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Subscribe to RSSMaking yet another statement in the ongoing -- and constantly evolving -- debt debate, President Obama today once again called for compromise, noting that Democrats and Republicans aren't that far apart in their negotiations.
"There are plenty of ways out of this mess, but we are almost out of time."
Speaking from the White House, Obama said any final solution must be bipartisan, and have support from both parties -- "not just one faction." He listed two approaches that achieve this: Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's debt plan (which would cut more than $2 trillion in spending and raise the debt limit, and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell's plan (which would essentially give Obama the power of raising the debt ceiling).
"There are a lot of crises in the world that we can't always predict or avoid," he said, referring to natural disasters like hurricanes and tornadoes. "This isn't one of those crises."
Obama also said that he'd support some "enforcement mechanism" that triggers a second round of cuts and deficit reduction through entitlement and tax reform. What this trigger would be is currently one of the final sticking points between Democrats and Republicans.
But he repeated that House Speaker John Boehner's legislation -- which is being revised to get the GOP votes to pass it through the House -- "has no chance of becoming law," given the Senate opposition to it.
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The Repubs like Cut,Cap & Balance. The Dems/Libs like GUT (the Treasury), TAP ( the taxpayer) , & CHALLENGE ( the Capitalist System). TAX PAYER = TEA PARTY.
It is the heroic Tea Party that has brought the spending crisis to light. Without their efforts, Congress would have just passed another huge Debt Ceiling increase, and Americans would never have noticed.
Never have so many owed so much gratitude to so few. Thank God for the Tea Party.
Oh, please, I've never seen such incompetence in my life.
Why is it always a "spending crisis"? What about the other side of the equation -- increasing federal revenue to pay for the spending?
The TP seems to have defined or relabeled many of the terms we're using in this debate.
I loved it when "the rich" became "the job creators."
It's like changing "the estate tax" to "the death tax", as if it were the deceased who was being taxed instead of his heirs, who may or may not have done anything to earn money except through being lucky enough to have been born in the right place.
Hey Robert Maxwell, How about the game of wasteful spending? Read the Gang of 6's proposal and the waste in gov. that they found. Why, they can cut the waste and not harm any existing programs. Now what is wrong with this proposal big guy?
Or, are you content with having your tax dollars wasted by the professional politicians who don't have a clue as to how much waste is really in gov?
Get a life Robert, wake up, and get involved.
What's "waste" and how much will you cut and from what programs? Would they include NPR, EPA, PBS, the National Endowment for the Arts, welfare cheats, SEIU activists, and all that foreign aid we're giving away?
The major items that make up the majority of the federal budget are Social Security payments (already paid for by beneficiaries), Medicare (ditto), and Defense.
Well Robert, there is waste in the medicare meds program, with higher costs than necessary. The VA purchases similar meds at a fraction of the cost that medicare pays. By reinventing the government med purchase program, waste from it can be realized.
Now how about cracking down on welfare fraud? Granted, it is a necessary program for immediate need for many people, however there is also considerable fraud that should be identified and managed.
Now how about a change in the tax code, forcing people to pay their fair share, and have corporations also contribute? Wouldn't you like to see Barry O's buddy company GE pay taxes on the billions they make?
And yes, does NPR, PBS and the Arts really need our funding? If they used it for other than polictical policy prompting, I could get aboard. But when several of these groups insist they don't require funding, then let then stand on their own.
The SEIU should be investigated to see how they may be underfunding their members pension benefits with their continued political contributions. Throw in all of the labor unions to see just which group is going to go under next. Not a problem with it.
As for Social Security, when is the government who robbed the fund blind going to repay those dollars? Shouldn't those people who contributed be outraged more than they are? This Ponzi scheme beats anything on the face of the financial arena as the most corrupt, government approved issue that has happend.
As for Defense, I am in favor of a strong military, however, the waste in this sector is amazing. Our gov pays funds to contractors who still own outstanding tax debts. Yep, your stimulus dollars went to many in this position.
Time to revamp the manner in which government is controlled, and by whom. Remove those dysfunctional professional politicians from DC, replacing them with new blood working for the masses.
CitiBank calling this insanity! World Bank chief commenting! Now that's news of interest! A representative of the World commenting! What should have been a "Congressional Housekeeping" Debt increase has turned into a "partisan three-ring circus" directly effecting the credit rating of the federal government. Where are US banks and who are they working with to fix this problem? Where do Realtors stand on this? Does anyone really care?
