Republican Study Committee Chairman, Rep. Jim Jordan, made a good case last night for using the debt ceiling as leverage to reduce our spending. How else are we going to force something to be done?
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-SslJlI2iQ[/youtube]
We HAVE to use the leverage associated with this debt ceiling vote to put the country on a path that makes sense, one that’s actually sustainable, because the fiscal path we’re on will lead to a debt crisis. Now there’s virtually, Larry you know this, virtually consensus among economists, and you can never get economists to agree on anything, but they now virtually all agree that we’re going to have a debt crisis in two or three years if we don’t do the bold things that need to be done to put the country on a sustainable fiscal path.
His counterpart in the interview, Rep. Brad Sherman (D-CA), said the debt ceiling shouldn’t be held hostage. Of course in 2004 he had the exact opposite opinion:
Mr. SHERMAN. Mr. Speaker, I recognize that we need to raise the debt limit this week. I vote against S. 2986 not for the purpose of causing the United States to default, but rather for the purpose of forcing a serious debate on fiscal policy.
I am confident that if this motion were to be defeated, Congress would in effect go into emergency session to deal with the fiscal issues that are before us.
And sure enough, he voted against raising the debt ceiling.
What’s changed since then?
The debt back then was $7.4 trillion, it’s now almost double that at 14.3 trillion.
But we all know the real reason for this change of heart….the fact that a Democrat is in the Oval Office.
Partisan politics being played as we face a major crisis.
How long until we see this on our streets?
ATHENS, Greece (AP) – Hundreds of protesters clashed with riot police in central Athens Wednesday as a major anti-austerity rally degenerated into violence outside Parliament, where the struggling government was to seek support for new cutbacks to avoid a disastrous default.
Tear gas blanketed the capital’s main Syntagma Square, where more than 25,000 people had gathered to protest a new package of tax hikes and spending cuts through 2015.
…The protests are the epicenter of a crisis that could end in a disastrous default that would threaten the future of the eurozone and shake financial markets just as the global economy struggles to recover.
It’s only getting worse as housing continues its free fall:
It’s official: The housing crisis that began in 2006 and has recently entered a double dip is now worse than the Great Depression. Prices have fallen some 33 percent since the market began its collapse, greater than the 31 percent fall that began in the late 1920s and culminated in the early 1930s, according to Case-Shiller data.
…‘The sharp fall in house prices in the first quarter provided further confirmation that this housing crash has been larger and faster than the one during the Great Depression,’ Paul Dales, senior economist at Capital Economics in Toronto, wrote in research for clients. According to Case-Shiller, which provides the most closely followed housing industry data, prices dropped 1.9 percent in the first quarter, a move that the firm interpreted as a clear double dip in prices. Moreover, Dales said prices likely have not completed their downturn.
In the latest sign that the economic recovery may have lost whatever modest oomph it had, more small businesses say that they are planning to shrink their payrolls than say they want to expand them. That is according to a new report released Tuesday by the National Federation of Independent Business, a trade group that regularly surveys its membership of small businesses across America. The federation’s report for May showed the worst hiring prospects in eight months. The finding provides a glimpse into the pessimism of the nation’s small firms as they put together their budgets for the coming season, and depicts a more gloomy outlook than other recent (if equally lackluster) economic indicators because this one is forward-looking.
We know what must be done. But who will have the political courage and fortitude to slash our debt, big time?:
This relationship is especially threatening to the US economy because of the $4 trillion in government debt that was issued in the past 3 years. This $4 trillion only produced GDP of $1.5 trillion. This means that $1.00 in current borrowing only produced less than 50 cents in new economic activity. Even more seriously, it means that $1.00 in new borrowing only produced 8 cents in new federal tax revenues.
Enlightened Economics reckons we must reduce spending big-time– before we even think of increasing taxes. Or else we may face a depression. Very low interest rates for an extended period of time and very low economic activity, and much higher unemployment. “If asset prices , homes, commercial properties continue to decline, bank assets will take more huge hits and threaten the financial system,” says Robins.
A disaster scenario that must be avoided at all costs. All costs means paying the price of reducing the amount of debt outstanding. This is all debt–consumer, corporate and government. Household debt has been on the right track southward. Now, it is government’s turn. There is no other alternative.
And if this means holding the debt ceiling hostage, then so be it.
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For this plan to work, Republicans will have to do something they are hard-pressed to do: show some backbone!
They will need to stand firm and not back down.
Can they do it?
The key figure is Boehner, a squeesh. Please help primary this puink rino otta congress so he can work for the OHbama campaign of 2016.
The Republicans can’t show what they don’t have: Backbone.
They don’t even have the balls to destroy Obama over his ILLEGAL WAR in Libya. They could easily defund it, but no, they wish to “go to court and sue the Administration..”. BLAH, BLAH, BLAH.
Just more evidence that the Republicans are a “faux” opposition designed to give the impression that we have a two-party system.
Apparently Boehner is quite the golfer.
He is playing Obama this weekend.
Obama just played his 72nd round since becoming president.
So, Obama might have improved after all that practice.
Boehner was on the news saying Obama likes to be given strokes in golf competition.
Boehner said, I’ll give Obama all the strokes he wants in exchange for $1 TRILLION each.
Obama usually is competitive when he is spotter 17 free strokes!
they are starting to be afraid to get paid
CURT, hi, on what the GREECE problem, riots on the streets clashing at the police’s forces,
who are taking the rapt from their own citizens,
I find it not fair, realy concerning, and the rioters should have a second thought before attacking
the police forces who are there to prottect both sides,
BUT what is the most offending is that NOBODY from THE GOVERNMENT DARE TO COME OUT AND SPEAK, EVEN AS THEY ARE BEING PROTECTED BY THE POLICE’S FORCES,
this is a dangerous situation because in a crowd, there always are the extremist element,
BUT the LEADER by taking the position and accepting to do their jobs of serving their COUNTRY, should know that it is for better or for worse, and should have the courage to face the anger of the people with promisses to hear and fix what the people want, IT can’t happen by delegating their polices forces or the MEDIA to do their jobs which they swore to do when elected. and tell the crowd that IT’s not the UNION’S BULLY’S POWER that will protect this COUNTRY OR ANY OTHER FACING THE SAME PROBLEMS
BUT the right fair compromises from all the people. beginning with this
GOVERMENT
Looks like a Republican Senator blinked.
I saw Paul Ryan guest host for 2 hours on CNBC this AM and HE did NOT seem to think Republicans would do this, so I wonder if McConnell is simply flying a trial balloon to see if Republicans will buckle?