Topic: The Entirely Fake Debt Crisis

[trapeze]

Not that the national debt is fake. It isn't. It's a real serious problem. But the way that it's being reported on by the media and the way that it's being dealt with by the politicians is most definitely fraudulent.

Limbaugh has illustrated this quite nicely the last couple of days. Levin has, as usual, not minced words about this, either.

I found another nice summary of the "we are being played" story at AoS:

The current Boehner deal is less than meaningless. It's an insult to you. Boehner is grabbing your daughter, spitting in her mouth, and then burning your house down. All the while talking about how he's all about doing the right thing.

Let me reiterate, as I have been for the last day or so on each of these threads:

The CBO does some stupid things. Like assuming an approximate 7% increase in federal spending year over year as normal, even without any new programs or departments. Like making 10-year budgets, when only one year really matters, because it's impossible for one Congress to bind another.

Let me give you some small idea of how screwed up Washington math is, and how much it favors those who are in power over those of us who foot the bill with our blood and treasure:

If we JUST CAPPED SPENDING-- spent the same amount next FY as we did this FY,

the CBO would score that as a $9.5 trillion dollar cut.

So before anyone can claim we're "cutting" anything, the number they are talking about has to exceed $9.5 trillion.

The Boehner plan, with all its actuarial tomfoolery, claims to cut something in the neighborhood of $850 billion.

And only $20 billion of that is this year.

So John Boehner is saying to you that spending $20 billion less than Obama's opening offer is worth giving him a blank check for a trillion and more.

As long as we're going to go on playing for the "long game" it's meaningless to even try to put together a plan. Just let the Democrats do what they want to, since the difference between what they're going to do and Republicans' counteroffer is less than a rounding error.

My point is, either we fight for this, or we die like dogs. What the House is doing is not fighting.

More at the link.

[trapeze]

Right about now I am thinking that the best thing that can happen is a failure of the House to pass anything and somehow the Senate is forced to take up CCB and the BBA.

[trapeze]

The Limbaugh transcript from a link at Drudge...

RUSH:  I think we've been played for a bunch of saps, I mean not us exclusively, I just mean the whole country, [by] the Republican Party, ruling class.  I'll explain as uncomfortable as it is and as [de]grading as it is, I'll explain as the program unfolds it's great to have you here as always telephone number if you want to be on the program.  800-282-2882.  The e-mail address ElRushbo@eibnet.com.

Where are we on the debt deal?  I suspect that most of the people, and this is what a lot of people are relying on, "Just finish it!"  A lot of people are sick and tired of hearing about it, let's move on to something else.  "I'm tired of talking about it.  Can't we do something that's fun?  What the hell is going on?"  I understand the sentiment.  Yesterday or last night the Republican leadership succeeded in getting Allen West to flip and vote for the Boehner plan or to commit to it.  The same thing with Paul Ryan, and I've had a lot of e-mails:  "What's Allen West doing?  I can't believe Allen West, of all people."  These Democrats, folks, you have to understand who we're dealing with here.  This whole thing with Debbie "Blabbermouth" Schultz going on the House floor and accusing West of wanting to cut Medicare and Social Security and all that in the south Florida district, and you remember the contretemps that begin with West responding to it and so forth.  They have put his re-election into play and, of course, they've got the media on their side down here in south Florida.  

So all over the media is the allegation that Allen West wants to do all this damage to senior citizens and so forth so that's how his vote gets -- I'm guessing.  I haven't spoken to him.  But I think that's a large part of it.  Now, as we all know the Boehner bill is not ideal.  It's another one of these eight hundred, nine hundred, I don't even think it gets to a trillion, but let's say it does, a trillion dollars in cuts over 10 years, the debt limit raised immediately so the spending occurs immediately, but it re-invites the debt limit debate all over again in a few short few months and in fact there is from the Daily Caller today a story that says the GOP is stealing Christmas.  The Democrats are going back to the Gingrich that stole Christmas theme from the Clinton days.  And here's the story from the Daily Caller: "GOP Aims to Gut Christmas, White House Alleges -- House Speaker and national grinch John Boehner is planning to spoil Christmas, White House officials are claiming, as they try to head off passage of Boehner’s two-stage debt ceiling bill."

They don't want to head off passage of the Boehner bill.  They want the Boehner bill to pass in the house.  There's a trap essentially that's being set, and I noticed that there's an AP story, and way down at the AP story: "In fact, Boehner's plan has enough in common with Reid's -- including the establishment of a special congressional panel to recommend additional spending cuts this fall -- that Reid hinted a compromise could be easy to snap together," between his nonexistent bill and the Boehner bill.  What does that mean?  What it means is that over in the Senate Reid really doesn't have a bill.  He's got an idea, but he doesn't have a bill.  And what he's put forth as an idea hasn't gotten all that much support.  But here comes, let's say the House, and Boehner doesn't have the votes in the House yet according to Politico.  And this is key.  That was as of 9:30 this morning and they're going to be working the Republican caucus all day long before the vote tonight.  But, as of now, Boehner doesn't have the votes for his bill.  But let's assume he gets the votes.  The Boehner bill then goes to the Senate where it's dead on arrival.  There are 58 senators that are going to vote against it, by design.  However, they've got a bill over there now.

