Will they or won't they?
Monday evening, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell negotiated a deal to end the economic standoff. Their plan would temporarily fund the government and lift the debt ceiling, and leave the next round of sequester cuts in place. In addition, their deal would require income verification for Obamacare recipients, and establish a committee to work out a broader budget plan by December 13th.
In response, the House Republicans put forward another plan of their own. In addition to the provisions put forward by the Senate, the House plan would also delay the medical device tax for two years and require Congress to sign up for Obamacare – without any employer contribution. The House proposal would also eliminate much of the Treasury's ability to take “extraordinary measures” to avoid defaulting on our debt in the future.
However, the Obama Administration has already rejected the latest House plan. A spokesperson for the White House said, “The President has said repeatedly that members of Congress don't get to demand ransom for fulfilling their basic responsibilities to pass a budget an pass the nation's bills.” And, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said, “Let's be clear, the House Republican legislation will not pass the Senate.”
So, with less than 48 hours until we default on our debt, it looks like we're left with the Senate plan to solve this problem. But, the upper chamber can't move forward without “unanimous consent,” and that means that hard-Right senators like Ted Cruz could stop the Senate from expediting a plan. As it stands now, it's unclear if a resolution is any closer or even farther away. Americans, and the world, are watching to see whether Senate leaders can find a way to bypass this political gridlock. Stay tuned.
Comments
GREAT show today Thom. Hope you and Louise are having a nice night on the town...or whatever. Someone in the Chat room posted this link. http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/19428-the-ghost-of-authoritarianism-in... well written, in my opinion. It sheds a great deal of light on the bigger picture behind the dysfunction of our Government as a whole. One theory I have read somewhere (not here, can't remember where); multinational corporations and Billionaires, like Aidelson who have enormous interests in China are teaming up with Chinese industry and Government to twist arms in D.C. to force the devaluation of the dollar which would give China and the multinational billionairs invested with them a huge advantage as China sells US bonds and invests at home and in the EU. Excerpt From article linked to above:
"The new extremists in the Republican Party are simply raising the bar for the authoritarian registers and illegal legalities that have emerged under Bush and Obama in the past decade - including the bailing out of banks guilty of the worst forms of corporate malfeasance, the refusal to prosecute government officials who committed torture, the undermining of civil liberties with the passage of the Patriot Act, the National Defense Authorization Act, the establishment of a presidential kill list and the authorization of widespread surveillance to be used against the American people without full transparency. The current crisis has little to do with what some have called a standoff between the two major political parties. It is has been decades in the making and is part of a much broader coup d'état to benefit the financial elite, race baiters, war mongers and conservative ideologues such as the right-wing billionaires..."
Also very informative re. current situation: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHVgRgYdCsQ
Ted Cruz is a horse's ass.
Tuesday evening--still no law to raise the debt ceiling. The way I read the U.S. Constitution, the Administration does not tax nnor does it appropriate funds. It is required to pay the debts and manage the money supply (or something like that). Only Congress can raise taxes or appropriate expenditures. If Congress gives some discretionary funds to the President for him to manage, they usually complain!
Moody's calims that if the country defaults, the credit rating will go to C. Should that occur, the interest on any debt refinancing will cost a real bundle. I call that a VERY large tax increase and all due to the Tea Party loyals in the House plus a few in the Senate but all GOP!
Bob with the debt of your nation going up a trillion dollars a year, a massive change in your health care system adding tens of millions of people who could not afford health care to it and getting close to 18 trillion in debt isn't taxes going up a given. Taxes will go up. they will go up on everyone exspecially what is left on the middle class. Americans with have less disposable income and the recovery will take years. Do you really think raising the debt limit is a good idea. Isn't it there to warn you that your spending too much.
Whatever happens, it is clear what the underlying issue is--the wealthy have run up a huge war tab and don't want to pay it. The middle class has been so disempowered that they are not capable of shouldering the burden alone. So these wealthy 'philanthropists' now want to stick the poor and the sick with the bill; or, simply declare national bankruptcy, and throw the nation's assets and credibility under the bus. It is We the People who will suffer; and, perhaps rightfully so. After all, we let those wars happen, didn't we? We didn't care that much that hundreds of thousands of innocent Muslims suffered, so why should anyone care if we suffer? What comes around goes around.
