game.  If they were smart they would tell The Tea Party and Americans for Tax Reform where to stick it,  and make a common sense compromise that several of them want anyway.

By the way, the Dow Jones will open this morning down in triple digits and the GDP numbers have come back worse than expected.