Contributors

Tuesday, October 15, 2013

Shutdown A Go Go

Quite a bit to talk about today as we enter the last 48 hours before we default on our debt so let's get to it...

It looks as though Harry Reid and Mitch McConnell have crafted a deal which re-opens the government and raised the debt ceiling into early next year. The House has just announced that they are going to push their own deal as well. The former doesn't have much about the Affordable Care Act in it but the House bill wants to delay the medical device tax for two years. The House just can't let go of the ACA, can they? Of course, it's part of their overall temper tantrum summed up quite eloquently by another Mark...

Speaking of the House, Pryor told CNN that "some Republicans are, quite honestly, they're acting childish about this. They almost want a shutdown. They almost want to see us break the debt ceiling."

Marks are cool people. I wonder if he has been reading my blog...:)

Here are the basics about the Senate deal which is the one likely to pass.

I must admit that the Right really had me fooled on this one as I thought they were much smarter and had more power than this. What a bunch of fucking idiots. Had they not taken this route, they could have sat back and made much hay out of the problems with the launch of the health care exchanges. Their popularity would have soared and they might have even gotten some changes through in regards to the ACA.

Instead, they had several irrational and incoherent outbursts (see video below) followed by the usual stomp down the hallway, door slam, and adolescent room trashing. The American people now realize exactly how ridiculously immature these people are and have rejected them. It's now more than possible that the Democrats will take back the House in 2014, six years earlier than I predicted. Had the GOP not engaged in this shutdown/debt ceiling folly, they would have solidified their hold on the House and possibly taken the Senate.

But they can't resist the catnip of being moonbats and, man oh man, have they released a full pack of them in the last two weeks. Roger Simon sums it up quite nicely in this piece.

Protesters marched through the streets of Washington on Sunday with a Confederate flag and then a protester lounged against the White House fence with one. Displaying the Confederate flag in front of a home occupied by a black family was meant to send a particular, and particularly repellent, message. There were other signs of our descent. 

Remember Samuel Wurzelbacher? Known as “Joe the Plumber,” he was selected by John McCain as his presidential campaign mascot in 2008 with the same care McCain used to select Sarah Palin. Over the weekend, Wurzelbacher posted an article on his blog titled: “America Needs a White Republican President.” “Admit it,” the article said. “You want a white Republican president again. Wanting a white Republican president doesn’t make you racist, it just makes you American.” 

At least one can appreciate the fact that they aren't hiding it anymore. Check out this video.



"I call upon all of you to wage a second American nonviolent revolution, to use civil disobedience, and to demand that this president leave town, to get up, to put the Quran down, to get up off his knees, and to figuratively come out with his hands up," Klayman told the crowd.

Wow.

Through all this anger and hatred, though, it was nice to see that the World War Two vets who have been pushing to re-open the memorial gave the middle finger to the dark hart of American populism.

The political agenda put forth by a local organizer in Washington DC was not in alignment with our message. We feel disheartened that some would seek to hijack the narrative for political gain. The core principle is about all Americans honoring Veterans in a peaceful and apolitical manner. Mr. Cruz, Ms. Palin and some attendees, including political parties may have not been aware of the goals of the marches which took place in over 60+ rallies across the nation.

Double Wow. It looks like they are losing the old white guy crowd now as well.

The next two days are going to be interesting, folks. Check back here often as the news unfolds.




3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Moody's CEO: US default 'extremely unlikely'

The CEO of credit rating agency Moody's ruled out the chance of a U.S. government default, even if an agreement over raising the debt ceiling is not achieved by mid-October.

Pat Toomey: 'Default Not Inevitable' (from February 2011)

Junior Senator Pat Toomey (R-PA) is hoping his "Full Faith and Credit Act" will be the answer. Geithner, however, has called the bill "quite harmful."

What Toomey's bill would do is force the Treasury prioritize payments, paying off debt first and then paying for programs like Social Security. If passed, it would allow the US to hit the debt ceiling without automatically triggering a default on the nation's debt. The bill has support from the House Republican Study Committee but with such harsh words from Treasury and from some Democratic Leaders, the act faces an uphill battle on Capitol Hill.


In other words, it was Democrats who insisted that the government should be able to default on its debts.

It is disturbing to me that any senior government official could believe that preventing our government from defaulting on our debt could ever be considered a “dreadful idea.” The consequences of a default on our debt would be catastrophic — not least to the millions of Americans who hold U.S. Treasury securities in their savings, their 401k accounts and their pension funds — and must be avoided.

Fortunately, there is no scenario in which a default must occur. In the unlikely event that the debt ceiling is not raised, ongoing tax revenue will cover about 70 percent of all projected government expenditures. Debt service will amount to about 6 percent of expenditures. With ongoing revenue more than 11 times that needed to service our debt, the only way we could default would be for the Treasury to consciously decide to do so. Such a decision would be so irresponsible that I doubt very much that any Treasury secretary would permit it. Nevertheless, several administration officials have implicitly, and recklessly, threatened such a default. That is why my legislation, which would codify the practice of past Treasury secretaries to prioritize debt service, became necessary.

Anonymous said...

Debt Limit — A Guide To American Federal Debt Made Easy

Dave Ramsey: "You are not exempt from math."

Larry said...

Remember Samuel Wurzelbacher? Known as “Joe the Plumber,” he was selected by John McCain as his presidential campaign mascot in 2008 with the same care McCain used to select Sarah Palin. Over the weekend, Wurzelbacher posted an article on his blog titled: “America Needs a White Republican President.” “Admit it,” the article said. “You want a white Republican president again. Wanting a white Republican president doesn’t make you racist, it just makes you American.”

You know that's a lie, don't you, Nikto? Very misleading and dishonest, not that I think you give a shit. And excerpting and linking an article written by a black man at TheBlackSphere.net is now racist? That's a pretty fucked up standard. Par for the course for you and Markadelphia, though.