Tag: National Debt

Is The Game Afoot?

For the past months we have had this political game called the debt ceiling raging on and on in Washington….lots of talking points, lots of accusations, lots of lies and half truths….all in the name of making the US a more stable economy and thus saving the country from the ugly fate of Greece and the others……and now after meeting walk outs, lines drawn in sand and a general lack of respect and cooperation….the GOP is offering up a deal…..

Reported in Political Wire website…….

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is “actively pursuing a new plan under which the debt ceiling would grow in three increments over the remainder of this Congress unless lawmakers approve a veto-proof resolution of disapproval,” Politico reports.

“In effect lawmakers would be surrendering the very power of approval that the GOP has used to force the debt crisis now. But by taking the disapproval route, Republicans can shift the onus more onto the White House and Democrats since a two-thirds majority will be needed to stop any increase that President Obama requests.”

ABC News: “Under McConnell odd plan, the President could get a clean, no-strings-attached debt ceiling increase of $2.5 trillion, but he would have to endure three politically treacherous votes that would allow upwards of two-thirds of the Congress to be on record disapproving of his actions. In other words, the President would get his debt ceiling increase and Republicans would score political points, but there would be no guarantee of any spending cuts.”

Greg Sargent: “At bottom, McConnell’s proposal is the latest GOP line on the debt ceiling — it’s Obama’s problem, not ours — taken to its logical and legislative conclusion.”

What game is this?  You mean that the GOP is caving in and giving Obama an out?  Did Obama win?  Are the Repubs surrendering?  Or is this a deal that will bite Obama in the ass in the 2012 elections?  Or did Wall Street grab the GOP by the scruff of the neck and tell them to find deal?

Is this more of the same political games and theater?   How will the Tea Party react?  Will Boehner and McConnell lose the confidence of their colleagues?  Where will this end?  Who will win and who will lose?

So many questions….so few answers……

Your thoughts?

In The Short Run

Ethics?  We have all heard of the so-called ethics investigations by the Congress….or the threat of an investigation……Weiner’s weiner comes to mind…..Rangel’s monetary antics……Ensign’s poking a staff member…. all the antics by our not-so-squeaky clean representatives.  I have been calling them everything I can think of except effective law makers…..most of them are do nothing pigs….

I recently wrote a post about the insider trading done by members of Congress….that is that members had been making lots of cash trading on information that they got while serving on various committees….and I asked why there is NO ethics violations and the no need for investigation…..but read the post if you need to have it cleared up a bit…….http://bit.ly/jeYLqt

But why am I re-hashing all this?  Good question…..

Let us go back to last week…..the negotiations on the debt crisis with VP Biden did not end well…..Majority leader of the House walked out of the meetings…..that would be Eric Cantor…..and we heard all the clap trap about tax hikes off the table and that Obama is NOT serious about debt reduction….yada yada….all the conserv talking points……but did you know that the big cheese Cantor is shorting US bonds?

Shorting?  HUH?

Shorting, in investment terms, means……Selling a SECURITY, such as a SHARE, that you do not currently own, in the expectation that its PRICE will fall by the time the security has to be delivered to its new owner. If the price does fall, you can buy the security at the lower price, deliver it to whoever you sold it to and make a PROFIT. The RISK is that the price rises, leaving you with a loss.

In a piece written by Steve Tarlow…..

Debt ceiling negotiations were shut down by House Majority Leader Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Va.) last week. This raised renewed fears that the U.S. is on the verge of total credit default, and it raised a question as to whether Cantor – the GOP’s key operative in debt ceiling talks – has a “glaring” conflict of interest. According to Salon, Cantor may be fighting against government credit default in Congress, but he’s personally invested in a mutual fund that will “skyrocket” should default occur.

Okay now get this right!  The person that is leading the negotiations on the debt crisis for the GOP will make a substantial profit if the country fails and defaults…..GOT THAT!  The man is BETTING on the failure of the country!  And to beat all, he is the lead man in the negotiations trying to find common ground to save the country from default…..

I asked before why they will not investigate those using inside trading on info they get in their job and now I ask WHY is Cantor NOT up for an ethics investigation?  This guy whose party is so centered on America to succeed, then why is he betting against it?

It is time for Americans to wake UP!  Know your representative….if these guys and gals are taking the country to the cleaners then we need to DEMAND more ethics investigations…….but there will be few investigations…..why?  These people try to protect their own and in doing so are just as guilty as those caught in the act (whatever that may be)………

If you will recall, the media was all over Weiner’s weiner (pun intended)……they spent an inordinate amount of time and with the help of the GOP made this a 2 week story….but yet NOTHING as far as my previous post or the Cantor thing……why is Weiner’s weiner so much more important than the financial shenanigans of elected officials?

