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2011-07-17 Economy
Congress Talking Grand Plan to Avoid Shutdown
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Posted by Bobby 2011-07-17 11:04|| || Front Page|| [1 views ]  Top

#1 If we jump off the cliff together a few of us will survive and become committee chairmen.


Posted by S 2011-07-17 11:44||   2011-07-17 11:44|| Front Page Top

#2 
Notice that there is not much discussion of taking all fiscal legislation and budgets through open committee processes (where the public can see them) as they should be.
Posted by tipover 2011-07-17 12:00||   2011-07-17 12:00|| Front Page Top

#3 We're screwed.
Posted by Abu Uluque 2011-07-17 12:09||   2011-07-17 12:09|| Front Page Top

#4 do a short deal, and make Obama and the Donks defend their craze for raising revenue taxes next year - right before the elections
Posted by Frank G 2011-07-17 12:16||   2011-07-17 12:16|| Front Page Top

#5 "Grand" plan my ass.

Which part of STOP SPENDING MONEY WE DON'T HAVE do they not understand? >:-(
Posted by Barbara 2011-07-17 12:24||   2011-07-17 12:24|| Front Page Top

#6 I hope they don't take Obama's word for anything. Guy's a proven liar and fraud.

Also I don't see any cuts in 'unearned' entitlements (welfare, medicaid, etc...) but I see a lot of raising of taxes.
Posted by CrazyFool 2011-07-17 12:48||   2011-07-17 12:48|| Front Page Top

#7 This is all WaPo noise, not signal.

And there are only two issues on the table. Bambi's recent expansion of the Federal government's expenditures and how much the Federal government has to pay for medical care in the last two years of life.

The voters will decide next November. If we;re lucky. Otherwise the markets will the following year. This is just election preparation.
Posted by Nimble Spemble 2011-07-17 13:04||   2011-07-17 13:04|| Front Page Top

#8 how much the Federal government has to pay for medical care in the last two years of life Medical care in the last X years of life is a fake issue. The last X time of one's life is only defined in retrospect. There are almost some exceptions to this. The real issue for the electorate and taxpayers is, how much money are they willing to cough up to pay for someone else's health care. There is no free lunch there. Much more could be done to cut costs, but the government seems bent on dumping unfunded obligations on the medical care system, e.g. EMTALA and FDA manipulating pricing of drugs.
The credit rating agency Standard & Poor's says Washington must agree to reduce the debt by $4 trillion over 10 years to avert a downgrade. More financial news BS. Let the Feds 'agree to reduce the debt by $4 trillion over 10 years' -- and then fail to deliver on its promise. This has happened before. Making promises past the next term of Congress is a way to deceive & pretend. Just cut federal spending drastically THIS YEAR.
-- One elephant in the room few attend to: cutting federal spending over the next 12 months will cause an IMMEDIATE drop in GDP and and rapid rise in unemployment as government workers are laid off. This will tend to unmask the depression we're in. Which party would get the blame for doing what is necessary, is the question.
Maybe it would be better to choose the shutdown rather than have it forced on us.
Posted by Anguper Hupomosing9418 2011-07-17 13:25||   2011-07-17 13:25|| Front Page Top

#9 18% is still too high.
Posted by Iblis 2011-07-17 14:58||   2011-07-17 14:58|| Front Page Top

#10 "Get your grubby government hands off my Medicare."
Posted by Perfesser 2011-07-17 15:11||   2011-07-17 15:11|| Front Page Top

#11 Standard & Poor's says Washington must agree to reduce the debt by $4 trillion over 10 years to avert a downgrade.

Meanwhile the federal debt increased by $3.3 trillion during 2009 and 2010. This year it's scheduled to do the same $1.6T. Take $400 billion off those numbers and America still free falls into national bankruptcy w/ even including nationalized health care or Medicare costs that increase 10+% per year.

