The utter stupidity in Republicans holding the country hostage over the debt-limit

[SiriusDawg]

It is striking to what degree the Washington establishment has come to normalize Republican hostage-taking of the debt limit, to see it as a predictable and almost natural element of the political landscape. Greg Sargent argues convincingly why this is a problem, noting that the debt ceiling must be raised to pay for past spending, and should not be used as a chip in negotiating future budgets: “In the current context, conservatives and Republicans who hold out against a debt limit hike are, in practical terms, only threatening the full faith and credit of the United States — and threatening to damage the economy — in order to get what they want. Any accounts that don’t convey this with total clarity — and convey the sense that this is a normal negotiation — are essentially misleading people. It’s that simple.”

Link

[shitcunt]

I wonder if Obama ever voted against raising the debt ceiling

[JDs tees]

I'm a tax and spend liberal, but now that we've decided revenues are out of the equation, we do have to cut shit. Like Norquist says, serious dems are not happy with this.

[shitcunt]

I'm a tax and spend liberal, but now that we've decided revenues are out of the equation, we do have to cut shit. Like Norquist says, serious dems are not happy with this.

Liberals are looking for any way around the debt ceiling debate so they don't have to bargain with spending cuts.

[BudBudha]

[zhukov]

don't pass spending bills that exceed the cap and then act all butthurt when the debt ceiling needs to be raised

jeez these elected people suck balls

[shitcunt]

don't pass spending bills that exceed the cap and then act all butthurt when the debt ceiling needs to be raised

jeez these elected people suck balls

These debt ceiling debates are the only time politicians must own up to the spending.

[racerx]

Liberals are looking for any way around the debt ceiling debate so they don't have to bargain with spending cuts.

this has nothing to do with liberalism or conservatism.
if anything, keeping a promise to pay past spending bills, is a conservative principle.
if romney had won, the dems would be ones against it, and the reps would be saying they aren't patriots for trying to ruin our credit rating.
i even recall bam arguing against raising it when bush was president. did you call the reps liberals then for ignoring bam lame political play?
politicians gain from playing politics, but what do you gain from it.

bam definitely doesn't want spending cuts, but neither do most reps
sure they say they do, but it's a secret what they want to cut

[shitcunt]

this has nothing to do with liberalism or conservatism.
if anything, keeping a promise to pay past spending bills, is a conservative principle.
if romney had won, the dems would be ones against it, and the reps would be saying they aren't patriots for trying to ruin our credit rating.
i even recall bam arguing against raising it when bush was president. did you call the reps liberals then for ignoring bam lame political play?
politicians gain from playing politics, but what do you gain from it.

bam definitely doesn't want spending cuts, but neither do most reps
sure they say they do, but it's a secret what they want to cut

We kinda just have to take your word for it that deep down inside republicans do not want spending cuts. The thing is, I don't care what is deep down inside them. I care what they do. They say they want spending cuts and entitlement reform. I applaud that even if some anonymous internet person tells me that deep down they really don't want to make cuts.

[1Vegasgirl]

I wonder if Obama ever voted against raising the debt ceiling

You must be kidding. It is one of his famous speeches in 2006 against Bush. Now it is hilarious.

[MatthewT]

anybody get that obama is bankrupting america on purpose yet? no?

[JDs tees]

anybody get that obama is bankrupting america on purpose yet? no?

Were any other presidents purposely trying to bankrupt America?

[RiotGrip]

We kinda just have to take your word for it that deep down inside republicans do not want spending cuts. The thing is, I don't care what is deep down inside them. I care what they do. They say they want spending cuts and entitlement reform. I applaud that even if some anonymous internet person tells me that deep down they really don't want to make cuts.

I think we can look at years 2000 to 2006 when republicans controlled the whitehouse, the house of representatives, and the senate (almost the whole time), and I don't recall very much debate on spending cuts--in fact no serious entitlement reform was proposed. In 2003 we even added to entitlements with a medicare prescription plan. I do remember the phrase "deficits don't matter" thrown around plenty in 2004.

The reality is that the majority of republican politicians only care about the debt and deficit when a democrat is president, and the same goes for democrats when a republican is president. Bush told us that we could have the best of everything in this country and no one would ever have to pay more for it, Obama has said the exact same thing only that the top 2% of people should pay a little more.

[shitcunt]

I think we can look at years 2000 to 2006 when republicans controlled the whitehouse, the house of representatives, and the senate (almost the whole time), and I don't recall very much debate on spending cuts--in fact no serious entitlement reform was proposed. In 2003 we even added to entitlements with a medicare prescription plan. I do remember the phrase "deficits don't matter" thrown around plenty in 2004.

The reality is that the majority of republican politicians only care about the debt and deficit when a democrat is president, and the same goes for democrats when a republican is president. Bush told us that we could have the best of everything in this country and no one would ever have to pay more for it, Obama has said the exact same thing only that the top 2% of people should pay a little more.

Bush was a major disappointment in this regard, no doubt. He did want to do something with Social Security. Privatize part of it or something. Did the republicans stop him from doing this? Did he just not try hard enough? He definitely waited too long but he did have some other things going on.

