Doug Ross aptly points out how the hopelessly corrupt media does Obama’s bidding, points fingers only at the GOP for the potential government shutdown:
• The Washington Bezos-Post: “House pushes U.S. to the edge of a shutdown”
• CBS News-Rather: “Risking government shutdown, House GOP seeks Obamacare delay”
• NBC-Sharpton News: “Shutdown nears as House passes funding bill that delays Obamacare”
• MSNBC-Madcow News: “House Republicans embrace government-shutdown plan”
• Al Reuters: “U.S. Republicans reject Senate bid to avoid government shutdown”
• The New York Daily Bloomberg: “House Republicans Increase Likelihood of Government Shutdown”
There are all sorts of dire predictions about the fallout from a government shutdown. Harry Reid is “really frightened.” Nancy Pelosi calls Republicans “legislative arsonists.”
It wasn’t so long ago when similar scary predictions were made about the sequester and they didn’t exactly materialize.
Before “sequestration” took effect, the Obama administration issued specific — and alarming — predictions about what it would bring. There would be one-hour waits at airport security. Four-hour waits at border crossings. Prison guards would be furloughed for 12 days. FBI agents, up to 14.
At the Pentagon, the military health program would be unable to pay its bills for service members. The mayhem would extend even into the pantries of the neediest Americans: Around the country, 600,000 low-income women and children would be denied federal food aid.
But none of those things happened.
Sequestration did hit, on March 1. And since then, the $85 billion budget cut has caused real reductions in many federal programs that people depend on. But it has not produced what the Obama administration predicted: widespread breakdowns in crucial government services.
The Washington Post recently checked 48 of those dire predictions about sequestration’s impact. Just 11 have come true, and some effects are worse than forecast. But 24 predictions have not come to pass. In 13 cases, agencies said it is too soon to know.
It’s not as though these events are without precedent:
Let’s assume the continuing resolution fight plays out as expected and one is passed and there is no government shutdown and all the dire consequences predicted by Harry Reid and Dick Durbin fail to occur. At the very worst, there is a 1-2 day shutdown. The financial scare-mongering by those Democrats in Congress fails to note that since 1976 there have been 17 “government shutdowns” lasting a total of 110 days. The sky did not fall and the predicted hardships failed to materialize. At worst, they inflicted damage on the political party on whom the pundit class placed the blame. The next big fiscal fight will be over the debt limit ceiling which, according to Treasury Secretary Jack Lew, will be reached on or around October 17th. In all likelihood, we will hear Durbin and Reid yet again predict financial calamity should Congress not present Obama with what they call a “clean bill-” just raise the debt limit as requested and move on.
First, it needs to be mentioned that failure to increase the debt limit will not necessarily lead to a government shutdown. There are options the government can take of a short term nature. The federal government takes in about $175 billion in tax revenues a month. This revenue coupled with the selling of assets, like the gold in Fort Knox, would be enough to service the existing debt obligations as they come due. But eventually, this money would run out. After the debt obligations were satisfied, the remainder of the money, if any, would be used to fund government operations. More on this in a little bit…
The fear is that by not increasing the debt limit, it places the “full faith and credit” of the United States at serious risk. As long as the existing debt is being paid as it comes due, the full faith and credit of the United States is just fine. Compare this to the average consumer: as long as you pay your credit card and other bills on time, your credit is just fine. A credit rating agency does not decrease your rating because you make a decision not to take on any more debt than that which you currently have now. These assertions that because some credit rating agency downgraded the rating of the United States in 2011 as the primary danger is fool-hearty. Weren’t these the same credit rating agencies implicated in the great financial collapse of 2008-2009? Weren’t these the same credit rating agencies giving AAA ratings to dubious financial instruments at Bear-Stearns and the like? Their record in this area is suspect at best.
It is likely that what really frightens democrats is that one again America will yawn at the shutdown. Still, it is particularly galling that this hypocritical, disingenuous and obstreperous President will fall all over himself courting dictators while refusing to negotiate with the “extremists” in the opposition party in Congress who he claims want to “blow up” the economy.
Just listen to this self-righteous prevaricator with specific focus on the language Obama uses:
President Barack Obama said Friday that he will not negotiate over the debt ceiling with Republicans, whom Obama accused of wanting to negotiate “under the threat of blowing up the whole economy.”
Obama said failing to meet this responsibility would be far more dangerous than a government shutdown. He added, “We don’t fully understand what might happen, the dangers involved, because no Congress has actually threatened default.”
Obama did exactly this in 2006 when he voted against raising the debt ceiling.
Obama said a potential default would have a “dampening effect on the economy” and cause an economic shutdown. He mentioned that the dollar was the world’s reserve currency, and Republicans would risk throwing America back into a recession.
“That’s why you don’t fool with it,” Obama said.
But he did fool with it.
Obama also emphasized that he did not want to set a precedent for future presidents of playing games with the debt ceiling.
“Nobody gets to threaten the full faith and credit of the United States just to extract political concessions,” Obama said, reiterating that he will not negotiate with Tea Party extremists in Congress who are engaging in political grandstanding and threatening to “burn the house down.”
But he did just that.
This is same phony who voted against raising the debt ceiling in 2006. This is the same pompous fool who played games with the debt ceiling. This is the same preening twit who reveled in grandstanding back then.
Obama also sent out his boy toy Dan Pfeiffer to stir up the pot:
“What we’re not for is negotiating with people with a bomb strapped to their chest,”
Obama likens his opposition to bombers, hostage takes, extremists who want to burn the house down, blow up the country and hurt Americans for doing exactly the same thing he did. It is absolutely disgraceful that a President would ever stoop this low. Obama is essentially calling for violence. What if his idiot sycophants believe his words and decide to save the country and take matters into their owns and murder conservatives and GOP members of Congress? People like that should die, right?
It’s obaminable.
The GOP should be prepared for violence, stand its ground, just let Obama shut the government down and then sit back and wait for the reactions. Obamacare isn’t ready, not by a long shot. Deferring it for a year is a really good idea. Default must be a good idea if Obama did voted for it.
That’s what liberals really fear.
The first one who says “symbolic” loses.
DrJohn has been a health care professional for more than 30 years. In addition to clinical practice he has done extensive research and has published widely with over 70 original articles and abstracts in the peer-reviewed literature. DrJohn is well known in his field and has lectured on every continent except for Antarctica. He has been married to the same wonderful lady for over 30 years and has three kids- two sons, both of whom are attorneys and one daughter on her way into the field of education.
DrJohn was brought up with the concept that one can do well if one is prepared to work hard but nothing in life is guaranteed.
Except for liberals being foolish.