Kend ~ Taxes will go up because of national health care? So what? That is money well spent. In fact, what might I ask you is a better way to spend tax money? Killing innocent civilians? Easy for someone to say whose government doesn't have all the ills ours does, and who doesn't have a care in the world about health care.
I understand why the wealthy don't want to waste a cent on our wars for oil. I wish we could get back every cent myself. Money flushed down the toilet on a worthless, obsolete commodity.
If anyone wants to know how the Kochs and their friends have engineered the shutdown read the article by Eric Zuesse in today's Huff Post Politics.
For a moment I was thinking that the Teabaggers had gone Frankenstein on the Kochs, but now I truly think the Kochs are shooting for a total financial breakdown of the federal government, and thus it's ability to enforce environmental regulations, or prevent legislation allowing their tar sands pipeline......two billion more per year for the elderly billionaires. Why can't they get over the money thing..... give up and marry young busty blondes like other old rich guys with little time left do? Could it be because they're freaking nuts?
Speaking of nuts, I see Cruz and his wife, who is an executive with Goldman Sachs, had a little interview with Pat Robertson's $$$$700 club. Robertson being quite confused and ill informed thinks the Democrats have done most of the federal spending. In fact he says..."what we're looking at is a party of spendaholics and the sequestor is the most effective way to scale back spending." Cruz adds that God is in control of the shutdown...I'm not being funny here....it's really what they said.
On the other hand the bible says "The righteous care about justice for the poor, but the wicked have no such concern".....Paaaatttttt! Pat needs a little time out with the Pope.
DAnne. I could not agree with you more about spending money on health care, there is nothing better to spend money on. But keep in mind your nation has spent over a trillion a year before the additional cost of the new health care system, and believe me as a Canadian I know how much we are taxed for our free health care. It is half of our governments budget.
Where did the six trillion go that was spent in the last six years. How much of that was spent on Bush and Obama's wars?
I hope it is OK to reference this here - but this one is very good - and illustrates the situation about the ACA very well. There is a comment in the NY Times to the latest Paul Krugman editorial "The Dixiecrat Solution". "This is pulled from a comment thread, but it is inspired genius:
Oct 2008: 'You'll never get elected and pass healthcare.'
Nov 2008: 'We'll never let you pass healthcare.'
Jan 2009: 'We're going to shout you down everytime you try to pass healthcare.'
July 2009: 'We going to fight to the death every attempt you make to pass healthcare.'
Dec 2009: 'We will destroy you if you even consider passing healthcare.'"
Read the other 14 items of this comment by billyfd in the Reader's picks on www.nytimes.com/2013/10/14/opinion/krugman-the-dixiecrat-solution.html
If only that debit ceiling warning would have been heeded when bush and reagan ran up the debt, there would be no problem today. But, since reagan, republicans have been running up debt on purpose, per the two santa claus (Grover norquist) scheme., with the intent to screw democrats anytime democrats win elections.
Like Clinton, Obama has been bringing the debt back down. And what money there is, health care is an extreme priority. Otherwise, with conservatives destroying Medicare, SS, healthcare, and welfare, America will become like the midel of Mexico (with people living in cardboard boxes, no health care, no jno hoe hope)..
The solution of coarse, Is to bring back workers unions that made America strong. It's obvious they well-paid worker is the root of a strong economy. The one percent cannot drive the economy buying an occasional pool and an occasional mansion.
I believe we should keep our eye on the ball; excessive profits for the 1% take money out of our economy because it sits in a huge growing bank account that is removed from our economy. Whereas workers on the other hand would spend ths money and therefore fuel the economy. It is the worst of all possible worlds to funnel the lions share of money pie to the wealthiest 1%, Because not only does it destroy our economy, it also gives a few individuals the power to undermine our entire democracy (Because they have so much money they can control politicians like puppets).
John Boehner once explained the stand off by reminding us that House Republicans were elected same as the President. Their voice counts, just like the President's. I thought that their job was to vote on issues,and yet the Tea Party can vote to deny a vote. I can't see the logic..
Just a fast question. If the Democrats in the house add an offensive (to us) BUT THE RIGHT WING STUPIDS CAN SAY THEY WON BU ADDING SOME item in the funding/ debt limit bill and get 2 years for no more nonsence and the Senate passes it, Could the president sign the bill BUT LINE ITEM VETO THE GARBAGE IN THE BILL?