We need to demand an ethics investigation into the underhanded antics of elected reps and they need to be held to something that they are seldom held up to……accountability!

Let The Bovine Fecal Matter Fly

From the VOMITORIUM

I know damn well you have heard all the rumblings about the deficit and the national debt ceiling….you have heard the back and forth….the blame game….the political rhetoric….well the debt ceiling is the fecal matter to which I refer…..

The GOP has drawn their line imaginary line in the sand….the Dems have peed on it and refused to cross it….and in the end it will all be just one big Kabuki….political theater and not even at its best……

In the end, we ALL know these dipsticks will raise the ceiling and move on to something else…..but before that happens our politicians just have to play this silly little political game….a game to appear as if they are actually earning their money…..

The game is a foot!  They recently postponed the date to August, the 2nd, I believe and as the deadline approaches the media will be sucked into this infantile game….they will start making the ceiling the lead story and will parade expert after expert and analyst after analyst out and then as it draws really close they will install a countdown clock that will flash continuously to let us know just how soon the country will fail and become just another Greece….as the clock counts down the minutes and hours and just before the final tick….the Congress will come to an agreement and raise the ceiling and thus preventing any damage to Wall Street from the ceiling…and all of it could have been done months ago….but then there could not be this massive drama, a pretend drama, to keep the people mesmerized by their, our Reps, truly amazing acting job.

Yes,m they raised the ceiling limit and we will have been saved by our “hard” working Reps….they raised it and without ever addressing the problems that it carries…..like the massive health care costs or the oil monopolies and their subsidies or the financial scams that have been plaguing the economy or banks gambling with taxpayer money or endless wars or…….it is a sizable list of problems and NONE will be addressed….and all can be considered the root causes of the problems we have with the deficit….

And in the end of the soap opera…the country will be NO better off than the day they started playing the game…..but the national debt ceiling will have been raised……..hope you sleep better knowing this……

Debt Ceiling–It’s All A Game

From the VOMITORIUM

Let us be honest……Actually…..ALL politics is a game….a game of spin, of stats, of people……we just finished one game….that being the deadline game of the 2011 budget…..both sides pushed that issue to the limits and then miraculously a deal was struck…and then both sides could claim victory and the peasants back home….danced…..

That was round one and now we will move on to round two…..and that would be the raising of the debt limit….the spin machine has been working overtime and the media has been doing the tango with the politicians to keep it in the news (always look for what they are trying to suppress…it is called a misdirection)…..any way we will be bombarded continuously with this news story…..but go to the local town square and ask people what they think about the national debt….you will be surprised how many do not CARE….most want to see the economy grow and to find a descent job…..but the major story will be the catnip for the media…..the debate on whether to raise the debt ceiling or not……

I know that many of my conservs friends think that I am a bit too sarcastic or pessimistic….but if it is NOT a game then what the Hell would you call it?

From Politico……

Republicans are growing increasingly concerned about the impact a bruising fight over raising the nation’s $14.29 trillion debt ceiling could have on U.S. financial markets.House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) has had conversations with top Wall Street executives, asking how close Congress could push to the debt limit deadline without sending interests rates soaring and causing stock prices to go lower, people familiar with the matter.

Republicans and even some fiscally conservative Democrats want to use the debt limit fight as leverage to wring more significant spending cuts out of the White House. Politicians of all stripes are worried about how independents will react to a vote — or multiple stop-gap votes — to raise the debt ceiling. Many executives on Wall Street believe Washington is playing an enormously dangerous game with what is typically a non-controversial vote.

A game is a game….and this debate on the Debt ceiling is a massive game and in the long run the Middle Class will get bit in the ass by the players…..keep playing this game…..holding the US credit rating hostage and you help create another economic meltdown……To the voter….you voted for these cowards….how is that working out for you?

Bumping Our Heads On The Ceiling

We hear it everyday now….the “Debt Ceiling”….but what is it?

James Hamilton put it well back in 2006:

One of the peculiar embarrassments of the American political process is the fact that Congress votes separately on the deficit and debt, as if they were two different decisions…

If the government is (a) required by the deficit legislation to spend, and (b) precluded by the debt legislation from borrowing, the Treasury would be forced into default. The greater the likelihood markets attach to such an event, the higher will be the interest rate the government has to pay on Treasury debt. A politician who votes for the spending and tax measures that produced the deficit but against a debt ceiling consistent with these is deliberately wasting taxpayer dollars for no purpose other than to grandstand before voters as a “fiscal conservative”. Anyone playing such a game has complete contempt for the intelligence of their constituents.

