And so the debt ceiling crisis comes to an end, with both sides screaming bloody murder and claiming that all sorts of nastiness will flow from this agreement. Seems to me like much ado about nothing. Conservatives are crowing that they have imposed deep cuts and changed the direction of Washington, while the left has been screaming about the affront to the country from these draconian cuts. What a big pile of nonsense. The bill is essentially the McConnell plan on steroids, with the legislation allowing the ceding of Congressional authority to the President, who will gain a $400 billion dollar increase immediately, with the second installment of $500 billion subject to a vote of Congressional disapproval that the President can veto. That is McConnell, pure and simple. As far as the spending “cuts” that everybody is howling about they amount to $21 billion in FY12. And folks are screaming about that??? Hilarious. The budgetary caps imposed after FY12 apparently limit the growth from an assumed baseline, but do not cut nominal dollars. As far as the so called trigger mechanism for “enforcement” of additional cuts, as Senator Coburn so correctly points out in the attached video, these “rules” have been violated for years by Congress. Pay-go was routinely shredded by declaration of “emergency”.
The Democrats survive with no changes, today, to entitlement programs. This reluctance on the part of ALL involved to taking deficit reduction into the areas where the money is simply means that worthwhile discretionary programs may suffer some, but for now the real action on deficit reduction, spending, and taxing has been deferred. The debt ceiling, in my opinion, was not the right vehicle for solving the massive fiscal problems we face. But for now I am in agreement with Coburn. This deal does nothing like its critics say, and will be shredded pretty quickly when the time comes.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32545640
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
Bill Manzi.com 
Your Honor,
You and I agree on this entry. After I got a chance to review the points in the Bill, I realized nothing had changed. It’s as if we had given President Obama just a clean bill like he wanted.
Somethings things came out of this;
1. A debated ensued.
2. Taxes became verboten. Thanks tea party.
3. A group of republicans did stand stubbornly. Thank you tea party.
4. Democrats attempted to drive tax increases-to no avail. Thank you tea party.
Our political class fell back on a commission to solve the tough issues even though entitlements were ignored-Thanks Democrats.
Democrats will get their way if the 2012 election doesn’t clear the White House of the incompetency that now resides there.
In short we got no governance.
Meanwhile the economy is in dire straights.
Unemployment stubbornly hangs at 9.1%.
Nothing, absolutely nothing is improving with 900+ days of Obama. Thank you Obama.
Jules
LikeLike
Jules,
Taxes are not verboten. You simply will not solve this problem without new revenues. Impossible. Why do you think the Ryan budget has $7 trillion in new deficit spending over ten years? Because you cannot balance without new revenue. As far as the prospect for really balancing the budget this fiscal commission is meaningless, and will be immediately deadlocked.
Bill
LikeLike
Your Honor,
Discussion of taxes was what I meant when I said verboten.
I fully understand the incapability of the Democrat/Liberal/Progressive parties to think without raising taxes. It’s what they run their class warfare programs with to entice their dependent constituency to vote for them so as to save their entitlements. It’s a campaign policy. No governance-instead pander.
This problem began years ago under Theodore Roosevelt’s “fair deal” with s.s and other entitlements. Expenditures to a significant rise under Linden Johnson’s “Great Society”. The entitlements grew as did the pandering (A chicken in Every Pot) all the while the congressmen were enriching themselves with wealth and privileged. None wanted to leave.
This continued through to the Reagan era when he create a tax break to combat a recession. But, the spending continued. After all it was still a Democratic majority.
With help from the Democrats a couple of Bush stints we are now at 17 trillion in debt thanks in large to President Obama who supplied the largest debt increase.
Many of these politicians debating the debt limit have been around for a long time and have been contributors to the problem.
I would like to sunset all their privileges or term limit them.
The resolution to our debt problem does no lie in the halls of congress or in the administration.
Got an answer, Your Honor?
Jules
If you are
LikeLike
Your Honor
It’s 7/4 at 11:17 am and the Down Jones is declining. Now at 11,655 down 250. Gold way up. Inflation raising its ugly head.
Signs not good.
So where is the President?
Jules
LikeLike
Jules,
1)Hard and fast budget caps for discretionary spending, including defense.
2) Entitlement reform.
3) Health Care Cost Containment Measures. Without making real difficult choices in this area the first two will eventually become meaningless.
4) A plan that raises additional revenue, but lowers rates. Simplify the tax code, expand the economic base, and watch additional revenues come in. Lower the corporate rate as part of the budget deal. Allow repatriation of money held overseas by US Corporations at a vastly reduced rate of taxation.