So Dingy Harry can take the Boehner bill and tweak it and rewrite it, make additions to it, take some things out of it, play with it however he wants, and get enough votes from Democrats since it becomes the Reid bill, and then it gets sent back to Boehner in the House looking nothing like his bill, but the rationale for passing the Boehner bill in the House is we've got to do this, the time is up, we're not going to get blamed.  So if Reid monkeys around with the bill that he gets from Boehner, and it passes in the Senate, with whatever changes that are not favorable to us, of course, they throw it back in Boehner's lap, and then the pressure is going to be back on Boehner.  Okay, do you sign the Reid bill?  Do you pass it?  Do you get your guys to vote for it and send it to Obama, basically a Democrat bill.  That is what a lot of people -- and I sign on to the theory, too -- this is one of the traps that's being set.  The Boehner bill is essentially being used to be a foundation for a nonexistent as of yet Reid bill.  And thereby the Boehner bill becomes the Reid bill, therefore Democrat bill all in the absence of an Obama plan.  No Obama plan at all in this.

Way more at the link.

[IronDioPriest]

I heard Rush speaking of this today, and I think he's dead-on. The Republicans are either fools for not seeing it, or too stupid to represent us.

[Pandora]

The House passed the Cut, Cap and Balance bill and the Senate tabled it.

Repeat:  The House PASSED A BILL, sent it to the Senate; the onus was on the Dems at that point and they did nothing about "THE CRISIS"!

At that point, the House should have just STOPPED, offered nothing else, and made this their talking points and mantra, because Reid is just rerunning the game-plan:

Boehner's going to need to begin immediately working on a way out of the mess because it's still going to be his mess, according to the Democrats. They're going to say, "The sent us something that we wouldn't possibly pass. He's trying to make us look like the obstructionist, but he knows we wouldn't vote for this, so why did he send it to us? So we're going to monkey around with it, we're going to send it back to him, and we're going to put the compromise onus back on him again." So the thinking is the Democrats think they can get away after Boehner and the Republicans might think they've won the day on compromise. The Democrats say, "Oh no you haven't! You've sent us something we can't possibly vote for.

"Here. We're going to send it back to you with some changes we're going to make in it, and it's going to be up to you, Mr. Boehner, to begin immediately working on a way out of this mess -- and if you don't, we could be in big trouble." Then Reid, McConnell, and the White House have plenty of options. Here goes monkying around with the Boehner bill to turn it into something that the Senate will vote for, and it goes back to Boehner and then the question: "Will he choose compromise for the sake of the country or...?" In other words: "Will Boehner agree to the changes the Senate makes to his bill, or not?" and if he doesn't, the problem then becomes, "Republicans refuse to compromise," which is what the Democrats want all along.

If this is what the Dems are going to do, and I believe they are, Boehner should have just stopped at the first bill.

[trapeze]

Levin has been even tougher on the Republican leadership. He has even asked his listeners to call Congress with this message: "Stop spending now."

This really is it. If conservatives don't take a stand now then it's pretty much all over and we are doomed as a country. And that's been O'Bama's game plan all along. Cloward-Pivens. Crash the system. Despotism and a new progressive world order.

The Tea Party caucus knows this and is resisting the moronic establishment Republican game plan.

I don't understand Allen West and Paul Ryan giving in, though. That is really troubling.

[Pandora]

Levin has been even tougher on the Republican leadership. He has even asked his listeners to call Congress with this message: "Stop spending now."

This really is it. If conservatives don't take a stand now then it's pretty much all over and we are doomed as a country. And that's been O'Bama's game plan all along. Cloward-Pivens. Crash the system. Despotism and a new progressive world order.

The Tea Party caucus knows this and is resisting the moronic establishment Republican game plan.

I don't understand Allen West and Paul Ryan giving in, though. That is really troubling.

The pressure must be tremendous.  The DC bubble is tremendously insulating.

[rickl]

I've been commenting at Ticker Forum tonight about this.

http://market-ticker.org/akcs-www?post=190926

[trapeze]

The House vote was cancelled for tonight. That is to say that it's been postponed until Boehner can get enough "yes" votes for it to pass.

Time for backbone.

[Predator Don]

What type of cesspool is there for West and Ryan to fold? This is the time to make a stand. This country is doomed under liberal leadership and we are doomed with a watered down, so called, compromise.

[trapeze]

What is really irritating for me (and I'm sure for most true conservatives) is that it wasn't too long ago that we were in a similar situation and behaved just about the exact same way.

It was the vote for the last continuing resolution. The Republican leadership held the winning hand and instead of cashing it in and actually getting something for that vote we got nothing. Nothing but vague promises of really cashing in when the debt ceiling had to be raised.

