I agree with Andy. It’s not a dollar-for-dollar match if Obama gets an extra trillion bucks in his pocket now in return for 900-and-whatever billion stretched out over ten years. That formula’s a crock.
Furthermore, at some point the crock risks straining the ratings system beyond repair. Just as Obama and Boehner want credit for talking about cuts without having to cut anything, S&P and Moody’s want credit for musing on downgrading without actually having to do it. That’s understandable: downgrading the United States has consequences that downgrading Ireland and Portugal doesn’t. But, having flopped out in 2008, they want something on the record this time round.
I don’t think that will be enough. The European Union, you’ll recall, was fulminating against the ratings gang a couple of weeks back, and threatening to criminalize them. I regard the EU as a pestilence and have no use for the Euro, but their complaint is not without merit — as I noted in my weekend column. Nobody in Greece, Portugal, Spain, or Ireland is talking about “out years” and exciting plans for spending cuts in 2020. They’re getting on with it now — and they’re still being downgraded.
By contrast, both U.S. political parties are playing croquet on the lawn in August 1914 — and the ratings agencies are stringing along with them. Whatever the comparisons of debt-to-GDP ratios between Greece, Ireland, and the U.S., the actual hard dollar amount involved here is of an entirely different order. The Boehner plan tells us that real fiscal discipline is impossible within the U.S. political system. At some point, the ratings guys have to call them on it — or render their system meaningless.
I think that this whole farce, combined with McCain's rhetoric today on the Senate floor, will finally yield to America a REAL national conservative political party. McCain and the good ol' boys in the GOP establishment need to be thrown out, on their ears, and in short order, or we need a new party.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseNo, we need a new people. The same people that in their personal lives think paying their Visa card off with their Mastercard is a solution are the people casting most of the votes at the ballot box.
We need to get cracking on a benign version of Skynet.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseIndeed. Also, wouldn't mind seeing one haywire Yul Brynner robot appointed to each house of Congress. Anytime anyone did anything stupid, all it would do is stand up, look around the room, say nothing, twitch his fingers by the holster, and 535 people would immediately vote the right way.
Count me in for the SF rabble-rouser solution, whatever it is.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseIt's how the west was won! (Captcha is "first world," lol)
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse"REAL national conservative political party"...
...or, as the Democrats call it, their free pass to a permanent governing majority.
Please, let us all know how it works out after they confiscate your weapons, take money out of your pocket to pay for partial-birth abortion on demand and turn Israel over to the Iranians.
But hey, at least you'll have 13 Senators that always vote the right way, so there will be that.
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse"...after they confiscate your weapons, take money out of your pocket to pay for partial-birth abortion on demand and turn Israel over to the Iranians."
"after they confiscate your weapons" ... that's coming in 2013-16
"turn Israel over to the Iranians." ...
that's already happening
The 50+ new freshman congressman aren't RINOs. They got elected because they spoke plainly that they believed in conservative principles and would fight for them - they presented a clear choice - not Democrat Light.
I believe there are still enough traditional Americans who will respond to and vote in winning numbers for men and women who will stand up and plainly/loudly speak for conservative, traditional American values. But if not, let's find out now - if I am, in fact, living in a country where the majority of the people in it want socialism, then I want to know that now. I'm tired of living in fear while the Jaws theme of socialism plays ever louder in the background.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI hope you are right, that's why I said I'd rather that the GOP just be taken over by true conservatives, but if that cannot be done, we need a truly conservative party. The McCains of the GOP world are destroying the GOP.
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse"if I am, in fact, living in a country where the majority of the people in it want socialism, then I want to know that now."
Yes, this. I'd rather live in a country emerging from the socialist experiment than one just heading into it.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseAs the other poster mentioned...
They are taking money out of my pocket to fund abortions...NOW.
Weapons have been taken out of our hands since 1934's National Firearms Act and hasn't slowed down since.
Israel has been all but abandoned, as both GOP and Dems have demanded they give up their own hard-fought territory for empty promises of peace.
If we're going down, I'd at least like to go down fighting, and standing on principle.