Sorry Bobbler, Obama isn't bring the debt shown. He is just reducing the amount he spends a little. You are still going into debt over a trillnllion dollars a year. Americans owe over $55,000 per person.
Wasn't it those high union wages what send the work to China.
Nobody is trying to destroy anything they are just trying to find out how they are going to pay for it.
Kend ~ According to these two year old articles in the Washington Post and the Huffington Post, we have blown at least close to $4 Trillion on oil wars over the last decade. That's in supplies, equipment, bullets, and bombs. That doesn't' even begin to count property or human life lost. If you did factor in the later the staggering cost would amount to more money than exists on the planet.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/29/us-war-costs-3-trillion_n_886879.html
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/03/AR2010090302200.html
In our normal annual budget we spend about the same amount on defense that we spend on our social safety net. That is wrong! The military is not needed, social programs are. Again, what the hell are we trying to protect? The land where we let the poor starve to death, and the sick die? We have to learn to recognize natural priorities in this nation. If health care takes half our budget, so be it. We have to adopt a taxation policy that covers our needs; and, that begins by maximizing the tax on the wealthy. After all, they are the ones who benefited from these wars. They are the ones who profited by these wars. And they are the ones who manipulated this country into these wars. Don't you think people should have to pay their own bills?
Well, they made a deal and I thought twas a nefarious plot to default. All this time twas just squabbling amongst the oligarchs.
Flopot ~ You are not alone! I too thought "twas a nefarious plot to default." I kind of had an idea this might be as stupid as it looks. I guess I (we) were in some kind of denial. 'Stupid as it looks' isn't exactly a very reassuring thought, is it? Now, to the really important question, exactly how much damage has this buffoonery done to our already shaky economy? Is our 'B' rating going to go to a 'C'.? Or, worse?
Means testing Obamacare stigmatizes it and makes it more like a charitable welfare program than a affirmation and upholding of a fundamental human right to healthcare - and will probably cause people to shun and boycott it..
Kend, your healthcare still costs you much less than ours does even with Obamacare. Its being in the form of a tax in your country doesn't make more expensive. It's actually the cheaper, more efficient way to pay for it.
Quote Kend:Obama isn't bring the debt shown. He is just reducing the amount he spends a little.
Kend ~ You are right. Obama has done little to reduce our debt; and, the second another drunken Republican sailor gets in office chances are the debt is going to soar out of control again. If Obama doesn't take decisive action to end this Republican caused debt game, it is going to continue until our creditors give up.
Quote Kend:Wasn't it those high union wages what send the work to China.
Kend ~ No, it wasn't. It was the high cost of living in this country and the staggering inflation rate coupled with ridiculous trade policies that caused that. All unions did is regulate the wage rate so that workers could afford to live. It is Reaganomics that caused staggering inflation, and a soaring cost of living.
Quote Kend:Nobody is trying to destroy anything they are just trying to find out how they are going to pay for it.
Kend ~ I'm glad you asked. Raise the tax rate on any income over $1 Million to 95%. Nothing is destroyed and problem solved. If anyone wants to leave the country, good riddance. It is this income bracket that caused our debt in the first place. If they don't want to pay their bill, then they are more than welcome to move to any of the countries they have bombed into Democracy in the last decade. I'm sure they will be welcomed there with open arms.
Again, Kend, is your idea of prosperity a poverty wage for everyone but an elite, superfluously wealthy few? What sent manufacturing out of the U.S. was the removal of tarrifs. Germany and France retained their industrial base and their unions are stronger and their workers much better compensated than American unions and workers were even at the height of unions' power in the U.S..
And, yes, the debt came mostly from Bush's wars. He (Bush) didn't even put those wars on the books. Obama has been trying to end both wars (he succeeded in ending one) since he took office but he immediately did the responsible thing and put the cost of the wars on the books.
Of course, that creates an opportunity for mendacious blog posters to say, "Hey, where did all this debt come from under the Obama Administration?" and muddy the waters and obfuscate as is their assigned task for their $20 per post or whatever the big business hired P.R. firms pay.
Good point, Bobcox! The increased interest on the debt after downgrading to "C" is a tax increase and, I'd like to add, a way to increase the deficit, which is, of course, what the Republicans want. When they bankrupt government they force it to privatize and then government becomes their (rich people's, big business') own personal property and then - like some feudal monarchy - they dominate society COMPLETELY, politically AND economically.
