Just as Senate Democrats were sitting down Thursday to a scheduled meeting with White House budget director Jacob J. Lew, rumors of a new debt-limit deal flashed across their BlackBerrys. One after another, they demanded that Lew explain what the president was doing.
The Democrats were winning, the senators said. The American people were with them on tax increases for the rich as long as it's somebody else and the notion of "shared sacrifice." Why give up now? Why cut a deal without guarantees of new tax revenue? Why should I pay more for gasoline without a pay increase?
When Lew left, Mikulski turned to her colleagues and said, "I haven't seen a meeting like this in my 35 years in Congress." Outside the room, Lew said he was "not aware of a deal."
In the House, rank-and-file Democrats said the situation had grown dire. "It would concern me greatly if these folks -- the tea party group -- have been able to convince the president to go along with a deal that basically gives them everything they want but yet still takes away from those who are our most vulnerable," said. Rep. Elijah E. Cummings. Funny. That's what we think about the Dems - they're waiting to get everything they want. They're winning. "We won." Too bad the media can't provide a balanced perspective.
Rep. Raul M. Grijalva (Ariz.), a leader of the House Progressive Caucus,and therefore, presumably a (D) said: "We feel like the programs we care about are on the table. The other side's priorities that the American public thinks should be dealt with -- tax cuts, corporate subsidies -- are not on the table."
Often kept in check out of loyalty for their president, congressional Democrats have grown increasingly suspicious of Obama's motives over the past year.
Many in the House didn't appreciate what they saw as meager support for Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) in her final, embattled months as House speaker before the 2010 midterm election. She was re-elected, wasn't she? Kwitchyerbitchin.
Among Senate Democrats, there is still bitterness about the deal Vice President Biden negotiated in secret in December with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) that extended all of the George W. Bush-era tax cuts, including those for the wealthy. There's still "wealthy" left? We haven't progressed enough!
The T-word -- "triangulation" -- began to circulate across Capitol Hill as lawmakers recalled how President Bill Clinton distanced himself from his party's liberal base and from conservatives as he positioned himself for a reelection run. You go, WaPo. Tear off the old scabs! Pour in the salt! Sell newspapers!
Republicans didn't mind seeing a little open feuding on the other side of the aisle. Throughout July, the Capitol has been absorbed by a GOP soap opera as Boehner has privately jousted with his younger leadership lieutenants. Sounds like it wasn't so private, after all.
Posted by: Bobby ||
07/22/2011 05:58 ||
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#1
The people that Im talking about, when youre talking about Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security and Im sure theyre all mixed up in there in this $3 trillion those are people, a lot of whom are in my district, who have no alternatives, Elijah Cummings
ObamaCare--You have to pass it to read it. Pelosi
Once ObamaCare was available to read, people began to realize that Obama took $500 billion out of Medicare to fund ObamaCare.
The Donks are arguing against Cut, Cap, and Balance because they say it would take 10 years to obtain a balanced budget amendment. The 26th Amendment to our Constitution took less than four months to become a part of our Constitution. There is so much B.S. and disinformation being slung around.
49 of the 50 States (or is it 57) have some form of balanced budget amendments although some seem to be more binding than others.
The White House has said "momentum" has been seen towards a deal to avert a disastrous early August debt default, but denied media reports that a compromise with top politicians is in the works.
President Barack B.O. Obama and John It is not pronounced 'Boner!' Boehner ... the occasionally weepy leader of House Republicans... , the speaker of the House of Representatives, were believed to be discussing a possible deal that would include tax reform and $3tn in spending cuts over 10 years to avert the unprecedented default, a senior Democratic congressional told the Rooters news agency on Thursday.
Finance and business leaders have warned failure to raise the US debt ceiling by August 2 then would send shock waves through the world economy, while Obama has predicted a default would trigger economic "Armageddon".
In reaction to the potential agreement, Harry Reid ... the charismatic former Senate majority leader ... , the senate majority leader, underscored the divisive nature of the issue by saying any deficit-cutting deal aimed at winning a debt limit increase must contain revenue boosts as well as the spending cuts.
"This can't be all cuts, there has to be a balance," Reid said.
He was responding to news hounds' questions about the possible deal's stipulations that would leave tax reform and revenue increases for a later date.
Debt deadline looms
The report of a break in the partisan deadlock comes with time running short before the deadline to raise the $14.3tn US debt ceiling.
"We believe there is momentum behind the idea of a balanced approach to a significant agreement," Jay Carney, the White House front man, said.
But Carney rejected a New York Times ...which still proudly displays Walter Duranty's Pulitzer prize... report, citing anonymous congressional officials, that aides to Obama had informed important politicians that a deal was in the works with Boehner, according to the AFP news agency.
"There is no deal. We are not close to a deal," Carney said. "The fact is that there is no progress to report, but we continue to work on getting the most significant deficit-reduction package possible."
As AFP reported, such an agreement would likely anger Democrats pledged to protect the US social safety net as well as Republicans who have vowed to oppose increasing revenues, dimming its prospects for passage in the divided congress.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/22/2011 00:00 ||
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US seeks deal to avoid 'economic Armageddon'
It's not if, it's when. The later the harder and deeper.
