Posted on 07/31/2011 4:21:56 PM PDT by MinorityRepublican
By all accounts, it looks like a deal is about to be announced in which the debt ceiling is hiked in exchange for the promise of major spending cuts, including to entitlements, totalling at least $2.4 trillion.
Anything can happen, but it apppears the GOP is on the verge of pulling off a political victory that may be unprecedented in American history. Republicans may succeed in using the threat of a potential outcome that they themselves acknowledged would lead to national catastrophe as leverage to extract enormous concessions from Democrats, without giving up anything of any significance in return.
Not only that, but Republicans in perhaps the most remarkable example of political up-is-downism in recent memory cast their willingness to dangle the threat of national crisis as a brave and heroic effort theyd undertaken on behalf of the national interest. Only the threat of national crisis could force the immediate spending cuts supposedly necessary to prevent a far more epic crisis later.
Under the emerging deal, President Obama can hike the debt limit in two stages the first in exchange for equivalent cuts; the second after a Congressional committee comes up with second round of yet more cuts, including to entitlements. The talks appear close to resolving the spending cuttrigger that would force the committee to act without giving the GOP an incentive to deliberately sabotage its work. The remaining question is how to get it through the House. But a deal seems immiment.
Again and again, Dems drew lines in the sand that they promptly erased as the threat of default grew. A clean debt ceiling hike? Dropped. Cuts to Medicare benefits? Theyll likely be in that committees crosshairs. The insistence on revenue hikes? Withdrawn.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
” By all accounts, it looks like a deal is about to be announced in which the debt ceiling is hiked in exchange for the promise of major spending ..”
..... and wapo wants to sell that as victory for GOP
not in my life time
Took the words out of my mouth. This just feels like all those movie plots where a guy is sure he wished correctly, only to find there was a great big loophole and he’s screwed.
This is all too complicated by half.
The guy needs to be put out to pasture.
That's a very good thing.
Even cutting the rate of increase can bring Federal spending under control as the rest of the economy grows. Perhaps I should say “if” the rest of the economy grows, but when there is less money being taken by the Feds, there’s more money to spend hiring people and paying down the debt to a manageable level.
Next - balanced budgets and deficit reduction.
2.4 trillion dollars cut with an established debt of 14 trillion and the baseline budgeting process equals to loads of smoke and mirrors.
Remember, no Congress is bound by what past Congresses have done. So the “cuts” aren't cast in stone.
As I understand it the 2.4 trillion is over a decade; i.e., 240 Billion a year of promised cuts. But with baseline budget automatically forecasting an 8 % growth every year this means we don't reduce the debit a penny!
Math check. Let's say the Federal Budget in 2012 has a deficit of 1.4 trillion. We are going to cut the deficit down to 1.16 trillion. Whoopee, Kalabunga, Dung heap! In 2013 the Federal Budget grows an automatic 8 per cent; without increased revenue (aka taxes) this translates as over 110 billion of increased deficit. Now the debit is 1.5 trillion; but it is reduced to 1.26 trillion (1.5 trillion minus 240 billion). In two years the debit has grown 2.4 trillion and we have eight more years to run.
I don't expect the GDP to resume even a modest growth rate by 2013/14. It looks as if this year we might achieve a 2 % growth if we are lucky.
Until cuts are immediately applied and sustained nothing coming out of Congress or the White House should regarded as anything but political lies of the worse kind.
Greg Sargent is a DNC sock puppet, Obama stenographer and the Leni Riefenstahl of the federal bureaucracy.
If he’s congratulating anyone to the right of Bernie Sanders, he’s lying.
Total BS!! This type of promise have been made at least 5 times in recent history, and not a single one, ever, has been delivered by the criminal "Democratic" party.
Add to that the "promise of cuts in future years (Ha ha) and the rise in the legal debt limit immediately.
We've gone from a dismal scenario to an "utterly dismal scenario!"
Paying down the debt will get easier, as the total debt increases. Uh Huh.
< /sarc >
It depends on who wins the growth race, spending or expanding economy driven gov’t revenue. If spending growth rate wins, we loose.
Nor did Bush.
I still can’t find that part in the proposal about the Republican House defunding Obamacare.
The increase in the debt limit IS a significant concession, fake journalist.
Greg Sargent is such a drama queen...
You can not rely on anything that Greg Sargent says as actually being true.
So we keep choking the spending growth rate as we can.
Amen! And since they will specify that the fictitious “cuts” will be done over at least A DECADE, they will NEVER HAPPEN AT ALL!
I wish I knew how to post photos. I’d love to put up a huge lollypop for all the SUCKERS who think the GOP actually did something for the good of the Country here.
All they did was to put us in hock to the ChiComs another $3 TRILLION, and left Obluffer slip off the hook from having to face up to his ruination of our economy, come November 2012!
One more giant step toward Cloward & Piven! Way to go, GOP! I’m about to lose my sanctification and go to cussin’ here! He’p me, Lord. Please he’p me!
without giving up anything of any significance in return.
***um, the debt ceiling is getting hiked... not that these guys would consider that something in return.
They added 2 trillion in debt!
Somehow since this is the Wash Po, I see this headline as a coded message encouraging the democrats to keep fighting
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