lilMike, in his absence, has posted a blog about this:
http://muchedumbre.com/the-crack-in-the-damFunny 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!
