Posted on 07/10/2011 6:09:09 PM PDT by The Magical Mischief Tour
After meeting for exactly 90 minutes, the president and members of congress achieved absolutely nothing except for what ZH readers already knew: that a debt deal has to be reached by July 22 or else. "President Barack Obama said Sunday that "we need to" work out a debt deal within the next 10 days as he convened a meeting with congressional leaders, aiming to fashion a deficit reduction package for the next 10 years. As the meeting opened, Obama and the leaders sat around the table in Sunday casual dress. Asked whether the White House and Congress could "work it out in 10 days," Obama replied, "We need to." Despite Boehner's preference for a smaller, $2 trillion plan for deficit reduction, White House aides said Sunday that Obama would press the lawmakers to accept the larger deal. Republicans object to its substantial tax increases and Democrats dislike its cuts to programs for seniors and the poor. The aides, however, left room for negotiations on a more modest approach." And just like on Friday when the president's appearance was heralded as a harbinger of a massive NFP beat only to be the biggest let down since Geithner's TV appearances in February which sent the market down by 10 S&P points each time, so the president will address the nation tomorrow. From Reuters: "U.S. President Barack Obama will hold a news conference at 11 a.m. EDT (1500 GMT) on Monday about the status of negotiations to cut the deficit and raise the debt ceiling, the White House said on Sunday. Obama met with congressional leaders for about 75 minutes Sunday evening and will meet again with them on Monday "to discuss the ongoing efforts to find a balanced approach to deficit reduction," the White House said, without giving a time for that session."
More from the AP:
"He's not someone to walk away from a tough fight," White House chief of staff William Daley said. "Everyone agrees that a number around $4 trillion is the number that will ... make a serious dent in our deficit." But embedded among the tough words was rhetoric that acknowledged the "big deal's" prospects had become uncertain at best.
"We're going to try to get the biggest deal possible," said Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner.
It was an abrupt change from 24 hours earlier. Republicans late Saturday rejected the $4 trillion proposal, the largest of three under consideration, because its tax increases would doom it in the GOP-led House, Speaker John Boehner said.
The Ohio Republican informed Obama that a package of about $2 trillion, which bipartisan negotiators had identified but not agreed to, was more realistic.
Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky left little doubt that the $4 trillion deal was dead.
"I think it is," McConnell said. Raising taxes amid 9.2 percent unemployment, he added, "is a terrible idea. It's a job killer."
The statements threw into question the extent to which the Sunday meeting, called for 6 p.m. EDT, would move the talks toward a resolution as an Aug. 2 deadline loomed. That's when the nation would begin to default on its debts, administration officials say, if no deal is reached to raise the borrowing limit from $14.3 trillion.
One thing is certain: with each passing day until July 22 or T-Day, the day by which Congress has to pass the debt ceiling legislation, of which there are precisely 10 working days, the market, which has so far completely ignored any concern about a failure in the debt talks, will start getting increasingly more nervous. As a reminder there is a 4 week Bill auction this Tuesday: the last one priced at 0.000%. If the logjam in DC continues after Monday, something tells us the government will not get ultra short-term funding for free.
As for the spin free interpretation of what the "deficit deal" means for America, read our previous observations on the matter here.
Stimulus -saved or created millions of jobs!
(Just lost my peas)
I presume that what he means by ‘eat our peas’ (I like peas) is to submit to some kind of unpleasant discipline. Shouldn’t that mean NOT raising the debt ceiling?
This speech is entirely a failure. He’s indeed rambling on his same old talking points.
‘If you repeat something long enough people believe it” agenda.
Peas porridge hot
Peas porridge cold
Peas porridge in the pot
Nine days old
[Peas will be the sound byte from this fiasco news conference.]
Oops!
And, mind our Q's!
It should mean that. But, from Obama, eating our peas means we follow his pie in the sky schemes.
“(stimulus) saved a bunch of jobs”
Now he’s saying the job situation got worse because the stimulus ended.
Unbelievable.
Unfortunately he dissed the people saying we’re not paying attention.
President Obama, facing a bitter partisan stalemate over how to raise the federal borrowing limit, summoned congressional leaders to a new round of White House talks Monday and warned that he would not accept a temporary, stopgap measure.
“That is not an acceptable approach,” he told a news conference. “So we might as well do it now. Pull off the bandaid. Eat our peas. Now is the time to do it. If not now, when?”
Oh golly...he’s pushing the shovel ready infrastructure junk again.....What year does he think he’s in office????? Already done and failed.
That would be a Pea Pie.
yuk yuk not my favorite veggie.
OMG make him shut up already
I can’t stand to watch him - just makes me sick
I can’t believe anyone could be so arrogant and stupid as this president.
What a freaking loser. Total 100% loser.
I was a poor college student then and had no mortgage or credit, so the interest rates didn't affect me. I remember hearing about them, but the gas prices and rationing were in-my-face unavoidable. Things probably are that bad again for the people who are poor college students now.
Here we go never let a crisis be wasted.
That should make them want to compromise ... /NOT
“Now he’s saying the job situation got worse because the stimulus ended.”
The Krugman approach. : o /
Folklore and Oddities
The French court became so enamored with green peas that in Paris in 1695 it was common practice for aristocratic women to make them a late evening snack between dinner and bedtime. From the court of French King Louis XIV, Madame de Maintenoy wrote to Cardinal de Noailles: “. . . There are some ladies who, having supped, and supped well, take peas at home before going to bed, at the risk of an attack of indigestion. It’s a fashion, a craze!”
Even kings are not immune to overindulgence—some are even well known for their gourmandising. After overindulging in peas, Louis XIV summoned his doctor to offer him relief from indigestion.
http://www.vegparadise.com/highestperch52.html
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