#2
Maybe for the governing class. For the average Joe trying to make a living and raise a family it will be a relief from the crushing burden inflicted on us by Those Who Spend Other Peoples' Money.
#6
This can't be all cuts, there has to be a balance," Reid said.
Why start now, Harry? It's been spend, spend, spend for the last 75 years.
Posted by: Bobby ||
07/22/2011 5:54 Comments ||
Top||
#7
The US govt. is going to argue right up to the deadline. They will then default and after that the dollar will be devalued. No one will take responsibility and each will blame the other.
Unemployment and crime will go up. Do you own a gun? The mail will be delivered three days a week. Gas prices will climb to $6/gallon in a year.
Houses in neighborhoods will be abandoned and nobody will collect the garbage or mow the lawns. Some women with kids to feed will become prostitutes at the Mall.
Your car will be broken into and you will learn to steal yourself or get your kids to do it.
Your daughter will move in with a man who owns a bar...or a grocery store. You will see young men loitering down at the corner after dark. Dogs will disappear. There may be a few houses that catch on fire for no apparent reason. The cops wont come when you call.
And your vote wont mean shit.
But HEY! Obama is The One. Hope and Change, brothaman.
Greek Columns and such wonderful speeches.....anybody remember any of the memorable lines from any of the speeches? Yeah?
Sing it for me.
Posted by: de Medici ||
07/22/2011 6:16 Comments ||
Top||
#8
crikey, people, the US is in deep s**t.
really deep. like oceanic trench deep .... you can't afford the wars, the foreign aid and the UN anymore
cut them all out and save yourselves
If the US goes down the one shining beacon of free speech will be snuffed out
#9
" crikey, people, the US is in deep s**t". Many see what is just ahead but it's like the frog story.Put a frog in hot water and he jumps out. Put that frog in water then turn the heat up. He stays till he's cooked or croaked (he he). People are doing just as our government. They are charging again to maintain the lifestyle they believe they have earned. 401's, retirements have been hammered also. This story is being played out in many parts of the world. We are not alone in this. We haven't had the Arab spring or the riots in Greece and others. We could and perhaps will.
#10
..if and when the poor riot, the pols eventually send in the National Guard.
The problem is that if and when the middle class riot, they are the National Guard.
There is the New Orleans Katrina scenario where it was Armageddon--Widespread looting, shootings, dog-eat-dog.
There also is the Nashville flood scenario where people did not loot, there were no shootings, people helped each other get out of a crisis.
Most likely, we will experience both scenarios in this country. Red states might follow the Nashville scenario; blue states the New Orleans scenario. The high crime cities--further breakdown of law and order under a crisis scenario.
If we do get into the Katrina scenario and people riot, there will be no holding them back. The ruling political class had best run for the hills.
#13
My guess is we chug along without a major riots or problems, but hiring, the job market and the economy stay pathetic until we have a new president. Then when things start to recover both sides take credit (Dems claiming their policies just took longer than expected).
The cycle continues.
Hopefully there will be a mandate at the next election that will allow us to break the cycle for good.
#14
Saw el prez give a speech to a bunch of terrapins not too long ago, quite awkward.
I've always wondered who would loan more money even if the debt limit was raised. Personally they only way I would buy any sort of bond is if it were at a 1:1 tax deduction. Problem is in DC that there would be pols who would go, hey sounds like a great idea!
Posted by: Barbara ||
07/22/2011 12:03 Comments ||
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#16
So Boehner, not Boner, and O'Bummer are playing a grand game of chicken while the whole world watches to see who blinks. My guess, sorry to say, is Boehner will. The big question is who can go to the voters and blame the other for a default. I'm thinking Bummer thinks he's the one who holds that card. Hope I'm wrong.
#17
Meanwhile, the word has leaked out that all this time, the FED has had a secret plan to prevent a US default, and is confident that they can prevent it. But it was a secret, because they wanted to keep the pressure on for sky high taxes.
#18
Boehner is just setting up his alibi when it all goes down. Whether the jury/tribunal buys it or not, it's a better hand to play than the other two have dealt themselves.
House Speaker John Boehner called President Obama Friday to inform him that he is pulling out of talks with him on raising the nation's legal limit to borrow money to avert a government default.
Boehner sent a letter to lawmakers saying, "we couldn't connect."
Obama said in a hasty appearance at the White House briefing room that "it's hard to understand why Speaker Boehner would walk away from this deal."
"This was an extraordinarily fair deal," he said, explaining that the White House offered $1 trillion in spending cuts and $650 billion in changes to entitlement programs in exchange for $1.2 trillion in new revenues.
Boehner will now work with Senate leaders on an alternative "to find a path forward," he wrote in the letter to lawmakers. But Obama said he wants to see congressional leaders at the White House Saturday to figure out how to avoid a government default.
"We have now run out of time," Obama said.
According to a GOP leadership aide close to the talks, the sides were moving forward toward a total package that would cut $3 trillion to 3.5 trillion over a decade. It would have included an incremental increase in the $14.3 trillion debt ceiling now and force another one late next winter.
