[TomGuy]

FNS

Mitchell basically says the $4 Trillion cuts is off the table because Obama insists on massive tax increases with that proposal.

Pelosi (taped) says SS and Medicare are off the table.

Mitchell says Obama put SS and Medicare ON the table.

[Obama and the Congressional Dems are on different pages, apparently.]

Mitchell says ‘incentivizing’ is the way to grow the economy, not increasing taxes, says they are not going to raise taxes in this current economy. Tax reform is long overdue [duh!].

[It does seem Mitchell and Boehner are trying to stick to their guns — no tax increases and major cuts, for the meeting with the WH this evening.]

Mitchell: “Nobody is talking about NOT raising the debt ceiling ...”

[Wha???????????? Harbinger of a debt ceiling increase?]

[Gritty]

Mitchell: “Nobody is talking about NOT raising the debt ceiling ...”

Whaa...?

Everybody out here in the hinterlands (and on FR) is. I guess to Washingtonians, that means "nobody".

It reminds me of the time Yogi Berra was asked if he went to a certain locally famous night spot, he replied, "Oh, nobody ever goes there any more. It's too crowded!"

[kabar]

Baird did a good job with Becerra on SS, but he just fell short. He allowed Becerra to flim flam him with his five dollar bill and savings bond.

SS is a pay as you program. It is running in the red now, i.e., it is paying out more than it is taking in. In order to make up the shortfall, SS cashes in its IOUs from the SSTF. Thus, the General Fund must come up with the money now to pay those benefits. So SS is in fact contributing to our current deficit problems. Baird missed the opportunity to nail Becerra by asking him if the SSTF is filled with real assets, why is the $2.3 trillion SSTF included in the $14.3 trillion national debt.

Becerra also lied when he compared the T-bills held by China to those in the SSTF. The SSTF holds non-market T-bills that can only be redeemed by the USG. We can't sell them to China or anyone else.

[llandres]

“[Wha???????????? Harbinger of a debt ceiling increase?]”

yes, of course. I think MM was confused(?) when he said nobody is talking about raising the debt ceiling, and Bret quickly corrected him that a LOT of us are talking about not raising it. Maybe MM meant nobody is talking about the U.S. defaulting on our debt. (After all, he did goof and call Bret “Chris” without even correcting himself :-)))))))

But most of the R’s are thinking that agreeing to raise the DC can be used as a major leveraging tool - and it could, IF they don’t weenie out as they so often do, and INSIST on dollar for dollar (or greater) budget cuts AND NO TAX INCREASES. I think they’ll stand firm on the latter because they’re scared sh**less of what the American voters will do to them otherwise.