5) Go to work on an industrial plan for America that eliminates some of the incentives for offshoring jobs. The tax code incentives for such activity should be eliminated.
Which part of the above do you disagree with?
Bill
LikeLike
Your Honor,
I disagree with it all. Too late. The economy is in the toilet.
So where is our President and what is he doing?
Preparing for a Midwest victory tour to brag about his successes. Got any opening lines for your friend?
Who’s minding the store?
Some issues;
1. No money to implement solutions (if he had any)
2. Our Massachusetts Democratic delegation is falling in line with their leader. What have they done? They have been in office long enough to be part of the problem
3.I notice your entry above uses terms like, “A plan”, “Go to work” Too late
4. When the President gets off the Buss what should opening sentence be? Its Bushes Fault?
You have been writing library’s worth of books in this blog. So what do you say now? Got any ideas?
Jules
LikeLike
Jules,
The great Recession has not ended, and some fundamentals have not changed, but merely been masked by government intervention designed to pretend that there was not a great loss of wealth worldwide. That loss of wealth, in a world governed only by numbers, would mean a lowering of the standard of living in the U.S. In an attempt to delay that day of reckoning and also to provide folks with a safety net government has acted. But again the underlying problems still exist, and will continue to exist until some difficult decisions are made. My above post, which you say you disagree with, is the first step to settling the fiscal imbalances that neither Party wishes to address.
Bill
LikeLike
No, Your Honor, my only point is that your post is a series of plans, years to implement. Who is going to listen to them???
The person responsible for leading this effort has not shown up. Instead has decided to break a campaign fund record to collect 1 billion dollars.
So after 900 some days in office he has done nothing except to raise taxes, proclaim war on successful Americans, fight the states that try to to defend themselves because he won’t.
Even his mangled telepromtered talk today was of little or no use. He still blame Bush, Japanese earthquake, and the European financial problems
However, the media are beginning to catch on. A reporter repeatedly asked his spokesman what it he is doing to help revive the economy. It was a torturous thing to watch.
You have to defend him. I don’t
We are so screwed. Hope November brings better things.
Have a nice week end.
Jules
LikeLike
Your Honor,
Congratulation, Our president, who is our nation first black man voted President, is also the very first to oversee a downgrade to AA bond rating.
Jules
LikeLike
Your Honor,
Possible excuses (some now in use)
Tea Party Terrorists (count me among them)
Republican Hostage takers
Japanese Earthquake/Tsunami
European Melt down
Arab Spring
Of course the ever popular George W. Bush.
Jules
LikeLike
Jules,
Your seeming delight in seeing one out of three rating agencies downgrading US debt is puzzling. The agency cited the political gridlock as one of the major reasons for downgrade. Just adopt my suggestions from above on fiscal imbalance. And by the way with the European debt crisis people are fleeing INTO Treasuries. Problem still comes down to long term fiscal imbalances. And Republicans have no plan to solve them. Did you ever explain why the Ryan Plan adds 7 trillion in debt over the next decade?
Bill
LikeLike
Your Honor,
The entire media sees it that way, including the Liberal media.
Political gridlock is the result of obstinate resistance to taxing the country as a solution to everything. NO NEW TAXES….Period.
Here is a new look at the problem;
1. The President has been running his re-election campaign and not governing.
2. The President put off addressing the issues until a short time ago.
3. The President has submitted a budget so badly thought out that the Senate (his people) voted it down unanimously. So we continue without a budget.
4. When the debt limit negotiations began, the President insisted on taxes for taxes sake.
5. The Republicans stuck to their no tax pledge and gridlock occurred.
6. Since the founding of our Republic no gridlock has resulted in a downgrade in our credit rating. In this case this President has spent us up to the limit of our wealth. THAT IS WHY WE ARE DOWNGRADED. We are on on shaky grounds fiscally.(Thank you Mr. President).
The ONLY plan presented is Representative Ryan’s. It needs vetting.
Your plan as good as it may be is a solution in space since no one has presented it anywhere. Ryan’s plan is in the system to be voted on.
So I repeat President Obama has made history by being the first American president reside during a downgrade. And, Your Honor, you can’t change that.
Obama’s solution; ride of on another “aren’t I wonderful and the Republicans are at fault” bus tour. We are void of leadership yet.
