You know Obama’s doublespeak is getting pretty damn bad when a lib like Jon Stewart calls him on it:
On the heels of this “spending reduction in the tax code” baloney the Standard & Poor credit agency has officially downgraded the outlook for the debt in the United States:
Standard & Poor’s on Monday downgraded the outlook for the United States to negative, saying it believes there’s a risk U.S. policymakers may not reach agreement on how to address the country’s long-term fiscal pressures.
“Because the U.S. has, relative to its ‘AAA’ peers, what we consider to be very large budget deficits and rising government indebtedness and the path to addressing these is not clear to us, we have revised our outlook on the long-term rating to negative from stable,” the agency said in a statement.
In an interview with CNBC, David Beers, S&P’s global head of sovereign ratings, said the agency has been “struck increasingly by the difference in how other governments are dealing with fiscal consolidation.”
“The U.S. to us looks to be an increasing outlier in that context,” Beers added.
As Kevin Williamson writes, this downgrade isn’t the opening act of our downfall….it’s the fat lady singing: (h/t Nan)
As one investment strategist put it to me this morning: We’ve been watching this train go by for a while now, and this is the caboose.
…A little over a year ago, the markets already were telling us that the government’s story about how it is finally going to fix its finances is pure fiction. Yields on U.S. Treasury bonds went higher than those on a number of blue-chip corporate bonds, leading your obedient servant to remark:
Who has better credit than Uncle Sam? If you ask the bond market, that elite list includes Berkshire Hathaway, Procter & Gamble, Lowe’s, Johnson & Johnson, and a host of other blue-chip corporate borrowers. The U.S. government has the ability to levy taxes on the largest national economy in the world, a vast and fearsome revenue-collection apparatus, and more than two centuries of constitutional government under its belt. P&G has Tampax.
As in the case of Enron, the smart money gets gone long before credit downgrades start hitting the headlines. As noted in this column, PIMCO, the world’s largest bond fund, got clear of U.S. Treasuries some time ago, following the lead of a number of hedge funds. The oil-exporting countries are dumping U.S. debt, too. Perhaps they know something we don’t?
Actually, they know something we do: Nothing about this is a secret. In the phrase adopted by Rep. Paul Ryan, what is coming is the most predictable economic crisis in our history: a nominal national debt of more than $14 trillion, a real national debt ten times that, and Barack Obama standing between the reformers and the needed reforms with a veto pen and excellent chances of being reelected in 2012. This isn’t sophisticated macroeconomic analysis; this is that anvil falling out of the sky onto the head of Wyle E. Coyote, and you don’t have to be a super-genius to figure out that it’s going to hurt like hell when it hits him. Even S&P gets that.
what is coming is the most predictable economic crisis in our history
And what is our President doing about it?
Spending some more, taxing some more, and oh….push green energy.
Just amazing. He’s pushing green energy while leaving a moratorium on drilling in place. Which just means higher energy costs for all while we become more beholden to OPEC:
At current prices of $108 per barrel, Americans this year will pay over $800 billion for oil, an amount equal to 33 percent of all federal tax revenues, with two thirds of the take going to fill the coffers of foreign regimes. If current trends continue, there is every prospect that oil prices will more than triple by Obama’s 2025 target date, leaving us paying more for oil than we pay to the federal government.
In other words, the Obama plan is a strategy whose stated goal entails the total defeat of the United States in the energy war.
…This wrecking operation on our economy is being perpetuated by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), a cartel of tyrannies and kleptocracies largely hostile or indifferent to the prosperity of the industrialized West. This cartel, which controls 80 percent of the world’s commercially viable oil reserves, is currently limiting its production to 1973 levels — despite a doubling of the size of the world economy in the nearly four decades since. As a result, we and our allies are having our economies looted as oil prices go through the roof, with even worse consequences falling upon the world’s poorest. An oil impost that causes depression in the advanced world can cause starvation in the Third World.
Stealth tax hikes, no cuts in spending, no more drilling for oil, higher energy costs, higher costs for staples because of those higher energy costs…add these kinds of things together and you have to come to the conclusion that the man isn’t serious about fixing anything.
He’s serious about getting re-elected.
See author page
Stunning isn’t it?
