Downgrade!

[Howey]

It's been alluded to before, now - Thanks to the childish intransigence of Congress, this nation's credit rating has been downgraded. One cannot lay blame at the feet of any political party or person, yet the prevailing attitude of extreme right wing radicals in Congress, led by the immature and unaware Tea Party Caucus, should shoulder the majority of blame.

What's funny, or sad, is that people actually wanted this to happen, as evidenced by our former member lil Mike's signature on the muche...

Greek Government bonds are now paying interest in the 20% to 26% range.  What a great investment!

I mean, what could go wrong?

Did these fucking idiots really intend to destroy our country just because a black man is President?

[...]The political brinksmanship of recent months highlights what we see as America’s governance and policymaking becoming less stable, less effective, and less predictable than what we previously believed. The statutory debt ceiling and the threat of default have become political bargaining chips in the debate over fiscal policy.

[...]It appears that for now, new revenues have dropped down on the menu of policy options.
 
[...]The act contains no measures to raise taxes or otherwise enhance revenues, though the committee could recommend them.
 
[...]Compared with previous projections, our revised base case scenario now assumes that the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts, due to expire by the end of 2012, remain in place. We have changed our assumption on this because the majority of Republicans in Congress continue to resist any measure that would raise revenues, a position we believe Congress reinforced by passing the act.

Would it be wrong to accuse those who caused this mess of treason?

[Howey]

What one person can be attributed with this debt ceiling fiasco?

This guy.

In mid-January, newly installed as the GOP House majority leader, Virginia’s Eric Cantor rose to the podium inside a spacious hotel ballroom to deliver a message to his troops, including the 87 newcomers who had given the party control of the House.

A vote to increase the nation’s $14.3 trillion debt limit was coming soon, he told the caucus members who had gathered at the Marriott in Baltimore’s Inner Harbor for a closed-door retreat less than 10 days after taking power. Think of it as a “hidden” opportunity, he implored them, a chance to achieve their goal of reining in the federal government and its spending habits.

“I’m asking you to look at a potential increase in the debt limit as a leverage moment when the White House and President Obama will have to deal with us,” said Cantor, one of several new House leaders who detailed the game plan for the coming months. “Either we stick together and demonstrate that we’re a team that will fight for and stand by our principles, or we will lose that leverage.”

The frantic showdown that followed, bringing the nation to the brink of default, looked like the haphazard escalation of a typical partisan standoff.

It wasn’t.

And don't forget these fucking idiots. Sorry Nutty, this is what you get when folks have the attitude "Throw the bums out!".

There's more, but here's a few names. The rest are at the link.

Randy Altschuler (NY-01)

Greg Anders (WA-02)

Andy Barr (KY-06)

Justin Bernier (CT-05)

Mike Clark (CT-05)

Steve Daines (MT-AL)

Brendan Doherty (RI-01)

Rob Frost (OH-10)

Mark Greenberg (CT-05)

Abel Maldonado (CA-23)

Ed Martin (MO-02)

Luke Messer (IN-06)

Ann Wagner (MO-02)

Jackie Walorski (IN-02)

Michael Williams (TX-33)

Roger Williams (TX-33)

Lisa Wilson-Foley (CT-05)


If and when the market crashes tomorrow, bringing our economy into a state that would make the Great Depression look like boom times, I hope each and every one of these nutjobs are lined up in front of Wall Street for all of America to see the Faces of Treason.


 

[ekg]

Thanks to the childish intransigence of Congress, this nation's credit rating has been downgraded. One cannot lay blame at the feet of any political party or person,

why not?

The tea party had their offer doubled with Obama's offer.. but it also included ending oil company subsidies and tax loop holes for corporate jet owners so they said NO...  after that, it just went downhill from there.. and they took the rating of this country down with them..
which is what they wanted anyway..

[Howey]

why not?

The tea party had their offer doubled with Obama's offer.. but it also included ending oil company subsidies and tax loop holes for corporate jet owners so they said NO...  after that, it just went downhill from there.. and they took the rating of this country down with them..
which is what they wanted anyway..

Yeah, I changed course on that one real quick, or didn't type what I meant. See the next sentence and post.

Mike's boy (take that Buchanan!) Cantor takes all the blame for this one. He should be.hung by his balls off that Wall Street bull's horns.

[ekg]

Krugman explains  S&P's  'chutzpah' nicely..

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/08/opinion/credibility-chutzpah-and-debt.html?src=recg

Let’s start with S.& P.’s lack of credibility. If there’s a single word that best describes the rating agency’s decision to downgrade America, it’s chutzpah — traditionally defined by the example of the young man who kills his parents, then pleads for mercy because he’s an orphan.

America’s large budget deficit is, after all, primarily the result of the economic slump that followed the 2008 financial crisis. And S.& P., along with its sister rating agencies, played a major role in causing that crisis, by giving AAA ratings to mortgage-backed assets that have since turned into toxic waste.

Nor did the bad judgment stop there. Notoriously, S.& P. gave Lehman Brothers, whose collapse triggered a global panic, an A rating right up to the month of its demise. And how did the rating agency react after this A-rated firm went bankrupt? By issuing a report denying that it had done anything wrong.

