My three year old son and unborn daughter really lost this battle. I pray it is my blood that will be shed for their freedom and not their own.
“But I think the conservatives in the House of Representatives did a hell of a job.”
I would LOVE to believe this, really I would. If you mean the Tea Party conservatives that stood up against this deal and ultimately voted against it, I agree. If you mean leadership, they have proven that they are gutless and unwilling to fight for conservative principles.
We sent them there last November primarily to do 2 things:
1. Stop the out of control spending.
2. Repeal Obamacare-and short of a repeal at the very least de-fund it.
They fought for neither in this deal. They paid lip service to the “Cut, Cap and Balance” plan that was supported by almost the entire House GOP caucus and 66% of the American people, then they didn’t even force the Senate to VOTE on it. They allowed them to table it and quickly came up with a “compromise.”
“Cut, Cap & Balance” doesn’t really go far enough, but it would have been a good step in the right direction. But Boehner and the leadership showed that they weren’t really interested in fighting for REAL change. They were more afraid of being blamed if the govn’t “defaulted”, which was a lie from the beginning that no one in leadership ever challenged.
The right play would have been to hold the line on “Cut, Cap & Balance” and force them to either take it or not raise the debt ceiling. I know the media would have been all over them for that, but aren’t they already being accused of being “hostage takers?” The media will go after us no matter what, so why not get something substantive out of it?
No, this is not a win at all. This does nothing to curve spending. Boehner and Co. promised in the campaign to roll back spending to 2008 levels “for starters.” Now, they’re not even talking about doing that. They are allowing the $800 billion “1 time” stimulus of 2009 to be added permanently to the baseline. The so called cuts spoken of in this deal (if they ever materialize) are simply small reductions in the projected rate of growth in spending. They should be fighting to do away with the whole “base line budgeting” system that causes these people to lie to us by calling smaller spending increases cuts, but I saw none of that in this debate either.
As for Obamacare, there seems to be no concern whatsoever about de-funding it or fighting for its repeal. The American people still overwhelmingly support its repeal, but NOT ONE WORD was spoken about it by leadership. That tells me that they are just fine with Obamacare becoming the law of the land and making us into more of a socialist nation.
No, this is not a victory. In fact, I am more disheartened than I’ve been since the 2008 elections. These GOP leaders need to be replaced. That’s the only solution to this problem. We need to primary as many of them as possible and get new blood in there. Boehner needs to go and we need someone to replace him that actually GETS the fact that our republic is hanging by a thread.
Sadly, I don’t detect the outrage that is deserved at what just happened. Too many on our side are willing to go along with this media-driven narrative that it’s a “victory for the Tea Party” simply because we are now “talking” about cutting spending. I’ll grant that it’s a good thing that we have shifted the debate, but it doesn’t mean jack if it’s not followed up by REAL, SUBSTANTIVE spending cuts.
The only hope we have now is a presidential candidate that truly gets the need to cut spending and balance our budget and is willing to fight even his/her own party in congress to do it. Bush did the opposite. I think most of our candidates are ‘ruling class’ types just like Bush, so I doubt they will do anything different. So where does that leave us?
He got what he wanted.
The Republicans claimed they wanted less spending, smaller government and reduced taxes. They got increased spending, bigger government and higher taxes.
Who do you think "won"?
Nope. The can got kicked down the road- maybe less than usual, but my opinion is that business as usual still reigns in DC. The deal, such as it is, doesn’t address the true problem- the government spends more than it takes in, and it will be doing so as long as it is able to do so.
Compromise is for losers.
My children and grandchildren have been robbed of their inheritance. We lost, big time.
The debt deal “does not put the U.S. on a sustainable fiscal path,” economists at Barclays Capital wrote in a note to clients, adding “weakness in U.S. growth has the potential to offset most of the savings claimed by the debt reduction package.”
DOES THAT SOUND LIKE A YES VOTE. The sound you hear is the can being kicked down the road about 16 months when they (the D’s and the R’s) spend that 2 trillion bucks and have to fight this war again. I guess Ron Paul is still a moron huh?
The debt deal “does not put the U.S. on a sustainable fiscal path,” economists at Barclays Capital wrote in a note to clients, adding “weakness in U.S. growth has the potential to offset most of the savings claimed by the debt reduction package.”
DOES THAT SOUND LIKE A YES VOTE. The sound you hear is the can being kicked down the road about 16 months when they (the D’s and the R’s) spend that 2 trillion bucks and have to fight this war again. I guess Ron Paul is still a moron huh?
Definitely no. A fox news poll shows a majority of respondents want a Constitutional Ammendment for a balanced budget. We have lost for sure because states that have this simply increase taxes along with spending to “balance” budgets. They argue increases are a must. Americans have stopped thinking again. This is very worrisome.
Not yet.
Henceforth only 12 APPOINTED Congressmen will have any say on budget matters. 523 will not. 38 States will have only ornamental drones instead of representatives. The Democrat and Republican parties will have cemented their monopoly on power, as NO independent or third party Congressman will EVER be appointed.
Representative government on fiscal matters has just been abolished.
And you ask if this is a win?
You can call a shit sandwich a reuben, but it’s still a shit sandwich.
They don't call the GOP "the stupid party" for nothing, and you are it's mascot.
There were some short-term political wins, and Obama comes out with a seriously damaged image. The deal will not be able to be evaluated until we hear who is on this super committee and what the results are. It is more than likely going to be bad for our side.
Additionally, this deal pretty much did nothing to address the debt or deficit problems. We basically removed a tablespoon of water out of an overflowing Olympic size pool.
Our side could have played a much stronger hand in this game, but instead both the gang of six and McConnell undercut the whole thing with their plans, and Boehner fell into the trap of being stuck in endless White House meeting and negotiating with himself. Whether it was intentional or not is the question.
NO!
The Republican delude themselves.
They could have forced a major reduction in spending and they got very little cuts in spending in the current year. More smoke and mirrors.
The federal goverment owes itself (Federal Reserve) more than $1 trillion. This for printing all that money and watch them continue.
But I don’t trust Obama and he would have created more problems in the world economy by choosing who is paid.
We need a conservative Congress and President that will actually change things soon! Tea Party get busy!
Nope.
If we won the “budget battle”, the Axis forces won World War II.
LLS
No. We are still spending huge amounts more than our revenues - which means we are borrowing to pay the rest - which means the debt is increasing. As we print money in order to borrow, we are undermining the value of the dollar and inflating costs of essential goods and services.
The only way out of this mess is to treat the debt like a mortgage. Take our revenues and subtract the interest and scheduled payments on the debt principal. Then devise a budget to perform Constitutional functions that lives within our means. Yes, good programs that are needed by individuals will have to be cut, but we simply can’t afford them through government. They will have to come through the charitable sector.
Next, remove about 3.4 of the regulations that are choking business and setting a huge amount of natural resources aside and watch the U.S. blossom in global competition. A great many of these regulations are specifically designed on the International level to redistribute wealth to third world countries by severely handicapping US business.
Congress needs to put its big boy pants on, grow a pair and take our sovereignty back.
Hell no!