Yes I agree I said many times here let get both our countries out of the Middle East. But don't forget you have all but pulled out of Iraq but it was Obama that sent 40,000 troops to Afganistan.
No Mark it doesn't. We are taxed far more than you. Keep in mind Canada has ten times the resources that the US has and one ten of the population. I honestly don't know how you are going to pay for it.
Efficient about 24% of tax dollars go just to collect the tax dollars.
DAnne. Tax them at 95% if they want to leave good riddance. So you want the country to look like Detroit.
Quote Kend:DAnne. Tax them at 95% if they want to leave good riddance. So you want the country to look like Detroit.
Kend ~ The last time I looked Detroit wasn't on the moon. The country already looks like Detroit because--guess what--Detroit is in the country. Detroit is what you get with massive tax breaks and trade policies written by unregulated multinational corporations. Are you suggesting that the same policies that devastated Detroit will save every other city? The way I see it, if left unchecked, our current polices will eventually cause similar disasters everywhere. We don't need policies that discourage development and encourage exploitation. We need policies that reward development and restrict business from exploiting every resource of their environment and then abandoning them without proper regulation. Detroit is the result of unchecked capitalism, Corporate deregulation, Bush's tax cuts, Clinton's free trade, and 'trickle down' (666) Reagan economics. It is by no means the result of a 95% tax on income over $1 Million. Mind you, a tax increase alone will not solve the problem, all these other issues have to be addressed as well. A tax increase will simply help pay off our estimated $4.7 Trillion war debt. The companies responsible for guiding the country into those wars have that sort of profit. They profited from those wars and it is those people who should be allowed the opportunity to pay off their debt--don't you agree? After all, that was your original question in the first place--how do we pay off this debt? If the wealthy war profiteers aren't held accountable for the debts they incurred where is the discouragement to keep them from doing it again whenever it suits their corporate interests? This travesty has to stop before we can hope to even plan on paying off the debt. The first step is to send the bill to the people who caused it. Unlike the main stream media dupes who buy the story that social programs are responsible for this debt I call it as I see it. If the elite culprits responsible for these wars don't intend to pay they are more than welcome to leave the country. One way or another the threat of further debt is discouraged or removed. Who needs citizens like that anyway. Who needs their money if they don't intend to use it for the common good. They are worthless parasites. The country is better off without them. We, like Detroit, will recover a lot faster without a bunch of elitists spending money we don't have and dragging the country into debt and very unpopular and immoral conflicts overseas that they don't intend to pay for. Good riddance. The sooner the better.
Quote Kend:No Mark it doesn't. We are taxed far more than you. Keep in mind Canada has ten times the resources that the US has and one ten of the population. I honestly don't know how you are going to pay for it.
Kend ~ Really? Why don't you ask someone from another nation that has universal national health care? For your convenience here is a list:
Australia, Austria, Bahrain, Belgium, Brunei, Cyprus, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Kuwait, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Singapore, Slovenia, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Arab Emirates, and The United Kingdom.
http://www.health.ny.gov/regulations/hcra/univ_hlth_care.htm
Strange that Mexico isn't in the list, I know they have it too. However, you get the point. If these countries can afford national healthcare, how can the "richest country in the world" not. Norway has had it since 1912, New Zealand since 1938. You should start asking them. For crying out loud Kend, Germany, Italy, and Japan are on the list. Didn't we just kick their butt 68 years ago? Germany started universal health care in 1941 and Japan in 1938. Apparently the expense of getting their butt kicked didn't stop them from financing health care for all their citizens. Lord knows they needed it too during the war. How can the US not afford national health care, when they can?
Obamacare (aka ACA) isn't the end all be all; but, it is good enough and expensive enough to eventually morph into Medicare for all. That is something that is a long time coming and something we can afford. Not to have national health care is something that we cannot afford.
