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BREAKING: "Reid and McConnell expect to unveil debt-limit 'Plan B' next week"

Aaaaaaaaaaaannnnd fold.

The House and the Tea Party undermined. Cut off at the knees. Because this will give the cover of bipartisan support to Obama against the Tea Party — and if it is blocked in the House, the press will identify the House GOP as “extremists” and pin the blame, such as it is, directly on them.

Boehner can’t handle that kind of pressure. Nor, evidently, could McConnell.

We’re over.

128 Replies to “BREAKING: "Reid and McConnell expect to unveil debt-limit 'Plan B' next week"”

  1. Ella says:

    That’s what you get for being extreme, you tea party partiers.

    Spray tans, all around!

  2. sdferr says:

    I still don’t think this will necessarily come to the House floor on account of too much opposition there. It’s simply too divisive.

  3. bh says:

    “McConnell is negotiating with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) to modify the plan to make it more palatable to Democrats.”

    It would be nice if someone was negotiating to make it more palatable for us. Like, someone we elected to represent us or something crazy like that.

  4. Jeff G. says:

    McConnell is helping to save the Obama presidency.

    It’s unbelievable.

  5. cranky-d says:

    The senate breeds this type of capitulation.

    I don’t think we’re over. I think we’re just getting started. On the other hand, the GOP is over.

    Time to learn some new skills and prepare for the worst. Welding is on my list of things to learn, time to take a class to get started.

  6. JD says:

    Thank Allah that the House will never even vote on this.

  7. happyfeet says:

    Maghan’s coward daddy will be very very pleased.

  8. happyfeet says:

    *Meghan’s* coward daddy I mean

  9. BuckIV says:

    Time to learn some new skills and prepare for the worst. Welding is on my list of things to learn, time to take a class to get started.

    Sewing can also come in very handy.

  10. happyfeet says:

    The leaders are also talking about adding a provision that would set up a special bipartisan committee in Congress that would recommend additional savings that could be brought straight to the floor for an up or down vote. The committee would be modeled on the Defense Base Closure and Realignment Commission (BRAC).

    this reeks of fail already – I’m betting they mostly focus on “spending in the tax code”

  11. sdferr says:

    No more goddamnmotherfuckingcocksucking study commissions.
    Not one red cent wasted on another.
    None.

  12. JD says:

    Why do a Commission? Isn’t that basically what the fucking House and fucking Senate are? Cowards.

  13. bh says:

    Pretty sure we already had a blue ribbon commission.

    Look, there’s a picture of Obama signing a piece of paper and everything.

  14. happyfeet says:

    this one is special plus it has BRAC flavor crystals

  15. bh says:

    Oh. Well, if it’s new and improved, maybe we should try it.

  16. newrouter says:

    the mitchy be scaredy cat about the make believe media meow

  17. bh says:

    That one from six months ago is so old and busted.

    Maybe we should get Nicki Minaj to write it a killer hook and get one of those Target people to give it a sleeker, more modern design.

    (Are they serious?)

  18. newrouter says:

    yes likes the new coke

  19. newrouter says:

    the mitchy should do an art deco plan b for the retro feel

  20. newrouter says:

    the mitchys are such beta pols: truces and truces.

  21. bh says:

    By the way, there really is “spending in the tax code”. Refundable tax credits where they mail you a check if your credit exceeds your actual tax exposure.

    I have a feeling they won’t be getting rid of those.

  22. bh says:

    Btw, nr, I just checked and the great Daniels battle of ’11 is over. Hint: he didn’t win.

  23. newrouter says:

    mr. bh i like the mitchys it is just that we need fighters right know ’cause the other side is a bunch of thugs with friendly media.

  24. bh says:

    Well, I’d say the base and pundits from Rubin to Rush pretty much agreed with you as far as Daniels, nr.

    Mitch didn’t even jump in. So, we’re in no danger from him. None. Bringing it up over and over again just makes it harder for all of us to achieve cohesion (on big things like this, for instance).

    He’s slain. Dead and dusted. I promise that I’ll alert you if I see his corpse twitch.

  25. sdferr says:

    Oh, but bh, there’s a shiny new target of ire name of Mitch. He’s of the devil. Liquidate him.

