A number of conservatives and conservative groups in Washington, D.C. are pushing yet another pledge. This one is to cut, cap, and balance. They want you to pledge to urge your Senator and Congressman to oppose any debt limit unless all three of the following conditions are met: (1) substantial cuts in spending; (2) enforceable spending caps; and (3) passage of the Lee-Cornyn-Hatch Balanced Budget | Read More »
Back on March 15th, I wrote a post pointing out what happens when Republicans get milquetoast — their polling goes down. If you will go back to March 15th, there was a poll out that said the GOP hadn’t been compromising enough. In fact, the poll said that “71% say the GOP is not willing enough to compromise with Obama on the deficit.” I noted | Read More »
It would be unfair to say that the Republican Presidential candidates have not weighed in on the debt ceiling. Most, if not all, have in passing mentioned the issue. But the time for mentioning the issue in passing is over. The Dow Industrials have fallen. The Fed wants to print more money. Obama is gutting NASA’s space mission to socialize healthcare and fund global warming | Read More »
Last night, Speaker John Boehner addressed the Economic Club of New York and drew a line in the sand in the debt ceiling fight. It was a monumental game changer for the GOP and puts them back on offense. Let me back up briefing and note that the Washington Post’s own left leaning editorial board came out swinging on Sunday against the Democrats’ opposition to | Read More »
Reporters, Democrats, and even some Republicans have begun repeating an infectious lie in the prelude to the debt ceiling debate. Secretary of Treasury Tim Geithner started it off and it has been repeated by reporters in print, on radio, and on television, including Fox News. The lie is very simple: a failure to raise the debt ceiling will cause a default on American debt. This | Read More »
There is a fascinating new poll out about the debt ceiling that Washington politicians should pay attention to. Just 27 percent of Americans support raising the debt limit, while 63 percent oppose raising it. Eighty-three percent of Republicans oppose raising the limit, along with 64 percent of independents and 48 percent of Democrats. Support for raising the debt limit is just 36 percent among Democrats, | Read More »
“If the Republican Party will not aggressively fight for real cuts and real reform in exchange for raising the debt ceiling, if at all, it very much will be time for a third party in this country.” It is worth noting that when Standard and Poor issued its warning about American debt it did not mention the debt ceiling debate. In fact, Barclay’s Bank specifically | Read More »
There is a quote out there that sometimes get attributed to Republican Senate Leader Everett Dirksen and sometimes not. The quote is that there two parties in Washington — the stupid party and the evil party. Every once in a while the stupid party and the evil party get together and do something that is both stupid and evil. In Washington, that is called bipartisanship. | Read More »
As I noted earlier, if we reach the debt ceiling, the United States does not automatically default on its loans. The issue, however, is priority of payment. We will bring in more each month in tax revenue to the U.S. Treasury than we will need to pay out to our lenders. It requires Tim Geithner (why is he still on the job anyway?) to prioritize | Read More »
Fox News has an article on its website about John Boehner’s remarks on raising the debt ceiling. But in this objective report there is a great and dangerous falsehood. The article, which has no author attached to it, reports In order for the debt ceiling to rise, Congress must approve taking on more debt, which currently is growing by more than $4 billion per day. | Read More »
“It is time we consider making the ‘Adult Establishment’ in Washington as morally objectionable as ‘adult establishments’ already are.” I realize we are not supposed to use “angry” rhetoric these days, but columns like this one in USA Today by Jody Bottum demand an answer. The title is, “Where are adults in debt ceiling talks?” If there is justice in the world, the only correct | Read More »
![[RS]](/t/img/logo-footer.jpg){kind=logo}