DAnneMarc says "If the wealthy war profiteers aren't held accountable for the debt they incurred where is the discouragement to keep them from doing it again whenever it suits their corporate interests?" and "If the elite culprits reponsible for these wars don't intend to pay they are more than welcome to leave the country" and "Who needs their money if they don't intend to use it for the common good" and "They are worthless parasites" and "We, like Detroit, will recover a lot faster without a bunch of elitests spending money we don't have and dragging the country into debt..." - Excellent post! I could not have said it better, my friend. Too often, people ignore the real cause of this debt they keep harping on, buying into the lie that Social Security & Medicare are the problem. I get so tired of these ignoramus bastards who want to blame immigrants, "welfare moms" and the homeless for all our problems. These problems were caused by the rich & powerful, and that's where to direct the blame. That is who is running this country into the ground. If we want to take our country back, that's who we need to take it back from. Not Muslims, Mexicans, poor people, retirees or black folks... - Alice I.W.
Marc just hit another home run. After listing 33 countries with universal healthcare, he says "If these countries can afford national healthcare, how can the 'richest country in the world' not." "How can the U.S. not afford national healthcare when they can?" and "Not to have national health care is something that we cannot afford." BINGO, brother! I tip my hat. - AIW
Hey "bobbler" - great post! Nothing I can argue with here. As you've explained so well, it is the working class, not the lazy 1%, who fuel this economy. But I hope you don't mind me pointing out that while Clinton did leave our budget in the black, he also ushered in NAAFTA, which helped unravel the economy again later on. Disempowering American workers by shipping their jobs overseas, forcing them to compete with slave labor in third world countries, has been disasterous to our economy in the long run. And as Thom likes to say, that is "very, very ugly". - Alice I.W.
Oh by the way Marc- you can add Cuba to that list! - AIW
Very excellent remarks, DAnneMarc!
@DAnneMarc
I'm glad I was wrong, for obvious reasons, and it is humbling to admit I haven't a clue what goes on the minds of the oligarchs.
Regarding the US debt, I think the elephants in the room are big business and the corporations, not the people. Think of the trillions lost to bankster fraud; ongoing bankster bailouts; the military-industrial-security-surveillance complex and the fake war on terror (DHS, CIA budget, NSA, drone bases, military bases, fake wars such as Iraq); corporate tax evasionavoidancedodging (corporations hide their profits off-shore and with no profits, hey presto, no need to pay taxes); heath insurance costs; damage caused to health and environment by unregulated energy, food and pharmaceutical coporations; corporate influenced trade agreements that bypass the constitution and wipe out entire industries. Blah blah blah.
And all because big business deliberately took over government to make themselves unaccountable to the people. You would save trillions in a day by stopping the fake war on terror (no more DHS, rolling back the CIA, no more imperial bases) and APPLYING THE LAW to corporations.
And another example of how corporations are knowingly committing crimes against US taxpayers..as well as deaf people...is when AT&T effectively partners with Nigerian scammers to bilk US taxpayers out of millions of dollars. See my last comment yesterday for links on this.
Kend, try again. It does in fact cost you less for healthcare and population and resources have little, if anything, to do with it. Much more crowded countries than yours - or even ours - have very exemplary national healthcare systems and, in fact, the U.S. is the anomaly in the developed world in not having one. The European countries are SO crowded and have no more colonies, have a robust industrial base of manufacturing and powerful unions bringing very generous compensation to workers and a strong safety net, I might add.
The simple fact is that single payer taxing is the most efficient way to pay for it. Otherwise a very large cost of healthcare is administrative paperwork and C.E.O. salaries.
And I don't wanna hear any more obfuscation.
Good riddance, why are they necessary? They are not "job creators" in any sense. They are "job degraders, job exporters and job eliminators". Small business maybe is a job creator but in reality it's the consumer and there is no reason for the superstitious fear of government employment as a W.P.A. program or nationalized industry. Furthermore, worker owned businesses - rather than the union/ employer contention - is proven an efficient - and perhaps the most efficient - and just model for business.
Anyway, if they hadn't taken government hostage and removed tariffs so they CAN leave without consequence they couldn't seriously consider it and might have some loyalty to country and society instead of only to their own greed.
NSA chief General Keith Alexander and Deputy Director John “Chris” Inglis are headed out the door within a few months. Thank you Mr. Snowden...you've done the country a great service! Now who will be the next fascist flunkies to take their places? Maybe Vice Admiral Michael Rogers, currently commander of the U.S. Navy’s 10th Fleet and U.S. Fleet Cyber Command? Oh, and I understand that the Utah NSA fascility has been having lots of problems...awww...too bad! ;-} Lightning arcs and meltdowns among at least 10 incidents so far.
http://www.tripwire.com/state-of-security/top-security-stories/nsa-chief...
http://www.forbes.com/sites/kashmirhill/2013/10/17/nsas-utah-data-center...