The commission recommended saving $3.8 trillion by raising the retirement age for Social Security, slashing spending across government and wiping out more than $100 billion a year in popular tax breaks, including the tax deduction for mortgage interest and the tax-free treatment of employer-provided health insurance. It recommended larger Pentagon cuts and revenue increases than the White House sought this month.


I see lots of tax increases. Other than defense, where are the spending cuts? Isn't spending 26% of GDP enough for Washington pigs?
Posted by Eohippus Phater7165 2011-07-17 15:23||   2011-07-17 15:23|| Front Page Top

#12 The US govenrment has now become something I would rather NOT live with anymore. Let's keep the military and tell all the rest of them to FOAD.
Posted by newc 2011-07-17 15:50||   2011-07-17 15:50|| Front Page Top

#13 BTW, after all of Obama's drama about government shutdowns and grandma not getting a Social Security check, his final offer? "A grand total of $2 billion in real spending cuts in 2012".
Posted by Eohippus Phater7165 2011-07-17 16:25||   2011-07-17 16:25|| Front Page Top

#14 Obama is a Drama Queen! I remember when George H.W. Bush promised: "Read my lips. No new taxes." When he didn't do as he said, he was out of the WH. Somewhere since then the standards for truthfulness and honesty have declined.

The Cut, Cap, and Balance website: Cup, Cap & Balance

Cut, Cap, and Balance seems to be garnering support amongst the citizens. Congress is slow on it.

Another website with info: Government Spending
Posted by JohnQC 2011-07-17 18:20||   2011-07-17 18:20|| Front Page Top

#15 Standard & Poor's says Washington must agree to reduce the debt by $4 trillion over 10 years to avert a downgrade.


Sweet little game you got going there... and they pay you for the ratings.... be a damn shame if anything happened to your scam business.
Posted by S 2011-07-17 19:06||   2011-07-17 19:06|| Front Page Top

#16 Agree wid #5 Barbara.

The Congresscritters should try going on National TV to explain to Mom-N-Pop mainstream America whom balance family checkbooks, etc. every week or month how is it that They = America are not bankrupt when the $$$ revenue coming in, aka the US$14.3Trilyuhn GDP, is LESS than their Debt obligations, aka US$14.4 -14.8 Trilyuhn US Debt, AND THE ONLY PLAN WASHINGTON HAS IS TO "SPEND SPEND SPEND" WHILE CREATING NEW BUREACRATIC ENTITIES TO STUDY THE PROBLEM.

Its only a question of whether Washington will go for GREECE-STYLE 150% DEBT-TO-GDP BANKRUPTCY, VERSUS JAPAN-STYLE 226% DEBT-TO-GDP BANKRUPTCY, as of July 2011 - then again, there's the Cold War SOVIET-STYLE where we can pretend we don't see any debt + JUST "WRITE IT OFF" FROM THE BOOKS. NO DEBT ON PAPER = NO PROBLEM = GOOD FOR THE POLITBURO, PARTY + NEW INTERNATIONAL BORROWING/LENDING.

NO ONE GETS SENT TO THE GULAG = LABOR, RE-EDUCATION CAMP; OR [quietly]EXECUTED FOR IMPROPER BEHAVIOR CONTRARY OR HARMFUL TO PROPER SOCIALISM, THE STATE, OR THE PEOPLE.

Instead of Annual Govt. Budgets, Washington will argue over QUARTERLY + MONTHLY BUDGETS ala USSR.
Posted by JosephMendiola 2011-07-17 21:00||   2011-07-17 21:00|| Front Page Top

00:04 JosephMendiola
23:54 JosephMendiola
22:52 Dale
22:00 Pappy
21:57 Steve White
21:42 Rob Crawford
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21:22 Redneck Jim
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20:36 JosephMendiola
19:52 Thing From Snowy Mountain
19:31 Procopius2k
19:24 Shieldwolf
19:06 S
19:02 S
18:55 S
18:52 S
18:50 Deacon Blues
18:49 S
18:45 Frank G
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18:20 JohnQC









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