Reagan said:
"Unfortunately, Congress consistently brings the government to the edge of default before facing its responsibility. This brinkmanship threatens the holders of government bonds and those who rely on Social Security and veterans benefits. Interest markets would skyrocket. Instability would occur in financial markets and the federal deficit would soar.
"The United States has a special responsibility to itself and the world to meet its obligations. It means we have a well-earned reputation for reliability and credibility -- two things that set us apart in much of the world."
TEA party elite trashing America because God told them to!
(...shaking head...) How many times does President Obama have to re-learn the same lesson...that he is not dealing with a Loyal Opposition which has the nation's best interests in mind. He is dealing with a Machiavellian adversarial party whose one- and only aim is to see that he does not get a second term in The White House. I know that Obama is talking compromise because he believes it will endear him to the elusive `Independent Voter' - but by endlessly seeking compromise, he only appears weak to two even larger constituencies...his base - which will become increasingly disillusioned with him, and his enemies - which will only be further emboldened by his seeming weakness.
The "Disloyal Opposition" doesn't care how much damage they cause to the nation or the body politic - or the world economy - in order to achieve that goal...because the voter base they actually serve (comprised of the Upper- and Upper-upper classes of the economy) have the financial where-with-all to weather (if not outright profit from) another couple years of economic turmoil.
As for the "useful idiots" in the Tea Party, if this faux-crisis triggers all cuts / no revenue increases and a national "Balanced Budget Amendment" they will be used- and discarded into the swelling lower-class, where they will be left to battle for ever-shrinking crusts of bread, and will pretend (like the magical, disappearing George W. Bush voters at the end of his reign) that THEY NEVER believed that tax cuts for the wealthy = job creation for the middle class.
But it will be too late for them, and too late for the smarter voters whose fates they helped seal.
Al Qaeda's strategy:
- Cripple us financially - Attack the WTF
- Cripple us militarily - Attack the pentagon
- Impoverishing the middle class and causing fear and dissention.
By doing both, they would cause chaos amongst and dissention that always comes with mass poverty and fear and keeps the REPUBS so focused on revenge that they don't pay attention to our ecomony for 8 years.
Tea Party & Norquists ATR Pledgers Strategy:
- Crippling our country financially by not increasing taxes and raising the debt ceiling so our credit rating goes into the toilet
- Significantly Decreasing military spending
- Impoverishing the middle class and causing fear and dissention.
OK, so ironically we've spent over a decade fighting foreign terrorists, borrowing billions and doubling our national deficit only to have Tea Partiers and the Senators & Reps that Signed the ATR Pledge (our home grown terrorists) try to finish the job for Al Qaeda.
BOTH AL QAEDA AND TEA PARTY HAVE THE SAME STRATEGY AND BOTH GROUPS ARE FANATICAL TERRORISTS. That's why rationally reasoning or compromising with the HOUSE is impossible, they believe in the cause so strongly they'll blow themselves up along with the rest of us by destroying our country, just like foreign terrorists. I'm sure we can find space for 85 more prisoners at Gitmo. And an added benefit is they don't get public interviews so we'll never have these psychopaths spew their sick Anti American psycho babble again.
It is well recognized that the Social Security Trust Find (SSFD) belongs to present and future recipients, paid for by the working people of the country through payroll deductions. The fund is supposed to have accumulated trillions of dollars and the receipts has consistently been more than the social security payments. It has nothing to do with the operating budget of US Government. Why is their the question of current recipients not getting their checks if the US Govt. defaults by virtue of not raising the debt ceiling? It appears that the Govt. has been raiding this fund to pay for their other commitments. This is outright wrong. During Bush-II's reign from 2001 to 2008, were not the huge tax breaks to the rich and powerful given by the Republicans, as well as two wars (Afghan and Iraq) started by them were also largely funded by raiding the SSFD? Even then Bush left the economy of the country in shambles when he left the office. Now the Republicans are taking the holier than thou posture against the opposition, not for the sake of the country and its people, but purely for political gains, hoodwinking the common man.
It appears that the Republican members of US Congress are always looking for ways to somehow lay their hands on SST funds for the benefit of their real clients and paymasters (the rich and the powerful). They do not care that this fund is the safety net for the people of this country after retirement and is not part of the budget of the US Govt. It is time for the US Govt. to return all the money taken from SSIF while paying almost zero interest. I wish that there will be a law forbidding any administration to access this money without a referendum with our citizens.
It is time to think for the citizenry to take matters in their own hands by throwing away in 1912 elections those members of US Congress who are acting against the interests of common man. Let's make the message loud and clear.