I often wonder if Obama has any input or even reads what he is going to say (read) ‘prior’ to actually reading it off his teleprompter… because whomever is writing this stuff makes him look like a real baffoon… I cannot even begin to count the times ‘some writer’ has screwed up on, dates, times, people, situtations, contradictions, more contradictions, misquotes, doublespeak, plain old stupid things… the list goes on and on…YouTube is filled with them…
My fave? “Hope and Change” & “Win the future” (WTF) Statements which are – So Vague, So Ambiguous…
And the sad part is, he is just given a Pass…People Believe in something that’s really nothing … just words…just words……
Obama is a shit talker
http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/feds-plan-284-billion-loan-oil-refinery
Only the refinery is not in the US…
“We’re Not Broke”
Went to see “Atlas Shrugged”, Vol. 1, last night. It was “GREAT”.
I hope BO and the Liberal politicians encounter the rath of JG soon!!!!
Waxman is a little rat….not only does he look like one….people at dog shows are said to ‘look’ like their dogs….well….there it is…
With S&P’s downgrade of the US’s credit worthiness and China’s increasing economic progress (nationally and internationally,) can there be much doubt that the dollar is on the very cusp of being replaced (perhaps by the yuan) as the default international currency? If our politicians do not act responsibly (and I doubt they will,) our economy is going to enter a very nasty period VERY soon. I fear the world will not wait for 2012 – or later – for us to get our house in order. Will Obama and the MSM pin this on Bush as well?
Jeff
I think I need Waxman to talk to my banker. That way I can “raise my debt ceiling” in order to invest in my future.
@JVerive:
From what I have been reading, the Chinese are headed for a bad fall-starting with real estate and banking. There seem to be a LOT of bad loans in China. It will be interesting to watch how they handle their coming recession.
Some Political Bizarre artist seems to have gotten his or her wires crossed. Since the War of 1812, the image of Uncle Sam has always been the visual personification of the United States Federal Government.
That being the case, it isn’t Obama who’s trying to take an ax to Uncle Sam. It’s the GOP. Cutting Uncle Sam down to size is one of their openly stated objectives.
Maybe the cartoon headsman should be an angry cartoon elephant, possibly wearing a tricorne hat.
Keep dreaming. With the passed Healthcare law, the forceful encouragement of Net Neturality, tollerating the EPA to mandate regulations based upon laws never passed in Senate or House, and ignoring Federal Judicial rulings… yeah… Obama is taking an Axe to Uncle Sam. The only axe the GOP has is one the size of my fingernail clippers and that party is trying to swing at the credit cards that the Democrats for the last 40 years have overcharged. What part of 14.1 Trillion in debt do you not understand? What part of Democrats being in posession of majority of power in Congress for over 80 years have you not understand? What part of it is hard for you to understand that the bulk of the problems you blame the GOP for falls neatly at the Democrat’s feet? Oh I guess you still haven’t figured out you’ve been hoodwinked and tied to strings like a good little puppet who doesn’t know history. The Democrats have never stopped waging their war after losing the physical battles from 1865 against the Republicans and your langauge is further proof of the lines being redrawn and priming citizens for civil war.
@Greg:
No small wonder you don’t get it, Greg. Uncle Sam, in the cartoon, represents the American public. Obama, as the headsman, is discussing the affectation of only 5% of the employed being affected by his ‘plans’. The fact that Obama is going for the head, which controls the rest of the body, and allows the rest of the body to live, should not be missed. It is an analogy, Greg, and a pretty effective one as well, as long as one isn’t blinded by ignorance.
When the substantive facts form as strong an argument as they do….that Obama is aiming to destroy this country’s economy…..what do apologists for Obama do?
Try to find fault with some nit-pick-y detail illustrating the issue.
Obama is working hard to make the majority of Americans dependent so as to take them into bondage.
There seems to be some confusion between Columbia, the traditional personification of the nation, and Uncle Sam, the traditional personification of the U.S. Government. Uncle Sam is the one with the beard.
It’s sad that one of our great national symbols has apparently gotten lost.
@Greg:
Nan G says: 13
When the substantive facts form as strong an argument as they do….that Obama is aiming to destroy this country’s economy…..what do apologists for Obama do?
Try to find fault with some nit-pick-y detail illustrating the issue……….
