Budget talks: This is getting nasty

No.

I think the "Tea Party" rightly new that we could pay the interest on the debt even if the debt ceiling was not raised.

They also knew we had enough monthly revenue to pay for Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, active duty military, and veterans benefits.

We'd even have some money left over for other stuff.

Not that it would be easy. Managing the cash flow would be a bitch and some payments might even be made a day or two late.

So, it wasn't that they were unconcerned with the consequences. It was that the consequences were acceptable to them.

And, you'll notice that the WH and the Treasury Department never said what they'd pay or how they'd prioritize payments.

This allowed them to scare folks: We're going to default! You're Social Security might get cut off! And, worst of all, Adm. Mullen joining in and telling troops in Afghanistan that he didn't know if they'd be paid.

This was all bullshit.

All of those payments would have been paid. That was never in question. Never. Not for a moment.

But the WH and the Democrats wanted people to believe they were. And the Press aided them in this.

The "Tea Party" not only knew it was crap, they knew it would become apparent if the debt limit expired.

The world as we know it was not going to end if the debt limit expired.

Yes, it would have sucked. Yes it would have been a pain.

But, the debate would have by necessity focused on what was really necessary. Where does all that money go?

For the "Tea Party" these discussion are all worth having.

They want us to talk about the budgets for the Departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Education, Labor, Energy.

The current debate never got that far. maybe the next time it will. And that will be a further victory for the "Tea Party".

 

Two more points.

Thank God we finally got a deal done, otherwise the market might have been down today. Instead, now it can regain all the losses from last week. That's what's happening, right? I haven't had a chance to look.

Also, as it's now being evaluated, where will our overall debt be in 10 years. After these draconian cuts, it should be reduced by a lot right? Since we're cutting by Trillions, the debt will be reduced in 10 years, right?

 

Wait, what?

The debt will be $7 Trillion higher after 10 years? How is that possible.

And, that's factoring in the Bush/Obama tax cuts expiring in 2012?

So, where were the cuts?

 

Dow down 117, S&P down 14, NASDAQ down 31. That's at 12:30 p.m. EDT.

 

If he deal isn't sealed tonight, we'll see a 1,000-point dump tomorrow.

 

More eager than it has been with Obama as president?

Got any proof of that, or are we just quoting you in 2011 as a source?

 

Feel free to refer me to the joke about the economist who wondered whether something that worked in practice would also work in theory, but ...

A substantial body of theoretical and empirical research would suggest that gains resulting from your price-momentum strategy are more the product of luck than anything else. I'm not saying you didn't make money. Rather, I'm saying it's not likely that you could continue to do so over the long haul.

 

Well, somebody "did something" over the weekend -- we have the "deal."

Presumably the complete capitulation by one side was the result of realizing the alternative was cataclysmic.

If it all falls apart tonight or tomorrow during the day and Obama doesn't have something to sign by the afternoon, let's see what happens.

I suspect it won't be good.

 

Top 10 infamous quotes from Tea Party pols:

http://politicalhumor.about.com/od/teaparty/a/Tea-Party-Quotes.htm

A Tea Party protestor who spells Revelation instead of Revolution in his sign:

And I'm sure there are more.

What bothers me about the whole Tea Party thing quite simply is ... where the hell were they when Bush was in office? If they were so concerend about the deficit and taxes, why were they the head cheerleaders with Iraq?

 

tax increases>Iraq>debt