Free Republic

Hush puppies and the Tea Party. The Republican run House of Representatives passed a debt limit plan last night 269-161. With Arizona Democrat Gabrielle Giffords returning from death's door to cast a yes vote. Good for her. You always think of these things together, right? No? Well, you should. Hush puppies, for those coming in late, were once the casual shoe of choice in the late 1950s. By the 1990s they were pretty much vanished, disappeared to the fashion twilight zone along with tri-corner hats and powdered white wigs for men. They sold somewhere in the neighborhood of a pathetic...

To see what the market thinks of the economic prospects for the economy look no farther than the 30 Year which just dropped below 4.00% and is trading at 3.99% right now. The market is effectively pricing in a major economic contraction, with long-end deflation now expected. Which means that Bernanke just got yet another carte blanche to proceed with the only thing  he know. And validating it is the equity market which at last check not only did not react favorably to the Senate vote, but has been fading all the news all day, and is now trading...

Remember yesterday’s GOP talking point about how “baseline budgeting” would make it virtually impossible for the Committee to impose tax hikes? Supposedly, because CBO is required to assume that the Bush tax cuts will lapse next year, the $3.5 trillion in new revenue that will come from that lapse is already part of the Committee’s “baseline.” In order for them to hit their target of $1.5 trillion in additional savings, they’d have to recommend tax hikes above and beyond that $3.5 trillion. Which, with an election coming up, they surely aren’t going to do.Just one problem: None of it is...

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — Despite the last-minute deal to lift the debt ceiling, the prospect of the United States losing its triple-A credit rating is still keeping Beijing and Hong Kong up at night. A possible downgrade is a difficult situation for China, said Diane Swonk, chief economist at Chicago-based financial services firm Mesirow Financial Holdings Inc. Swonk believes a downgrade of the U.S. credit rating is “still up for grabs” and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said as much Tuesday morning in an ABC interview. [Snip] Meantime, Chinese market participants are feeling uneasy about the possible downgrade and the weak dollar....

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama says the emergency bill Congress passed to prevent a government default is just the first step to ensuring the country lives within its means. Speaking in the Rose Garden, Obama says lawmakers still need to find a balanced approach to reducing the deficit that includes some adjustments to Medicare and reforming the tax code so the wealthy pay more.

Link only: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-08-01/private-equity-oil-breaks-to-be-tax-targets-for-new-committee.html

If you look back how Boehner playing this Debt crisis (deal) Budget control Act bill out on the House side it reminds me Pelosi/Obama passing/ramming through Obama-care(without the budget reconciliation) : Steps: 1) Let your House caucus base (liberal/conservative) have their play votes passing their dream plans (Dems: Obama-care Public plan or Repubs: CC+B) in the House even though you will never fight for it. 2) Create the real bill behind closed door negotiations 3) Wait till the Senate passes a modified version of that closed door negotiated bill to the House, whatever they can get through , some watered...

The "Great Debt Compromise of 2011"! This "compromise" is in fact "unconditional surrender" to Obama and the big spenders in both parties! We now get more spending, more debt, more recession... and phony "promised cuts"... thanx (establishment) GOP! Tea Party? It was like your high school team playing the Green Bay Packers, you had no chance (this time)! Learn from this Tea Party folks, you must gain experience in the "skill positions" improve your poor blocking and tackling that allowed you to be out maneuvered this time by Speaker Boehner and his fellow DC insiders (Republicans and Democrats...yea I know,...

Congressman Morgan Griffith (R-VA) issued the following statement today regarding his vote in opposition to the new version of the Budget Control Act of 2011: “Last week I made the difficult decision to compromise and voted for Speaker Boehner’s plan. While the Boehner plan was not perfect, it was a realistic approach and a step in the right direction. Among other things, it required passage of a Balanced Budget Amendment to the Constitution before a second increase in the debt ceiling. “However, the legislation before us today was not quite as good. By contrast, today’s deal only requires a Balanced...

I just love Washington-speak which offers heartfelt phrases such as “baseline spending,” “debt ceiling,” “drop dead dates,” and my ultimate favorites, “the cut,” “to cut,” “a cut,” or just simply “cuts.” Like the phrase “beauty is in the eye of the beholder,” a “cut” means different things to different people. Let me explain by first discussing common-speak, which is very easy to understand. When someone takes a cut in pay, it could mean going from $20 per hour to $15 per hour. Or, they’re paid $30,000 per year for a job that used to pay $35,000 per year. To most...