We are bombarded every day with this politician or that about the national debt and why we need to raise or ignore the ceiling……some say screw it!  Let the government shutdown…..others say we need to protect the nation and our credit rating in the world….and others just do not seem to care……but what is the story behind each of these positions?

From Rep. Michelle Bachmann……darling of the Tea Party….

With the national debt at $14 trillion and counting, Congress’ spending frenzy cannot continue.It’s time to force our elected officials to stop spending cold turkey, and we can start by making sure they do not raise the debt ceiling.

That’s why I’m asking you to personally tell Congress not to increase the amount of money the government can borrow by signing your name to the “Don’t Raise the Debt Ceiling” petition. To date, we’ve collected over 75,000 signatures for this petition. But I know we can collect more. So I’m challenging conservative activists to collect an additional 50,000 signatures in the next week. Will you help me reach this goal?

The President’s front man on this is Austan Goolsbee….

Austan Goolsbee, chairman of the U.S. Council of Economic Advisers, said if Congress fails to raise the debt ceiling, the “impact on the economy would be catastrophic.”

“I don’t see why anybody’s playing chicken with the debt ceiling,” Goolsbee said today on ABC’s “This Week” program. “If we get to the point where we damage the full faith and credit of the United States, that would be the first default in history caused purely by insanity.”

There are two options…..increase it or not…if it is NOT then the government will showdown…is that a good thing to do just to make a point?  It was done in the 1990’s when Newt and the boyz were there in the House….a mini revolution if you will……but is it a good idea?

  • Shutdowns actually cost the government more money ($800 million last time according to Time) than it would otherwise spend and, therefore, increase the deficit compared to what it otherwise would be. Departments and agencies have to begin to implement shutdown plans within a few days of the possibility that their appropriations might expire. At a minimum, this involves additional communications security, building maintenance needs.
  • The last shutdowns taught us the definition of “essential services” because of a ruling by the attorney general that, even if no appropriation had been enacted, the government may continue to do whatever this might be. But there’s no agreed-upon list of what is “essential” and last time the definition seemed to change as the shutdowns continued.

Will the government shut down?  Doubtful….sadly all this is just another political game that the mindless twits are playing…..they are trying to intimidate…..the use of threats……Keep in mind that the deficit and the debt are NOT necessarily the same thing, although ALL spending is interconnected…….Nothing about this will create a job….and if memory serves me right……that was the promise of the GOP….to create jobs…not to continue the play these political games…..

Just how many of you, out there, think that this is a good direction for the government to travel?

Just Doing My Part

For the last couple of days I have been posting on fiscal policy, economics, debt and money….or the lack there of…….

In this time of national emergency…..every little bit helps…….since the deficit does not seem to be a major concern right now…..NO….of Congress is worried about a law in effect  or abortion or….well just about anything but what is important…..

The Repubs keep driving the national debt into our brains….over and over and over…..like a nail to the center of the brain…….somewhere in the neighborhood of $14.5 trillion…..a lot of money…..and with all their bitching and moan, I decided to do my part….I feel that we must all do our part……

So out of the kindness of my heart I am sending Rep. Paul Ryan, the math wiz for the GOP, the man with ALL the answers to our fiscal problems……(in case you missed it…that was sarcasm)…… $50 trillion dollars….you heard me right!….$50 trillion dollars!  I hope he appreciates the effort…..if NOT the reason…that he will not like….NO SENSE OF HUMOR!

I figured that it will pay the debt and they could keep the change (a magnanimous gesture on my part)  to help with the next massive crisis that they would have use believe is coming……….

This is the cash I will send….

http://t.co/JHMQwnw

Okay it is Zimbabwean dollars and not good old USA…..but NO one said it had to be American green backs……

I make this donation to make a point…..my good faith effort is more sincere than any of the solutions Washington is contemplating….my gesture may seem insignificant but at least I am willing to try to find a solution…..at least I am trying to do something constructive instead of worrying about a seating arrangement…..or who we will investigate first……these are the people that YOU put on trust in last November….how they doing?  SUCKER!

If you people keep voting as your record shows, then we will NEVER find a solution to our fiscal problems….

BTW…where are the jobs we were promised?

We Are In Debt Now!–Part One

So you think that this is a problem for the next generation, do you?

