The 112th Congress: Debt ceiling edition

[Priceless]

Re: The 112th Congress: Debt ceiling edition

POTUS is about to address the nation. Early indications are talks between him and Boner broke down again...default here we come!

Edit: Boner called POTUS, said he was walking away.
Last deal was $1T in discretionary spending, $650B to SS/Medicare, $1.2T in new revenues (by closing loopholes and allowing tax cuts to expire AS THEY WERE SUPPOSED TO)

 

[ScoobyDoo]

Re: The 112th Congress: Debt ceiling edition

POTUS is about to address the nation. Early indications are talks between him and Boner broke down again...default here we come!

Edit: Boner called POTUS, said he was walking away.
Last deal was $1T in discretionary spending, $650B to SS/Medicare, $1.2T in new revenues (by closing loopholes and allowing tax cuts to expire AS THEY WERE SUPPOSED TO)

That's the best press conference I've ever seen Barack Obama give.

 

[Bill]

Re: The 112th Congress: Debt ceiling edition

And letting the tax cuts expire?

We're $14.5 trillion in debt not even counting future entitlement liabilities. Regardless of which side of the Bush tax cut debates anyone is on, the huge size of the debt can't be blamed on the tax cuts. We're in an increasingly big hole deficit/debt wise because Congress (both parties) spends like drunken sailors. If we increase taxes 10% and Congress increases spending 15%, we're still worse off. The talk about ending the Bush tax cuts is rhetoric. Out of control spending is the big driver of the deficit/debt problem and the Reps are going to have to compromise on the Defense side and the Dems are going to have to compromise on the Entitlement side (although even then the Reps will take a lot of heat there), or else we're not even going to come close to making any significant progress. Whether you want to admit it or not, this is primarily a spending problem not a revenue problem.

 

[Priceless]

Re: The 112th Congress: Debt ceiling edition

I for one welcome our new <del>ant</del> Chinese overlords.

汝好 欢迎来美国

 

[Foxton]

Re: The 112th Congress: Debt ceiling edition

I for one welcome our new <del>ant</del> Chinese overlords.

汝好 欢迎来美国

We should all get started.
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[Priceless]

Re: The 112th Congress: Debt ceiling edition

We're $14.5 trillion in debt not even counting future entitlement liabilities. Regardless of which side of the Bush tax cut debates anyone is on, the huge size of the debt can't be blamed on the tax cuts. We're in an increasingly big hole deficit/debt wise because Congress (both parties) spends like drunken sailors. If we increase taxes 10% and Congress increases spending 15%, we're still worse off. The talk about ending the Bush tax cuts is rhetoric. Out of control spending is the big driver of the deficit/debt problem and the Reps are going to have to compromise on the Defense side and the Dems are going to have to compromise on the Entitlement side (although even then the Reps will take a lot of heat there), or else we're not even going to come close to making any significant progress. Whether you want to admit it or not, this is primarily a spending problem not a revenue problem.

If the tax cuts ended LIKE THEY WERE SUPPOSED TO it would be a whole lot easier to balance the budget. It's also some of that "shared sacrifice" that used to make this country great...I guess it's been replaced with "I got mine, the rest of you can pound sand." Oh well.

Fasten your seatbelts and keep your hands inside the ride at all times.

 

[ScoobyDoo]

Re: The 112th Congress: Debt ceiling edition

We're $14.5 trillion in debt not even counting future entitlement liabilities. Regardless of which side of the Bush tax cut debates anyone is on, the huge size of the debt can't be blamed on the tax cuts. We're in an increasingly big hole deficit/debt wise because Congress (both parties) spends like drunken sailors. If we increase taxes 10% and Congress increases spending 15%, we're still worse off. The talk about ending the Bush tax cuts is rhetoric. Out of control spending is the big driver of the deficit/debt problem and the Reps are going to have to compromise on the Defense side and the Dems are going to have to compromise on the Entitlement side (although even then the Reps will take a lot of heat there), or else we're not even going to come close to making any significant progress. Whether you want to admit it or not, this is primarily a spending problem not a revenue problem.

Thank you Mr. Republican talking point.

 

[Bakunin]

Re: The 112th Congress: Debt ceiling edition

Can we just drug the ideologues and get them to admit we have a spending *and* revenue problem?

 

[Twitch Boy]

Re: The 112th Congress: Debt ceiling edition

I'm a federal employee. I just bought a house.

