GOP is fast becoming the brain child of the Tea party.
Brainless to the bone… manufacturing weapons of mass destruction disguised as debt plan solutions.
Indeed, the whole of the current US “debt crisis” is a manufactured one.
But of course the United States needs to get its fiscal house in order soon as can be but not at the expense of it’s economy and society. And of course the debt has ballooned to threatening levels but the problem remains visible long-term and mostly about ensuring job growth and bending down the health care cost curve. Still, it is not clear what the scale of the catastrophe could be if Congress fails to raise the debt ceiling and the government goes in a small shutdown.
The consensus seems to be that the debt-ceiling crisis is an obnoxious piece of political theater that will end as close to the default deadline as possible, and that it is not an actual financial crisis that needs handling now.
Some investment banks speculate that the market reaction might not be as bad as people think, with government going into a very short-lived shutdown, voter anger forcing Congress to get its act together, and the market rolling its eyes even if it dumps some bonds and threatens some investment bankers with economic censure.
But others believe the consequences will be horrible. The International Monetary Fund warns that it fears”universally large and negative effects.” The Bipartisan Policy Center notes that the Treasury will have to halt about 40 percent of its monthly payments—meaning Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner will need to decide between hospitals, troops, seniors, prison guards, bondholders, and a thousand other constituencies.
Americans can expect everything from long lines at the ATM to mass unemployment to higher mortgage costs if the country goes into default. Forecasters like Macroeconomic Advisers predict an instant recession.
Still the merry men with a boneheaded Bonher cry babe leading man and gay as can be — are leading the sheeple down the garden path…
Of course worse things are in the offing.
The pied piper leading the sheeple off the cliff along with the American economy is none other than the self same insane man.
All the leading rating agencies have declared they will downgrade the US economy immediately come August 2nd – if not before – provided that a livable deal has not been reached. A deal that will allow the US economy to reduce debt but also increase taxes and control government spending till the end of term.
But who is listening now that the furore of Greece’s default has subsided and the deep summer has settled into the European bureaucrat and journalist alike calendar?
Yet the GOP and their leader cry baby Bohner are posturing and chest thumping about their long lost ideals. Where were these ideals when Republicans in the vast majority of 102 cases increased the debt ceiling?
Where were the true Republican ideals hiding when the GOP leaders were refusing last Friday to even return the president’s phone calls for a show of national reconciliation?
And where are these ideals when Bohner committed foul by walking out of the negotiations that were organized in order to avoid default?
All these are not just silly actions but rather grave political offenses.
The majority of the GOP actions speak of a deep seated racism towards a black President too.
But time will tell and the inevitable US sovereign economic downgrade will be the legacy of the GOP posturing same as the economic destruction of the South due to racism.
And with the default and downgrade — now just one week away — Speaker Boehner has rolled out yet another Tea Party-oriented debt plan. But this new plan is no better than any of the previous GOP plans and is likely to just be another waste of precious time as we hurtle toward default.
In fact, due to strong opposition from Democrats, the Tea Party, and conservative groups, the plan appears to be on life support. A vote is currently scheduled for tomorrow.
Here’s what you need to know about the GOP’s latest disastrous default plan: Automatically Precipitates Another Default Crisis: The Boehner plan only raises the debt ceiling enough to get us through the next few months. If a newly created “Super Committee” of 12 members of the House and Senate cannot agree on $1.8 TRILLION in new cuts by year’s end and those cuts are not enacted by both the House and Senate, then the debt ceiling is not raised any further. In other words, we will be right back to where we are today in just a few short months. Means No New Revenues — Period: The first step of the Boehner plan includes no new revenues and Boehner promised that if the Super Committee proposes any new revenues in round two of the plan, the House will vote them down.
As expected from a now blatantly racist party the GOP plan will Result in Deep Cuts to Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid too but no tax increases. Since the first slice of the Boehner plan’s cuts — $1.2 TRILLION worth — come entirely from discretionary spending, the additional $1.8 TRILLION to be identified in the second stage would almost by definition have to come from entitlements programs. This plan if enacted, it will produce the greatest increase in poverty and hardship produced by any law in modern U.S. history. And according to all credit rating agencies it would still mean a steep downgrade of the United States’ AAA Credit Rating.
Standard & Poor’s said that Boehner’s GOP debt plan doesn’t cut enough to guarantee that they won’t downgrade the U.S. credit rating anyway and because it fails to address the systemic risk it earns the downgrade twice over.
However, Standard and Poor’s rating agency said that the Democratic plan proposed by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid – if adopted – would protect the United States economy and completely avoid such a downgrade.
Yours,
Pano
PS:
And you thought the self destruct mode had gone out with Dr Goldfinger and minnie me evil twins.
It appears Dr Evil is back in full bloom and in the best form yet.
And with his weapon of mass destruction is gonna blow us all to smithereens.
PS2:
The prospect of all of been blown up though, has not spooked the market just yet.
But the knock-on effects are building. Consumer confidence is down. Layoffs are increasing. At least some companies are hoarding cash and citing Congress as the reason. Moreover, it now seems like a downgrade from the major ratings agencies is in the cards, whether or not Congress reaches a deal in time. Standard & Poor’s, for instance, has issued an ultimatum.
”Unless Congress reaches a real deal the downgrade is inevitable.”
Standard and Poor’s calls for a $4 trillion deal, whereas Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Boehner are currently negotiating plans for $1 trillion to $3 trillion deal. And Standard and Poor’s said it might downgrade the US Treasury debt to AA+ rather than AAA for the first time in a couple of hundred years.
That downgrade might raise the United States’ borrowing costs immediately. Then again, it might not. Or it might just a little…
However anyone who says they know for sure what will happen, doesn’t smell the coffee. As a matter of fact the only winners are to be the ones floating money along the markets right now…
PS3:
Yet like all of Dr Evil’s plan are doomed to fail, this stupidest one yet isn’t going to result in the mass destruction it’s evil founders have thought off.
And if you don’t believe me just try out all the gallery of James Bond films and you’ll be assured the bad guys never win.
The one thing for certain is that the evil genius gets his dues and just deserts — hurtling off into deep space without a new pair of briefs or G-string as the case might be with Mr Bohner.
And in the final analysis as my old friend Albert points out with a bit of evil glee in his eyes: ”Well if they managed to destroy it completely the better as world’s greenhouse gas emissions go down when US goes into recession.”
So my advise to You is this:
Chill out and go have yourselves some good and healthy summer hols.
Just make sure you use sunscreen.
All the best.