This could very well be a post on the problems that average Americans are facing because of their addiction to deficit spending known as CREDIT….but ….Not now……this is about something that every politician has on his lips these days…..both Dem as well as repub….it is the National Debt…..the bane of the country…..

The Federal deficit is NOT necessarily the same thing as the National debt……I know…I know…according to the windbags on the tube and radio…it is the same thing……if you believe that…YOU ARE WRONG!

That is another post…..let us talk about the debt……and we all know what the Repubs think about the debt and who put us in the shape we are in….it is those despicable Dems that are at fault…..right?

This phenom is NOT something new…as a matter of fact it began with Alexander Hamilton from the very beginning of the country and it has NOT slowed down since…just an occasional hiccup now and then….

To answer that question let us look at a little history of the US debt……..this from the cedarcomm.com website…….

Since 1938 the Democrats have held the White house for 35 years, the Republicans for 36.  Over that time the national debt has increased at an average annual rate of 8.5%.  In years Democrats were in the White House there was an average increase of 8.3%.  In years the Republicans ran the White House the debt increased an average 9.2% per year.  Those averages aren’t that far apart, but they do show a bias toward more borrowing by Republicans than Democrats even including World War II.

If you look at the 60+ year record of debt since the end of WWII, starting with Truman’s term, the difference between the two parties’ contributions to our national debt level change considerably.  Since 1946, Democratic presidents increased the national debt an average of only 3.2% per year.  The Republican presidents stay at an average increase of 9.2% per year. Republican Presidents out borrowed and spent Democratic presidents by a three to one ratio.  Putting that in very real terms; for every dollar a Democratic president has raised the national debt in the past 63 years Republican presidents have raised the debt by $2.84Prior to the Neo-Conservative takeover of the Republican Party there was not much difference between the two parties’ debt philosophy.  They both worked together to minimize it.  However the debt has been on a steady incline ever since the Reagan presidency.  The only exception to the steep increase over the last 30 years was during the Clinton presidency, when he brought spending under control and the debt growth down to almost zero.

Comparing the borrowing habits of the two parties since 1981, when the Neo-Conservative movement really took hold and government spending raced out of control, it is extremely obvious that the big spenders in Washington are Republicans and their party’s presidents.  The only Democratic president since then, Mr. Clinton raised the national debt an average of 4.3% per year.  The Republican presidents (Reagan, Bush, and Bush II) raised the debt an average of 10.8% per year.  That is, for every dollar a Democratic President has raised the national debt in the past 30 years, Republican presidents have raised the debt by $2.52.  Any way you look at it Neo-Conservative Republican presidents cannot or will not control government spending.

The fact is that Reagan was able to push his tax cuts through both Houses of Congress, but he never pushed through any reduced spending programs.  His weak leadership in this area makes him directly responsible for the unprecedented rise in borrowing during his time in office, an average of 13.8% per year.  The increase in total debt during Reagan’s two terms was larger than all the debt accumulated by all the presidents before him combined.  From 1983 through 1985, with a Republican Senate, the debt was increasing at over 17% per year.  While Mr. Reagan was in office this nation’s debt went from just under 1 trillion dollars to over 2.6 trillion dollars, a 200% increase.  The sad part about this increase is that it was not to educate our children, or to improve our infrastructure, or to help the poor, or even to finance a war.  Reagan’s enormous increase in the national debt was not to pay for any noble cause at all; his primary unapologetic goal was to pad the pockets of the rich.  The huge national debt we have today is a living legacy to his failed Neo-Conservative economic policies.  Reagan’s legacy is a heavy financial weight that continues to apply an unrelenting drag on this nation’s economic resources.

So now you see where the yelling and screaming about the deficit came from and where it has gone and who is more responsible for the problems than others……but they have seen the light….they will work hard to bring done the deficit and control spending….and you believe these notorious liars?  Why would you…this has all been said before and look what they have accomplished after promising different….Why would you believe them again and again and again…..and re-elect them again and again…..and have their promises broken again and again?

Where have we gone wrong?

You first mistake is putting your trust in a group of people that could care less about your future or your family….regardless of the smoke they blow up your ass…..second…you are just plain lazy, if not stupid, and cannot be bothered with issues….and thirdly…nothing will get better or different as long as you walk around with your head shoved up your ass……

To Be Continued………

Stop The Presses!