RE: tea party's fault.. even Paul Ryan blames them...

http://www.rawstory.com/rawreplay/2011/08/ryan-claims-downgrade-is-vindication-of-gop/

“Both political parties are responsible for the mess we have right,” Ryan admitted. “This is not a Democrat or Republican problem only. Both parties got us to where we are. I would argue, though, in the last couple of years, we’ve gone deeply in the wrong direction.”

ok, not in so many words..   but whenever a GOP'er say's 'both parties are responsible' they mean their party fucked up.. because 99 other times out of 100 they put the blame solely on the Dem/Libs..

[Howey]

Of course FOX News wanted the downgrade to happen...

[44nutman]

And don't forget these fucking idiots. Sorry Nutty, this is what you get when folks have the attitude "Throw the bums out!".

Why because the current crop who have been in office for over 8 years have done such a good job. They are the ones that put us in this mess. The Wars, combined with lowering the tax rates was a recipe for success. The same old dinosaurs that had no problem okaying spending have found the libertarian god. I think after about 2 years in DC you are corrupted by the amount of money thrown your way.

The problem with the left is they get their money from both sides. The unions send them cashe and corporations have so much money they always back the winner. The right do not usually get any money from the unions but all of their money from big business. There is only one winner in the above situation and it is not either side of the aisle or the general public.
Thanks to the Supreme Court, big business are going to continually buy elections and get their lackeys elected. The system needs a douche. The only way we can voice our displeasure is to continually turn over Congress.

[Howey]

Why because the current crop who have been in office for over 8 years have done such a good job. They are the ones that put us in this mess. The Wars, combined with lowering the tax rates was a recipe for success.

True dat. But without the froshcrazies holding our debt and our country hostage we wouldn't have faced the downgrade. Let's find some intelligent folks out there with minds of there own before we try to "throw the bums out" next time, k?

[Howey]

lilMike, in his absence, has posted a blog about this:

http://muchedumbre.com/the-crack-in-the-dam

Funny stuff!

But the real issue, as S& P stated in their press release, is our long term fiscal trajectory.  Our public debt, both in terms of percentage of GDP and future arc, is trending upwards, far above our ability to service it.  The press release stated of the debt plan:
 
“…the plan envisions only minor policy changes on Medicare and little change in other entitlements, the containment of which we and most other independent observers regard as key to long-term fiscal sustainability.”

yeah. Not really...

Ahhh…the crazed followers of lilMike evoking comparisons between Obama and Communism. Things never change!
 
Even more ridiculous is you quoting one sentence as the deciding factor in S&P’s decision, ingnoring the Republican Elephant in the room. For instance, did you know that in sentence construction the first paragraph is most important?:
 

We lowered our long-term rating on the U.S. because we believe that the prolonged controversy over raising the statutory debt ceiling and the related fiscal policy debate indicate that further near-term progress containing the growth in public spending, especially on entitlements, or on reaching an agreement on raising revenues is less likely than we previously assumed and will remain a contentious and fitful process.

As the S&P continues to take the Republicans, particularly the Tea Party Caucus to task for taking the American debt hostage:
 

The political brinksmanship of recent months highlights what we see as America’s governance and policymaking becoming less stable, less effective, and less predictable than what we previously believed.

Oh, look what was right before the sentence you quoted!

It appears that for now, new revenues have dropped down on the menu of policy options.

Then there’s this pretty obvious statement:
 

We have changed our assumption on this because the majority of Republicans in Congress continue to resist any measure that would raise revenues

Of course, all you saw in S&P’s Press Release was one little sentence. Why didn’t you blame your boy (hah! Take that Buchanan!) Cantor for being the crux of the problem? Didn’t he make the following statement to the Tea Party freshmen shortly before they took office?
 

“I’m asking you to look at a potential increase in the debt limit as a leverage moment when the White House and President Obama will have to deal with us,” said Cantor, one of several new House leaders who detailed the game plan for the coming months. “Either we stick together and demonstrate that we’re a team that will fight for and stand by our principles, or we will lose that leverage.”

I guess they could have taken the high road and passed a debt ceiling limit increase in a clean vote like it’s been done for over 70 years, encompassing both Republican and Democratic administrations…but that wouldn’t be “political brinkmanship”, would it?
 
btw, Mike. We miss you on the forum! Come on back and join us!

[ekg]

since Boehner bragged about getting 98% of what he wanted...  Boehner owns this economy now, or atleast 98% of it..along with the ownership of the downgrade..

which btw, he owned anyway since he was part of the Bush gov't who sold this country all the bullshit to begin with..

and really, we're going to freak out over an S&P downgrade? The same people giving Bear Sterns,Merrill Lynchand AIG AAA+ ratings a week before they died? really?

as for his blog? Why do you insist on bringing his fiction here?

The debt ceiling fight was instructive in this regard.  Democrats don’t want to cut anything.

Really, if I wanted to read an alternate reality I'd read LOTR again..atleast in it the trolls are proud to be trolls and don't hide from it..

[Howey]

as for his blog? Why do you insist on bringing his fiction here?


Really, if I wanted to read an alternate reality I'd read LOTR again..atleast in it the trolls are proud to be trolls and don't hide from it..

lol...Sometimes it's nice to visit the dark side and see just how crazy they are...like that one idiot who commented on his blog. That's what's wrong with the stupidity of America. These teabaggers read one skewed sentence posted by someone they think is smart, without reading further.

I know I'm often criticized for calling them stupid and idiots, but how else can you describe it?