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse@RightEveryTime - "If we're going down, I'd at least like to go down fighting, and standing on principle."
Exactly. The mantra that "things could be worse," that trying to move the country to the right (read: back to the center from the far left) is a recipe for disaster seem to think that there's still hope the way we're going. We need a course correction now.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseBetween the Democrats and the RINOs, the liberals already have a permanent governing majority.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseScott, I don't why you're so reluctant to believe that the Tea Party can replicate it's success of 2010 going forward. Given the ridiculously low percentage of people who vote in this country, it would take a relatively small uptick in conservative participation to semi-permanently change the political direction of the nation.
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse"Scott, I don't why you're so reluctant to believe that the Tea Party can replicate it's success of 2010 going forward""
One word - math.
Let's talk about 2010. Just 2M more people voted in total in 2010 than voted for Barack Obama in 2008. The people who didn't vote in 2010 didn't fall off the earth. They'll be back, and when they do, MANY of them will be voting for Obama.
In the last 40-years, the country has become much more ethnically diverse. In 2008, one of the few demographics that the GOP won was white people. In fact, they won that demo 55-43. Fifty-five percent of all voting white people voted for John McCain, and he still lost by 7-points. How have things changed? In 1980, Ronald Reagan won white people 56-36 (with the balance going to John Anderson), but Reagan managed to win 44-states in an Electoral landslide.
Here's the worst news. Yep, an embarrassing low percentage of people vote in this country (especially in off-year elections), but of those that don't vote, a much greater percentage are liberal or progressives. This is why polls that poll adults rather than registered voters or likely voters, always favor the Dem candidates and/or the progressive issues. Higher turnout always works against Republicans. Always.
If Obama manages to take back the White House, and if the Dems manage to take back House, you will see the real damage the liberals can do to this country.
In addition to all the legislative damage Obama could do in a 2nd term, think about him making one more, or even two more Supreme Court picks. Scalia & Kennedy are both 75, going on 76. If either were to be replaced by Obama, that's the ballgame.
The assault weapons ban will return. And Heller would likely be reversed, in addition to 4 or 5 key decisions from the last 20-years - like Citizens United, for instance. The partial-birth abortion ban will be reversed, either legislatively or judicially. And worst of all, there will be illegal immigrant amnesty, WITH a "pathway" to citizenship. Then, once those 20M illegals (or more) can vote, the Tea Party will become entirely irrelevant.
And, for those that have said, "all those things are happening already", either aren't paying attention, or they're being intentionally argumentative. If Barack Obama is reelected, and if the GOP can't manage to take back the Senate (or even keep the House), 2013 will be a horrible year for the Republic. What happens in the next several weeks, will go a LONG way to determining what happens next year.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseMark Steyn is 100% correct.
Thank God for him and Andy McCarthy. Without them, NRO would be milquetoast RINO Central.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseYes, indeed.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseCool, let's just place our bets on the Apocolypse.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseMr. Steyn,
You're right as far as it goes, but at this point it is long past the point when any of this mattered. My response to the ratings agencies, hedge fund managers and erstwhile supporters in the media (David Brooks and Peggy Noonan, I'm looking at you) is "where were you when any of this mattered $14 Trillion dollars ago?" The last chance we had to prevent a downgrade was in November 2008 when 52% of the country took a flyer on a lightweight socialist hiding in plain sight. After that point it was too late. As Obama said: "I'll trump you on that. I won." We're all hosed.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI think you are right. This is basically political theater. The Reid plan is smoke and mirrors. The plan's sole objective is to do nothing but look as if something is being done. The Boehner plan is too little, too late, and more hope than change. Obama is, as usual, AWOL unwilling to actually commit himself.
This will not end well. At best, we will have a facade of action, but no real action. Real action will come when either we cannot borrow or the costs of borrowing will be so high, the government can do little else. Then the reality will strike and the government will do whatever it thinks is necessary to save itself. What that something does to the citizens and taxpayers will be irrelevant. Saving the system will be the only priority of those entrenched in the system.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseWe need to officially term limit these crockmeisters.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI've got $10 on the "meaningless system" option. Anyone want to cover?
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