But the aide said a disagreement over revenues "blew this up." Sorry Bambi, but 1 trillion in cuts traded for 1.2 trillion in new taxes is NOT a good deal. Boehner was right not to take this. It is a progressive wet dream and not a real deal.
#3
White House offered $1 trillion in spending cuts
No spending cuts, reductions in the increase of Obama's fantasy budget. A meaningless number bandied about for his partisans and unsuspecting rubes. It deserves the Tidy Bowl Flush, just like the economy under Obama.
Federal budgets:
2007: $2.78 trillion (deficit $244 billion)
2008: $2.93 trillion (deficit $410 billion)
2009: $4.00 trillion (deficit $1.84 trillion)
2010: $3.72 trillion (deficit $1.56 trillion)
2011: $3.82 trillion (estimated deficit $1.5 trillion)
2012: $3.73 trillion (estimated, but good for a laugh)
BTW, the projection is the feds under Obama will spend $4.5 trillion/year in 5 years (2016).
[Dawn] A day after US federal authorities placed in long-term storage a Kashmiri leader for allegedly lobbying for Pakistain, US politicians who supported Pakistain or the Kashmire cause find themselves in trouble.
The US media -- from The New York Times ...which still proudly displays Walter Duranty's Pulitzer prize... to obscure small town newspapers -- highlighted some US politicians' alleged links to Pakistain, claiming that they too had received funds from Ghulam Nabi Fai who was placed in long-term storage in Virginia on Tuesday for allegedly lobbying for Pakistain.
The media quoted the US Federal Elections Commission databases as showing that Mr Fai gave more than $20,000 in campaign contributions over the past two decades. The bulk of his donations went to two recipients: the National Republican Senatorial Committee and Congressman Dan Burton, a Republican who favours Pakistain's position on Kashmire and other issues. Mr Fai made smaller contributions to Democrats as well, including to Congressmen James P. Moran of Virginia, Dennis J. Kucinich of Ohio and Gregory W. Meeks of New York.
He also gave $250 to the 2000 and 2008 presidential campaigns of Al Gore and Barack B.O. Obama. Mr Fai gave over $10,000 to Mr Burton between 1990 and 2010.
He also gave $250 to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, $250 to the DNC Services Corp and $6,000 to the National Republican Senatorial Committee.
The media pointed out that for at least 15 years, Congressman Burton has been a champion for Kashmiri causes in Congress, appealing to Presidents Bill Clinton and Obama to get more involved in attempting to mediate a settlement between India and
Pakistain over Kashmire.
He has also endorsed allowing the Kashmiri people to vote on their own fate.
Contacted by the media, Congressman Burton said he was "deeply shocked" by the arrest of Mr Fai, because he had known him for 20 years and "in that time I had no inkling of his involvement with any foreign intelligence operation and had presumed our correspondence was legitimate". He said he would donate the funds provided to his campaign to the Boy Scouts of America. Congressman Joe Pitts, a Pennsylvania Republican, also allegedly received donations from Mr Fai and his group. Mr Pitts visited South Asia in 2001 and 2004, where he met Pak and Indian leaders and called for a ceasefire. He also introduced a resolution in 2004 calling for President George W. Bush to appoint a special envoy to help negotiate peace.
A front man for Mr Pitts said he had donated $4,000 -- an amount equal to the donations his campaign received from Mr Fai's group -- to local charities in Pennsylvania on Tuesday.
The US media, however, focused on Congressman Burton who also played a key role in the formation of a Kashmire caucus in
Congress.
Media reports included quotes from the speeches he made in Pakistain, saying in one such speech that "since 1948, the people of Kashmire have been offered and promised a plebiscite and that's something that has not happened.... Here we are 61 years later, and we are still hoping that one day there will be peace and tranquillity in that beautiful part of the world".
In another speech, highlighted in the US media on Wednesday, Mr Burton noted that India had deployed hundreds of thousands of troops in Kashmire who were "keeping everything under wraps, patrolling the streets and there are still some horrible tragedies that are taking place. I heard of gang-raping of young women, I've heard of murders and tortures".
Mr Burton was also quoted as chiding the B.O. regime for failing to engage in the region.
"During the presidential campaign President B.O. pledged to appoint a special envoy on the region and declared that solving Kashmire crisis was one of his critical tasks. So far this has been a promise unfulfilled," Mr Burton said.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/22/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
Duh! Half a million Kashmiri Hindus are exiled from lands where they have lived for thousands of year. Who are their advocates.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Just as Senate Democrats were sitting down Thursday to a scheduled meeting with White House budget director Jacob J. Lew, rumors of a new debt-limit deal flashed across their BlackBerrys. One after another, they demanded that Lew explain what the president was doing.
In the House, rank-and-file Democrats said the situation had grown dire. "It would concern me greatly if these folks -- the tea party group -- have been able to convince the president to go along with a deal that basically gives them everything they want but yet still takes away from those who are our most vulnerable," said. Rep. Elijah E. Cummings.
Harry Reid
House Speaker John Boehner called President Obama Friday to inform him that he is pulling out of talks with him on raising the nation's legal limit to borrow money to avert a government default.
