Which is fine. Nothing really changes until we:
1) Get rid of baseline budgeting;
2) Get serious about entitlement reform; and
3) Retire a bunch of the current politicians in Washington, St. Paul and elsewhere.
The party is over, kids. If you think our children and grandchildren are going to have the wherewithal or the willingness to pay our bills, you're lying. Especially to yourself.
12 comments:
It also doesn't avert an eventual downgrade in our credit rating by multiple agencies. We were explicitly told to reduce our deficit by at least $4 trillion to start by the likes of Moody's and Standard & Poor's. We haven't and will likely lose our AAA rating in the coming months, short of another round of cuts.
A downgrade isn't a default, but it makes acquiring and holding capital all the more difficult. And while I doubt that billions of dollars will flee the US (to where, the Euro?), a downgrade sends a definite signal to the international markets of the world about how seriously we take our debt. That's not a recipe for economic growth - and I have no idea how Obama will attempt to spin the consequences of a downgrade.
Yep, FR. The downgrade is coming. It has to come.
How will Obama spin it? He'll demonize Moody's and S&P. And blame Bush. Perhaps he can work in Grover Norquist for the Emmanuel Goldstein trifecta.
Obama and most of his intelligencia are trained socialists. They want our economy to break down so they can implement their own version of social engineering. I've thought all along that, at some point, they will simply start printing money, devaluing everything that we've built up personally so that we'll all be dependent on them. Our country is being run by a bunch of lefty professors and other members of the educational elite. Soros's warped dream is becoming a reality, and we all appear to be too stupid to get it. I pray for your children!
Today's ceiling is tomorrow's floor. That's been the reality for far too long.
I had no doubts whatsoever that a deal would be reached, and I also had no illusions as to how much of the things I wanted to see would make it into the final bill. When the Republicans control only one-third of the government trifecta needed on any deal, and the Tea Party doesn't even have all the Republicans, there was never going to be a massive change. It was pleasant, however, to see how much the "powers that be" had to squirm to get a deal hammmered out on a sandwich that contained far more sh*t than they've ever had to eat before.
The deal, despite its flaws, is far better than what would have happened without a Republican majority in the House. And now the Republicans know they owe that majority to the Tea Party, and they know the TP isn't going to go along to get along.
There's a new dynamic in the country and in politics and it frightens the bejabbers out of the establishment. Tax increases have been stymied in Minnesota and now federally and the ratcheting up of hysteria, name-calling and "crisis" proclamations are like so much ink squirting out of the frightened octopus of Government that just had its tentacles singed.
I'll believe they're serious about cutting spending when they terminate whole agencies and sell the infrastructure they used. Until they do that, they can cut one year and boom the next.
Hopefully they start with the BATFE, as they seem to be one of the primary causes of mayhem in Mexico.
The part that baffles me is how S&P seemingly decides the U.S. fate. Is this the same S&P which gave such stellar ratings to those mortgage-backed securities which eventually went bust???
There's a new dynamic in the country and in politics and it frightens the bejabbers out of the establishment. Tax increases have been stymied in Minnesota and now federally and the ratcheting up of hysteria, name-calling and "crisis" proclamations are like so much ink squirting out of the frightened octopus of Government that just had its tentacles singed.
Yep, NW. Which explains the yelping from Dowd, Krugman et al.
I really enjoyed this:
"As president, my plan would have produced a budget that was cut, capped and balanced – not one that opens the door to higher taxes and puts defense cuts on the table. President Obama’s leadership failure has pushed the economy to the brink at the eleventh hour and 59th minute. While I appreciate the extraordinarily difficult situation President Obama’s lack of leadership has placed Republican Members of Congress in, I personally cannot support this deal."
That's the interpid Mitt Romney, taking a ?stand?...on the outcome of the debt deal. A topic he had no opinion on until it ended. And I thought Lisa Lubner's Dad was the only person ever born without a spine.
Regards,
Rich
facing this next surgery (a week from today, btw) left me staring at my options and investigating different outcomes.
if a sucess: i speak again, can breath normally again, and will be able to reliably labor for the next 20+ yrs to support myself economically.
if a success: i will barely speak, will have difficulty breathing during minor excercise, and will quite likely qualify for an early disability retirement.
here's the kick in the ass: disability will pay me better than if i continue working 40hrs a week.
i'm hoping for failure. i need to claim 'mine' before its all gone.
but knowing my luck the past three yrs... it will be a booming success and i'll continue to work my ass off struggling to get by.
what i'm getting to, really, is that the economic system in this country takes so much from those who labor that it allows those who dont to live just as well.
so why do we bother at all???
Rich,
Romney isn't relevant to what's happening at the moment. If it were up to me, it would remain that way.
Gino,
Two things: first, hang in there, my friend. Second, you're reading the matter correctly. Incentives matter.
Gino,
Wishing you more than just luck and a speedy recovery. Please keep us posted on your progress (I know Mark will too) and we'll keep you in our prayers.
Mark,
A few things:
I know Romney isn't particularly relevant here, but boy is he entertaining. His feckless pandering sets the gold-standard for that genre. And if we are going to have a Republican President, I sure hope it's him, so I should stop hammering him;-)
I would add to your list:
4) Get serious about scaling back our military expenditures.
and
5) Commit to real reform of our corrupt and Byzantine tax code.
All in due time. It's why the triggers were so important. I really think this was a good step in the right direction, and I am pretty happy with the outcome. Both sides tied each others hands, and not too far down the road, they HAVE TO work together to come up with some real solutions.
You know the old saying in politics: If everybody is unhappy with the outcome, it was probably a successfull compromise.
Finally, I have to ask why you haven't written about Bebe Netanyahu's outrageous 'betrayal' of Israel yesterday. I remember how excercised you got when Obama did the unthinkable a few months ago and said what every U.S. President since Nixon had said about the 1967 borders being the starting point for negotiations with Palestine. Do you think Netanyahu and Obama are in on this together.
Just wondering.
Rich
Rich,
I'll have to figure out what you're talking about in re Netanyahu.
I do agree about the military spending, by the way, but we have to do some thinking about how we do it. For a start I'd figure out why we still have tens of thousands of troops in Germany.
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