@Nan G, #15:
I think there’s at least as much substantive evidence that the GOP is being used as an instrument by forces intent on destroying the nation’s economy and social order. Those forces will be the least hurt in the process–witness the fact that they have been doing exceedingly well over the past three years in spite of everything–and will be in the best position afterward to quickly pick up and pocket the pieces. One might postulate that wrecking the economy for everyone else is part of their strategy for taking Obama down–along with everything else that has stood in the way of owning America lock, stock, and barrel.
@Greg:
Greg, you claimed ”I think there’s at least as much substantive evidence that ….” but then you provided ZERO evidence of your assertion.
Zero is a whole lot less than a substantive amount, Greg.
I disagree with your un-backed up assertion, Greg.
While you might think people,”going Galt” means they only desire to ”take down Obama,” the truth is there really is such a thing as enlightened self-interest.
There is so much uncertainty in what Obama keeps throwing out there (incentives to buy a car one month, a home the next and a weak, temporary incentive to employ more workers another, for examples) that it only makes good sense to sit on the sidelines and wait til he’s gone.
I think there might be a difference between Alexis de Tocqueville’s elightened self-interest and Ayn Rand’s rational selfishness.
“spending reduction in the tax code” Which ever staffer was delegated to write that piece of garbage speech, must own a crystal ball, a ouija board and doesn’t leave the house without checking the zodiac first. What fantasy planet do these jackasses live on? Not a one of the idiots in “his administration” has a clue how to operate a Kool-Aid stand, but they keep trying to get you to drink it anyway. I’d laugh, but I’m way to busy crying. Either, Obama is the biggest bumbling idiot ever to hold the White House, or he is deliberately trying to cause the demise of this, once great country. The more I see, the more I’m starting to think it’s the latter. Can’t we send him to Hawaii, to golf for the next year and a half. Someplace that they don’t have any pens, for fear of signing any more legislation, or signing statements for that matter.
Obama’s campaign 2012 platform: Raise taxes, spend LOTS of borrowed money and weaken the military as much as possible. Divide the country MORE. Insist that kids eat only celery and carrot sticks. And make sure my, ax handle wide, assed wife has plenty of lobster and ribs, along with unlimited vacations. Vote For Me to Win the Future. Mine, NOT yours!
In 2008 Obama told ABC’s Charlie Gibson that he wanted to raise capital gains rates even if the government got less revenue because of “fairness.”
The chart with this article shows who Obama’s REAL target is.
It is the MIDDLE CLASS.
That’s where the taxable income is.
See for yourself.
It is politically risky so Obama’s game has always been to pretend not to increase taxes for middle class voters while looking for sneaky ways to do it.
First he tried a sneaky “climate revenues” section from the indirect carbon tax of cap and trade, which of course would be passed down to all consumers.
Remember?
He also used fronts (like Pelosi) to politik for the VAT, which has the virtue of applying to every level of production or service and therefore is largely hidden from the people who pay it.
But those two ideas failed politically, so now Obama is turning to limiting tax deductions and other “loopholes,” such as for mortgage interest payments.
Rep. Ryan supports these, too, but in return for lower tax rates.
Obama just wants the extra money.
Obama refers to it reducing the deficit but in practice will merely enable more of his crazy spending.
Remember, too, most expensive tax deductions, in terms of lost tax revenue, go mainly to the middle class.
These include:
deductions for state and local tax payments (especially property taxes),
mortgage interest,
employer-sponsored health insurance,
401(k) contributions and
charitable donations.
Obama will say he only wants the rich to pay a little bit more, but Obama’s proposals would make the tax code less progressive than it is today.
Less progressive.
Get it?
@Greg:
I believe that you are completely in the dark about Ayn Rand’s philosophies, much as you are about what a true ‘free market’ is, and what it is not. I would agree that there is some amount of corporate control that is damaging to the economy, however, it isn’t any different than a complete governmental control of the economy, which is where the liberals wish to take us. In the case of the corporate control, they merely wish to use legislation, so as to obtain unearned benefits from the people, to further their own power in industry. In the case of governmental control, the same mechanism is used, to achieve the same goal of unearned benefits, divvied out to those entities in their favor.
Both require legislating control over man’s industry, to maintain, or strengthen, power. True conservatives dislike both of those situations, yet you continue to assume that we are in favor of corporate controls. You couldn’t be more wrong. True conservatives stand by principles that Ms. Rand espoused, that a man’s industry is of his own making, to never accept unearned benefits, and never to force one’s will upon others. That all men are free to choose their own prosperity, or destruction, based on their own ability.