Sad that you are defending the vortex. You will only embolden it.

[I invented that]

I think we can look at years 2000 to 2006 when republicans controlled the whitehouse, the house of representatives, and the senate (almost the whole time), and I don't recall very much debate on spending cuts--in fact no serious entitlement reform was proposed. In 2003 we even added to entitlements with a medicare prescription plan. I do remember the phrase "deficits don't matter" thrown around plenty in 2004.

The reality is that the majority of republican politicians only care about the debt and deficit when a democrat is president, and the same goes for democrats when a republican is president. Bush told us that we could have the best of everything in this country and no one would ever have to pay more for it, Obama has said the exact same thing only that the top 2% of people should pay a little more.

does the debt matter or not? if it does, why aren't the politicians being held accountable? if it doesn't, why the brouhaha?

[HeinousMark]

this has nothing to do with liberalism or conservatism.
if anything, keeping a promise to pay past spending bills, is a conservative principle.
if romney had won, the dems would be ones against it, and the reps would be saying they aren't patriots for trying to ruin our credit rating.
i even recall bam arguing against raising it when bush was president. did you call the reps liberals then for ignoring bam lame political play?
politicians gain from playing politics, but what do you gain from it.

bam definitely doesn't want spending cuts, but neither do most reps
sure they say they do, but it's a secret what they want to cut

No, it's really not. Anything that helps poor people, anything that elevates us as a society/culture (Arts, Humanities, etc.), anything that the Religious Right is against, anything that might return prosperity and opportunity to the huddled masses, rather than the Elite 2%, etc. ...... I'm sure there is more but it's pretty well known what they want to eliminate.

anybody get that obama is bankrupting america on purpose yet? no?

No. Nobody with more than two brain cells to rub together "gets" that "yet"....

Were any other presidents purposely trying to bankrupt America?

I'm doubtful that any were "purposely trying to bankrupt America", but I believe that the right wing is at least as guilty as the left. It's like a teenager with his first credit card, that he knows he won't have to ever pay, because his parents or someone will foot the bill.

I think we can look at years 2000 to 2006 when republicans controlled the whitehouse, the house of representatives, and the senate (almost the whole time), and I don't recall very much debate on spending cuts--in fact no serious entitlement reform was proposed. In 2003 we even added to entitlements with a medicare prescription plan. I do remember the phrase "deficits don't matter" thrown around plenty in 2004.

The reality is that the majority of republican politicians only care about the debt and deficit when a democrat is president, and the same goes for democrats when a republican is president. Bush told us that we could have the best of everything in this country and no one would ever have to pay more for it, Obama has said the exact same thing only that the top 2% of people should pay a little more.

Nnnnyeahhh, kinda... IMHO, the Right Wing is much more partisan about it, and actively use it as weapon against the Left, regardless of how it affects the 98%ers.....

[I invented that]

No, it's really not. Anything that helps poor people, anything that elevates us as a society/culture (Arts, Humanities, etc.), anything that the Religious Right is against, anything that might return prosperity and opportunity to the huddled masses, rather than the Elite 2%, etc. ...... I'm sure there is more but it's pretty well known what they want to eliminate.



No. Nobody with more than two brain cells to rub together "gets" that "yet"....



I'm doubtful that any were "purposely trying to bankrupt America", but I believe that the right wing is at least as guilty as the left. It's like a teenager with his first credit card, that he knows he won't have to ever pay, because his parents or someone will foot the bill.




Nnnnyeahhh, kinda... IMHO, the Right Wing is much more partisan about it, and actively use it as weapon against the Left, regardless of how it affects the 98%ers.....

IMHO, the Right Wing is much more partisan about it, and actively use it as weapon against the Left

why am i not surprised?

[RiotGrip]

Bush was a major disappointment in this regard, no doubt. He did want to do something with Social Security. Privatize part of it or something. Did the republicans stop him from doing this? Did he just not try hard enough? He definitely waited too long but he did have some other things going on.

Sad that you are defending the vortex. You will only embolden it.

I'm not defending anything. But the idea that we can fix our problems with just cutting spending is ridiculous. The Paul Ryan budget which passed the house and was touted as bold thinking didn't actually get rid of the deficit for 30 to 40 years! It also would raise out of pocket healthcare costs on older americans significantly(some might call it a tax increase).

Someone at some point is gonna have to break it to the american people that everyone's taxes have to go up some, and even then there have to be some changes to entitlements if we ever wanna get the country back on track.

[InstigatinMofo]

I wonder if Obama ever voted against raising the debt ceiling

Boehner In 2011: Failure To Raise Debt Ceiling “That would be a financial disaster, not only for us, but for the worldwide economy,”

Obama on On whether the federal debt limit should be raised

[shitcunt]

Boehner In 2011: Failure To Raise Debt Ceiling “That would be a financial disaster, not only for us, but for the worldwide economy,”

Obama on On whether the federal debt limit should be raised

Awe, does Bammy regret his vote now? How cute.