College of Political Knowledge

Federal Budget Deficit Series

In a speech somewhere West of the Mississippi, Federal Reserve Chairman, Ben Bernanke, it was aimed at the Wall Street bunch, trying to calm the markets after a couple of dismal days and in this speech he gave them the laxative, oh sorry, sedative they needed……

Bernanke downplayed concerns that the economy might slip back into recession, predicting a modest expansion in the second half of this year, with the pace picking up in 2011.

If that forecast proves overly optimistic, however, he said the Fed has sufficient ammunition left and could support growth by purchasing more government debt or by promising to keep rates exceptionally low for a longer period than currently priced in by financial markets.

In other words, he said that if things went badly he would turn on the printing presses….that is right!  He basically, said that he would print enough money to keep everything on track.  After that I expected the Repubs to re-start their bitching about the debt and the deficit and the deficit and the debt….but so far….NOTHING!  Why is that?

Is it fiscal responsible to print more money at this time in the country’s economic life?  I wait for the Repubs to jump on this and try to use it for political advantage…after all it is the election season and all things are legal in the game…..

I pray they do NOT use this as an election ad….why?  Very simple……

When Bernanke was confirmed as head of the Fed…the Repubs could have saved the country from Bernanke…how?

If you dissect the vote, you find something very interesting: had the Republicans chosen to do so, they could have killed the nomination. The numbers come out 48 Democrat ayes, 22 Republican ayes, 12 Democrat nays, 18 Republican nays. Democrats alone did not constitute a majority of ayes. Thus, if those 22 Republicans had voted nay instead of aye, we’d be looking for a new Fed chair right now.

I beg the Repubs NOT to use Bernanke as some sort of political weapon against the Dems….they are as much to fault for the actions of the Fed as anyone….be wise…keep your mouth shut……

Yet Another Presidential Commission

Daily Agitator

From time to time there is something that comes out of Washington and/or politicians that just agitates the crap out of me…but none of the shenanigans piss me off more than a presidential commission to study a problem to find solutions…why does it make me so bitchy?

Let us take a look at the latest commission that the Prez announced the other day:

The national debt — accumulated deficits — is expected to hit $9.3 trillion this year, or 63.6 percent of the gross domestic product, the measure of all the nation’s goods and services produced annually. By 2015, the debt will total almost $14 trillion and equal 72.9 percent of the GDP, the highest level since 1950, when World War II debt was still being repaid.

This exploding debt menaces growth and U.S. living standards.

The White House has announced that it will appoint Erskine Bowles, chief of staff under President Bill Clinton, and former Wyoming Sen. Alan Simpson, a Republican, as commission co-chairs. Both were key players in successful 1990s efforts to negotiate bipartisan deficit-reduction packages, and the Clinton years ended with four straight years of budget surpluses.

That bipartisan panel would have delivered lawmakers a deficit reduction blueprint after the November elections that would have been subject to votes before a new Congress convenes next year. But the idea faltered in the Senate, defeated by equal numbers of Democrats and Republicans, including some of whom initially supported the idea.

Though Obama’s commission will lack any requirement for Congress to act on its advice, it could provide the president some political cover with an electorate that is increasingly concerned about the massive deficit. And that has some Republicans looking to paint the executive commission as little more than a political calculation.

Thank you to the AP for the info in above quote……

Yes this is a political theater….it is just another political game being played…..my problem is that a commission would be doing what we pay the a/holes in Congress to do….I realize that it may be difficult to get things done when you work 3 days a week and about 150 days a year……

A political commission is a waste of money and a perverted why of gaining some political advantage for use in campaigns and elections…..

When will the American people start demanding that these overpaid lazy pricks start earning their money?  If they want to work part time then I say pay them like part timers and cut their benefits…..it is done in the private sector…..And they always use the private sector in their rants….treat them like the do nothing employees they are…..Or better yet put they on piece work….they get paid only when legislation is passed….that could make them wake up to the fact that they need to start representing the people not their overinflated egos……

Wassup With The Debt Clock?

The US government’s debts have ballooned so badly the National Debt Clock in New York has run out of digits to record the spiralling figure.

The digital counter marks the national debt level, but when that passed the $10 trillion point last month, the sign could not display the full amount.

The board was erected to highlight the $2.7 trillion level of debt in 1989.

The clock’s owners say two more zeros will be added, allowing the clock to record a quadrillion dollars of debt.

For its part, the digital dollar symbol has been supplanted by a cheaper version – perhaps a sign of the times for the American economy.

Some economists believe the $700bn bail-out plan for ailing US financial institutions could send the national debt level to $11 trillion.

The way things are going, maybe they should add more than two extra zeros.