You would have the world believe that the choice is between government, or corporation, to control people, and place them within servitude to either. While some Republicans, and some Democrats, support such corporate controls, conservatives do not. Do not make the mistake that conservatives equals Republicans. We do have a third choice, though. The people themselves, in control of their own lives, their own pursuits, without governmental, or corporate influences, affecting their industry.
This is why you misunderstand the writings of Ms. Rand. You believe there are only two choices. Imagine, though, man living for himself, and his own industry, within his own ability, never forcing his will upon another, accepting no unearned benefits, taking only what he, himself, has earned, trading upon his own industry, with others and their industry, to live as he will.
@johngalt:
Good comment, JohnG.
I was thinking that Greg was – perhaps unknowingly – adopting Obama’s favorite flaw of logic; the straw man fallacy.
After all, there is NO ONE arguning for completely corporate or government control in the USA!
It is a false dilemma.
Obama loves to rise up one side of a false dilemma then knock it down with something somewhere in an imaginary middle.
Greg set up the two opposing sides of a false dilemma and then tried to knock them both for being imperfect.
As they should be, but, does he realize that they are both imaginary positions?
No one holds to either of them!
Well, looky here!
Even though the White House has publicly downplayed the credit warning issued Monday from a leading agency, Obama administration officials were privately trying in recent weeks to convince Standard & Poor’s not to lower its outlook for U.S. debt from “stable” to “negative.”
But S & P ignored the pressure and told administration officials late Friday that the U.S. government was at risk of losing its sterling credit rating.
MORE
See also.
@johngalt, #21:
That’s a very clear description of the peril that I believe the people of America are facing at the moment. Two opposing traps, set on either side of a narrow path that runs between them…
@Greg:
“Two opposing traps, set on either side of a narrow path that runs between them… ”
No, Greg, that isn’t it.
There is the specter of corporate control over government, and by extension, the people, where corporations influence the government, to unfairly, or artificially, tilt the playing field in their direction, to their benefit.
Then there is the specter of government control over corporations, and by extension, the people(workers), where government enacts legislation that unfairly, and artificially, tilts the playing field in the direction of those in government’s favor, to their benefit.
They are not two ends of a spectrum, Greg, just different means to achieve the same shade of light from the spectrum. Neither one of those is consistent with Ms. Rand’s philosophy. Neither one allows a man to stand on his own merits, in competition with others standing on their own merits. Neither one follows a true ‘free market’ doctrine.
What I’m talking about is government, whether influenced by corporate interests, or socially liberal interests, getting out of the way of competition, and not acting as a rules maker, changing the rules within the process of the game, but merely an impartial judge, ensuring no man’s industry encroaches on another’s freedom, that a man’s business interests are fair and just, where there is no unearned benefits, there is no intrusive regulation stifling competition, where the limiting factors deciding how how a man can climb are only his own ability, and his own drive to succeed.
This may just be the root of your problem, concerning your misunderstanding of what a true conservative’s principles really are. I don’t know where you learned that fallacy, that there is either government control, or corporate control, or somewhere in-between, but you may want to reread some of the founding father’s writings on freedom and liberty. You might just find that what you believe is pure rubbish.
@johngalt:
I think Greg’s problem is that the issue is not best described as one of a tiny path with steep cliffs to destruction on either side.
The better illustration is the way a sailboat captain has to TACK from one direction to another, neither one being the direction he wants to go.
But that’s the way it works when you rely on wind power.
@Nan G:
I don’t consider either Corporate, or governmental, control of the people to be all that different, really. Being that that is the case, his thin line between them is nothing more than either side of a path leading off the cliff.
I suggest a different approach, and one that leads to true prosperity. Freedom from both. If government acted, like the founding father’s ideally suggested, that they are simply an impartial arbitrator between two competing interests, with decisions on legislation, or execution of laws, or judgment, that allows for man’s industry, whatever it might be, as long as his actions do not encroach on another’s rights. This allows for the only obstacles to a man’s success are limitations of his ability or desire, nature, and fair competition amongst his peers.
We do not have this now, either with Dems in power, using socialist arguments to allow government to intrude upon business, or with Republicans in power, allowing corporations to force government to intrude upon business. Either one is a loser, with government control over private industry increasing, leading to something other than the purity of man’s industry determining the winner. Both are unfair, and lead to loss of freedom and liberty.