Well, here we are at the debt ceiling vote and instead of cashing in and getting something (like a BBA) we are being told by the Republican leadership, again, that we need to cool our jets and wait, again, until after the 2012 election when we will be in a better position.

But, we were in that position for many years during the GWB admin. And we got nothing.

So that's why this is pissing me off.

That's why Limbaugh is saying that we are being played. And he's right.

Kind of reminds me of that song by The Who.

[Pandora]

Another version of 'kick the can down the road', trap.  Bend over now, stand for the next crisis.

Except the same line is run on the next crisis.  This is a game-plan for eternal losses and I'm done with that sh*t.

[rickl]

This also reminds me of the fight over Medicare Part D.  There were a number of Republicans in Congress who wanted no part of it and they got strong-armed by the leadership.  The voting was held open until they got enough votes to pass it.

[Pandora]

Latest Dem talking point:

Republicans/Tea Party "holding the economy hostage".  Rush played the montage.

[Damn_Lucky]

  Ever get the feeling you're playing with LOADED dice?
Time to get new dice!

[Weisshaupt]

You either vote for the evil party or the stupid party.

I know everyone things I am too pessimistic about a political solution, but this is pretty much playing out as I expected. Some theatrics to make it look like something is being done, but nothing is, or will be.

And the sad thing is you have the evil party out there saying stupid stuff like:

http://www.cnn.com/2011/OPINION/07/28/balkin.obama.options/index.html?hpt=hp_c1

Ironically, there's no similar limit on the amount of coinage. A little-known statute gives the secretary of the Treasury the authority to issue platinum coins in any denomination. So some commentators have suggested that the Treasury create two $1 trillion coins, deposit them in its account in the Federal Reserve and write checks on the proceeds.

or responding to the theater by pretending that proves there is no problem.

http://globalpublicsquare.blogs.cnn.com/2011/07/28/the-damage-is-already-done/

My basic point is that this is a crisis that we have manufactured out of whole cloth. We have created a circumstance in which the world doubts our credibility, rating agencies are thinking of downgrading our debt and the dollar's role as the world's reserve currency could be jeopardized.

Please understand that none of these things are happening because the United States is running deficits. There was no indication - by any metric - that the United States was having difficulty borrowing money one month ago. In fact, the world has been lending money to the United States more cheaply than ever before.

Yeah, thats right. No trouble borrowing because the Fed was buying over half of the Bonds at auction. No worries. 




 

[rickl]

Weisshaupt:
Sounds more like the Stupid Party and the Mentally Deranged Party.

[trapeze]

Ever get the feeling you're playing with LOADED dice?
Time to get new dice!

Ahh, but that's not the real problem. You see, if you know that loaded dice are in the game then you bet accordingly and game the situation to your advantage.

The problem for the sucker (i.e. the taxpayer in this illustration) isn't the loaded dice but rather the dice mechanic who switches them in and out of the game. The sucker, even when he suspects the game is crooked, never knows when the dice are hot or cold.

The only chance the sucker has is to get out of the game before all of his money is gone.

But that part is fixed, too. When the sucker gets wise there are other members of the dice gang who come into play. The shoot up man handles PR with the suckers: keeping the action going, getting the bets higher and cooling out the losers.

The third part of the dice crew is the muscle. He is there for when the chump really gets wise and either wants out of the game or wants his money back. The muscle man adjusts the attitude of the sucker either through intimidation or outright violence.

Either way the sucker 1) doesn't stand a chance and 2) always leaves the game flat broke.

You can assign these crew member attributes to those in the media and government without too much effort.

We are the chumps although some few of us are beginning to get wise.

[Predator Don]

Ever get the feeling you're playing with LOADED dice?
Time to get new dice!

Ahh, but that's not the real problem. You see, if you know that loaded dice are in the game then you bet accordingly and game the situation to your advantage.

The problem for the sucker (i.e. the taxpayer in this illustration) isn't the loaded dice but rather the dice mechanic who switches them in and out of the game. The sucker, even when he suspects the game is crooked, never knows when the dice are hot or cold.

The only chance the sucker has is to get out of the game before all of his money is gone.

But that part is fixed, too. When the sucker gets wise there are other members of the dice gang who come into play. The shoot up man handles PR with the suckers: keeping the action going, getting the bets higher and cooling out the losers.

The third part of the dice crew is the muscle. He is there for when the chump really gets wise and either wants out of the game or wants his money back. The muscle man adjusts the attitude of the sucker either through intimidation or outright violence.

Either way the sucker 1) doesn't stand a chance and 2) always leaves the game flat broke.

You can assign these crew member attributes to those in the media and government without too much effort.

We are the chumps although some few of us are beginning to get wise.

With the obama administration one thing is certain.....craps every time.

[Pandora]

I know everyone things I am too pessimistic about a political solution ....

Weisshaupt, this "everyone" doesn't.  I happen to agree.