Jules
LikeLike
Jules,
Your narrative has more than a few holes. But it also shows the refusal to face budgetary reality. You say the President asked for “taxes for taxes” sake. What really happened was he offered cuts to revenues in the area of three to one. The “tax increases” were not rate increases but the closing of loopholes. But Republicans are in favor of maintaining insane loopholes. Real deficit hawks,like Tom Coburn, have recognized this dynamic. Eventually Bowles-Simpson will need to be adopted,with the revenue component intact. Your position is not at all that of a deficit hawk. You are a no-tax hawk. Why don’t you just admit that you have no interest in deficit reduction and be done with it?
Bill
LikeLike
Your Honor,
Go back over what you wrote. You are saying, if I can quote you, ” You are a no-tax hawk. Why don’t you just admit that you have no interest in deficit reduction and be done with it?”.
Turning the logic on you, “you must be a tax and spender”.
Well the Obama/Manzi regime has already spent us into more that 14 trillion in debt. Results aren’t pretty. Millions unemployed. An economy that is all but flat. You have spent our wealth, remember the 1 trillion dollar stimulus?.The consumer is in malaise and businessmen holding trillions of dollars because they do not know what you guy is going to do. Then there is Obamacare coming down the road. So all this is not enough for you guys.
Now it’s our turn. You guys have not listened to us on Obamacare. Certainly not on anything to do with this issue.
Meanwhile Republicans presented a Budget, immediately shelved; a debt limit plan, immediately shelved.
This is a Democratic problem.
You fellows are just protecting all your giveaways, which has helped get here.
No taxes.
Jules
LikeLike
Jules,
Than you for the apparent promotion. Not sure who else is calling this the Obama/Manzi Administration, but maybe I have a future in Washington after all. Now on to the debunking.
The $14 trillion dollar debt is Obama’s? What about the Bush/Reagan contribution? That charge is ridiculous on its face. Stimulus was $800 billion, and although I did not agree with how it was developed lets be clear. John McCain had a $400 billion dollar stimulus that consisted entirely of tax cuts. Obama’s stimulus had about the same level of tax cuts, and about $400 billion in prime the pump spending. The difference between the Republican proposal and the Obama proposal was about $400 billion. And the Obama spending did help the economy.
As far as business investment the reason for holding back is NOT what you cite, but rather the lack of consumer demand. If demand goes up so will investment.
As far as Republican budget proposals they are a joke, as far as deficit reduction goes. Ryan budget has $7 trillion in additional deficits over the next ten years. But it has plenty of tax cutting. And that goes back to my original point. Where is the Republican BALANCED BUDGET? Why don’t they submit a BALANCED BUDGET? And do so with only cuts. I just don’t see them doing it.
As far as my position goes I have outlined what is needed. I am in favor of Bowles-Simpson. And finally my position, on revenues, is in the vicinity of Tom Coburn. Is Coburn a tax and spender?
Bill
LikeLike
Your Honor,
Maybe I should be calling you Senator? Can you challenge Brown.
Your qualification:
You say from above, “Than you for the apparent promotion. Not sure who else is calling this the Obama/Manzi Administration, but maybe I have a future in Washington after all. Now on to the debunking.
The $14 trillion dollar debt is Obama’s? What about the Bush/Reagan contribution?
IT’S BUSHES FAULT. YOUR ORIGINALITY IS TO ADD PRESIDENT REAGAN.
Why are you asking me about budget. I told you the Republicans presented budgets that arrived
DOA to the senate as were the debt ceiling bills which were also put aside. NO votes.
Now I ask you again how cum no Obama Budget for 3 years. Obama latest budget failed unanimously.
Obama failure as economist complete
As a leader he’s nada. By the way where is he.
It’s 10:25 am;
dow down 300.
Nothing is working. Economy in the tank and the congress and the President are out of town.
Jules
LikeLike
Jules,
$14 trillion is the accumulated debt since the beginning of the Republic, so maybe some of it is George Washington’s fault. Your indication that it is all Obama is just plain out wrong.
Relative to budgets this has been a discussion about budget balancing, which Republicans generally do not like to talk about in the specific. They like to run on balancing budgets, and then cut revenues WITHOUT cutting spending. The current group of leaders ALL voted for “clean” debt ceiling raises when George Bush was bankrupting the country. Being blinded by hate for Obama does not make fiction into fact.
Bill
LikeLike
Your Honor,
I don’t hate him. I fear him.
He avoids difficult legislation and uses the regulatory agencies to achieve goals by fiat. The EPA will begin carbon control and Truck fuel standards. He will avoid issues of school failure by allowing districts waivers out of the No Child Left Behind (Bush/ Kennedy fiasco). And god knows what else.
Deficit spending did begin with George Washington, but Obama has deepened it more than all the previous presidents combined.
He is damaging this country and I am convinced it’s on purpose.
Jules
LikeLike