When the House of Representatives voted this evening on legislation to increase the limit on the federal debt by as much as $2.4 trillion, House Republicans broke a promise included in their 2010 Pledge to America to post the text of bills online “for at least three days” before bringing them up for a vote. “We will ensure that bills are debated and discussed in the public square by publishing the text online for at least three days before coming up for a vote in the House of Representatives,” said the Pledge to America. “No more hiding legislative language from...

An unhinged Chris Matthews on Monday decried the debt ceiling deal negotiated in Congress, attacking Tea Party Republicans as a group of baby-kidnapping terrorists. He also bizarrely described the compromise as "political polygamy."

Texas governor and potential Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry is refusing to endorse a House plan to raise the nation's debt ceiling, saying he continues to support a Republican-backed plan that includes a balanced budget amendment. Asked whether congressional lawmakers should approve the deal, Perry spokesman Mark Miner said: "The governor thinks the right track to go down is "cut, cap and balance." That was the approach he believed was best for the country."

"I Won in a Historic Landslide and All I Got Was this Lousy Rounding Error." That's the t-shirt that Speaker Boehner should wear based on his debt ceiling plan. The scoring of the second iteration of the Boehner bill gave an estimate of $22 billion in cuts from the CBO baseline for 2012--1/70th of the annual budget shortfall, about five days worth of deficit spending. Despite the bill's nigh irrelevant scope, we are assured by many in the conservative press that those rejecting this deal are "obtuse," "vain," politically dunce "hobbits." "Of course the Boehner bill doesn't solve the debt...

I stand here in abject stupefaction. The so-called "right" or "Tea Party" in this republic is being so thoroughly rolled and defeated that I am struggling to come up with an adequate violent submission metaphor that does not involve prison rape . . . and they honesty think that they're "winning." Really? You call this winning? - Obama gets over $2 Trillion to spend before the 2012 election - There are no real spending cuts - There is a massive tax increase effective January 1, 2013...

Much is going on in Washington, DC …the debt ceiling vote and debate…and the harsh words for the Tea Party movement and caucus. Governor Sarah Palin joins us to discuss these issues…10pm eastern, ON THE RECORD !

Tea Party Patriots co-founder Mark Meckler warned he was "not finding a lot of people who are happy" with the bipartisan debt-ceiling deal, and that the local groups he helps coordinate might go after incumbents who vote for it. "When it comes time to decide whether to primary folks this will be a factor," Meckler told The Hill Monday afternoon. The Tea Party Patriots is an umbrella organization for more than 3,500 local Tea Party groups around the country. While the larger organization does not raise or spend money on campaigns, where it stands is a good indicator of how...

I stand here in abject stupefaction. The so-called "right" or "Tea Party" in this republic is being so thoroughly rolled and defeated that I am struggling to come up with an adequate violent submission metaphor that does not involve prison rape . . . and they honesty think that they're "winning." Really? You call this winning? •- Obama gets over $2 Trillion to spend before the 2012 election •- There are no real spending cuts •- There is a massive tax increase effective January 1, 2013 Obama is going to be handed something in excess of $2 Trillion -- and...

The fiscally conservative Club for Growth "strongly opposes" the compromise President Obama worked out with Republican and Democratic leaders and will include the vote in its "key vote" Congressional scorecard, the group announced Monday. "The problems with this proposal are many, but fiscal conservatives should have obvious concerns for the lack of guaranteed future spending cuts, no requirement that a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution be sent to the states, a commission that could still recommend job-killing tax increases, and worse of all, two debt limit increases totaling over $2 trillion within only a matter of months," said Club...

Rep. Michele Bachmann is cutting short her presidential campaign trip to Iowa to return to Washington for a vote on a debt ceiling deal. Bachmann was to make two appearances Monday -- a midday event in Newton and a late afternoon backyard chat in Dexter -- but her campaign said she was instead flying back to be ready to vote against the bill later in the day. The Minnesota Republican has opposed any increase in the debt ceiling during negotiations. "The 'deal' ... spends too much and doesn't cut enough," Bachmann said in a statement released Sunday after President Barack...