BOBBLER (original post):
If only that debit ceiling warning would have been heeded when bush and reagan ran up the debt, there would be no problem today. But, since reagan, republicans have been running up debt on purpose, per the two santa claus (Grover norquist) scheme., with the intent to screw democrats anytime democrats win elections.
Like Clinton, Obama has been bringing the debt back down. And what money there is, health care is an extreme priority. Otherwise, with conservatives destroying Medicare, SS, healthcare, and welfare, America will become like the midel of Mexico (with people living in cardboard boxes, no health care, no jno hoe hope)..
The solution of coarse, Is to bring back workers unions that made America strong. It's obvious they well-paid worker is the root of a strong economy. The one percent cannot drive the economy buying an occasional pool and an occasional mansion.
I believe we should keep our eye on the ball; excessive profits for the 1% take money out of our economy because it sits in a huge growing bank account that is removed from our economy. Whereas workers on the other hand would spend ths money and therefore fuel the economy. It is the worst of all possible worlds to funnel the lions share of money pie to the wealthiest 1%, Because not only does it destroy our economy, it also gives a few individuals the power to undermine our entire democracy (Because they have so much money they can control politicians like puppets).
KEND (reply to above):
Sorry Bobbler, Obama isn't bring the debt shown. He is just reducing the amount he spends a little. You are still going into debt over a trillnllion dollars a year. Americans owe over $55,000 per person.
Wasn't it those high union wages what send the work to China.
Nobody is trying to destroy anything they are just trying to find out how they are going to pay for it.
---
---
BOBBLER (new comments):
Apparently republicans are still following Grover norqusts unethical plan, to spend like drunken sailors to run up America's debt, the scream fiscal responsibility next time a democrat gets into office. -If you look on a graph it becomes obvious;
-1- national debt sky rocketed during the Reagan years,
-2- leveed off during the Clinton years,
-3- then skyrocketed again during the bush-2 years..
-4-
Obama has been the most fiscally responsible president since Clinton (who balanced the budget after Reagan screwed it up), so he doesn't need pushing here. And keeping in mind Obama inherited an almost unimaginable debt problem (same as clinton), that the so calked fiscally responsible republicans left America with.
Here is a graph of national debt. https://www.google.com/#q=national+debt+graph&biv=i%7C19%3Bd%7CFBNYEng-rvqbxM%3A
My question for Kend, do you also push fiscal responsibility onto republicans, for all those years they were running up the debt? Or do you only complain when a democrat gets into office? From looking at the facts, Obama has been more responsible with our national debt than any republican from Reagan forward. And raising the debt ceiling is a normal thing to do, when a president is left with a broken economy.
UNION WAGES: This one is clear, a well paid worker is the root of a strong economy. What sent jobs over seas was conservatives economics (free trade, nafta, crafta, etc) that only benefited the 1-percent richest people, and put Americans out of work by the millions (over time).. Because this forces the American middle class to compete with third world labor to the tune of $5 a day wages.. And we see the result of the American middle class forced to compete with third world countries (the middle class is almost gone, Americans cannot afford to retire, and America is starting to resemble a third world country).
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In my opinion, all those knuckleheads in the GOP are taking their marching orders from none other than Ted Cruz. ICE should deport him back to Canada as a discident and a trouble maker. As for the rest, you could not create one complete, compassionate, understanding, intelligent brain from all those 50 or more tea partiers or tea party followers.
There used to be an old joke before the word "nigger" was deemed to an unacceptable term. It went something like: If you put three upstanding white businessmen in a jail cell with 1 jive-talking black man, you would end up with 3 jive-talking white businessmen instead of one slightly more educated black man. The point is, all those people who are hell-bent on bringing down the government because it supposedly "won't be as bad as everyone says", are actually dumbing-down their own party by accepting the views of one of the most radical, degenerate voices in their party.
So no, I don't believe a solution will be reached before the deadline passes. And I refuse to blame the President for sticking to his guns when it happens. He is absolutely right when he says that to yield to these ransom demands of the GOP would result in ransom demands for every bit of legislation, as well as for every president that comes after him. It's a truly sorry state of affairs, and I sure hope that there is a rabit Obama can pull out of a hat, because that's what this country needs now.