Should I shoot myself now?

 

[Bakunin]

Re: The 112th Congress: Debt ceiling edition

Hope you've got an emergency reserve, because if the default happens, we aren't getting paid for awhile.

If you aren't essential, you'll get a vacation, at least. I'm not that lucky.

 

[Almington]

Re: The 112th Congress: Debt ceiling edition

I'm a federal employee. I just bought a house.

Should I shoot myself now?

No, you could hang yourself instead.

 

[ScoobyDoo]

Re: The 112th Congress: Debt ceiling edition

I'm a federal employee. I just bought a house.

Should I shoot myself now?

If a default happens we're all pretty much done. The good news is that Job Creators are not going to get a tax increase. We can all breathe a heavy sigh of relief over that.

 

[geezer]

Re: The 112th Congress: Debt ceiling edition

If a default happens we're all pretty much done. The good news is that Job Creators are not going to get a tax increase. We can all breathe a heavy sigh of relief over that.

that was pretty funny. I think you hit just the note you've been trying for.
I've already made plans with some others for our tarp city setup and skunk butchering lessons.

 

[Priceless]

Re: The 112th Congress: Debt ceiling edition

I'm a federal employee. I just bought a house.

Should I shoot myself now?

Bullets are expensive. You have a toaster and a bathtub?

 

[Foxton]

Re: The 112th Congress: Debt ceiling edition

Bullets are expensive. You have a toaster and a bathtub?

Be sure you use an extension cord to a non-GFCI outlet.

 

[Bakunin]

Re: The 112th Congress: Debt ceiling edition

If a default happens we're all pretty much done. The good news is that Job Creators are not going to get a tax increase. We can all breathe a heavy sigh of relief over that.

We're not done if we default. However, the next few months / years are going to suck (higher interest rates and higher cost to service the debt).

This just fast forwards our day of reckoning, I guess.

 

[Priceless]

Re: The 112th Congress: Debt ceiling edition

How close to a deal were they?

Republican leadership aides, who briefed reporters on the talks, credited the administration with committing to structural changes to Medicare as well to try to bend the cost curve in a second 10 year period after 2021. It appears the two sides were within $5 billion of one another over setting caps for 2012 discretionary appropriations between $1.045 trillion and $1.040 trillion.

So we're going to become a wholly owned subsidiary of the People's Republic of China over $5B, or .0037% of the budget.

 

[Wol4ine]

Re: The 112th Congress: Debt ceiling edition

That would be a yes.

The funny thing is, if we ended the wars (and didn't start replacement wars), let the tax cuts expire, and means-tested entitlements, we would have a perfectly reasonable budget given even slight (post-recession) economic growth, and EVERYBODY would win. Not doing those things is incredibly short-sighted, and the people most resistant to making any sacrifice (the very wealthy and people on the verge of retirement) are the ones who have the most to lose if it all crashes and burns.

I think it's funny that the graph starts at 2009. Of the five factors charted, Bush had to deal with 2 of those, The tax cuts and the Wars. Yet the deficit under Bush stayed below $0.5 Trillion. So this year we are looking at $1.5 Trillion deficit. Whats Changed??
Stimulous, TARP, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Bailouts, and a bad economy. Letting the tax cuts lapse would have hurt the economy, even the POTUS admitted that.

 

[Bakunin]

Re: The 112th Congress: Debt ceiling edition

China is a long way from perfect, and they have problems of their own to deal with right now (massive inflation, middle income trap, and lots of bad loans having to be swept under the rug / absorbed by dummy national companies). Granted, this isn't exactly a "we're going to default" type of problem for them, but it's certainly going to pose a significant challenge to their government as they try to keep the bulk of the population happy and manage their growth without sending prices skyward.

 

[Priceless]

Re: The 112th Congress: Debt ceiling edition

I think it's funny that the graph starts at 2009. Of the five factors charted, Bush had to deal with 2 of those, The tax cuts and the Wars. Yet the deficit under Bush stayed below $0.5 Trillion. So this year we are looking at $1.5 Trillion deficit. Whats Changed??
Stimulous, TARP, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Bailouts, and a bad economy. Letting the tax cuts lapse would have hurt the economy, even the POTUS admitted that.

So the Bush Administration didn't start the Bailouts? The economy was nice and strong under Junior? Is this an alternate reality?