  26. happyfeet says:

    I don’t have any trouble believing that Plan B is the very very best Team R can do … this is who they are – if Fiorina were there she’d be standing next to Meghan’s coward daddy and Princess Lindsey telling the other Rs how ludicrously over-reachy they had been. Princess Lindsey would be like no bitch you stand on his left I stand on his right.

  27. happyfeet says:

    such is the stuff our failshit little country’s history is made of

  28. sdferr says:

    Something good going on. No, really. Watch.

  29. bh says:

    I suppose I think there isn’t just one Team R. The new, dope kids are also a Team R. It isn’t just bastards like Lindsay, the lobster pot hoochies and the assorted mediocrities.

    I guess that’s my way of saying that I think we have some serious leadership problems because the team itself isn’t all bad.

    We need new blood in these roles. Would a guy like Demint with someone like Johnson as a second make the people happy? I’d say so.

    In the House, I can think of a dozen guys to replace Boehner.

  30. Ella says:

    @9, sewing is totally on my “too learn” list. I also want to learn to be a better gardener and how to raise chickens. And cows. Butter churning looks doable.

  31. newrouter says:

    “He’s of the devil. Liquidate him.”

    mr. mcconnell is not evil just a stupid dc rethuglican

  32. sdferr says:

    No Budget?

    Why then, no appropriation bills.

    No appropriation bills?

    Why then, no spending.

    Works for me.

  33. cranky-d says:

    Can you vote the speaker out mid-term? That would be helpful.

  34. newrouter says:

    our side don’t need used car salesman in leadership roles these days

  35. happyfeet says:

    that is hopefulish I guess Mr. sdferr

  36. cranky-d says:

    I have minor skills using a sewing machine, and have done hand work before. I don’t know how to set up the sewing machine, though. All I did was sew up stuffed animal prints, and do some repair work on a leather jacket I had. The shoulder seam would rip out every now and then, so I had to get in there with a needle and thread and sew it back together.

  37. sdferr says:

    Except for the Cornyn one, that’s the more hopefulish bunch. But on the downside, their about it in the fogie’s chamber.

  38. JD says:

    What did Boehner do?

  39. sdferr says:

    I’m more disappointed at what he hasn’t done JD. Seems to me he should have moved a position in the House much earlier than this, even if it had only been the measure they’re going to vote next week (I’da preferred something smaller, but I understand they don’t want to have to vote over and over again, so …)

  40. bh says:

    I plan to trade my wonderful assortment of beer for all your various sundries.

    Unless the electricity goes out and I can’t google the answer for “My freezer has no power, how do I save my yeast strains?” But, surely, that could never happen.

  41. Pablo says:

    I guess that’s my way of saying that I think we have some serious leadership problems because the team itself isn’t all bad.

    We need new blood in these roles. Would a guy like Demint with someone like Johnson as a second make the people happy? I’d say so.

    Yes, stuff like that.

    Did y’all think we were gonna fix this in one election cycle?

    2012 or bust. Primary the douchebags. Get the rockstars into leadership. Good people are on the job up there. We need them in charge.

  42. bh says:

    What did Boehner do?

    Sorta what sdferr said, JD. I’d like us to get out front and pass a few related bills. Priority of payments bill. (A bluff caller.) A “1 to 1 spending cut to cap increase” bill. (Another bluff caller.) A “get rid of O-care and stimulus spending” bill. (Same.)

    This has been Kabuki theater for awhile. Why aren’t we putting on the make-up and doing some pantomime?

  43. sdferr says:

    I don’t like it,” Pawlenty said. “I think it’s a Band-Aid on a broken bone. … It doesn’t solve the problem. … I don’t like it.”

  44. Bob Reed says:

    DeMint and Rand Paul will never let this even come to the floor…

  45. bh says:

    You know, I’m a little parochial at times.

    Both Rand Paul and Rubio would probably be better lieutenants than Johnson in the Senate as of right now.

  46. sdferr says:

    Who have you written in opposition to the Reid-McConnell plan? Me, I’ve hit my two senators, and my rep. I’m mulling writing Boehner.

  47. Pablo says:

    Here’s my quandry. Mine are all predictably useless, and my words would be wasted on them. I really should have a word with David Ciclline, but what’s the fucking point? He’s one of Them.

  48. Pablo says:

    Both Rand Paul and Rubio would probably be better lieutenants than Johnson in the Senate as of right now.

    Paul has been great but Marco Rubio is the future. He’s the complete package. You know how you can’t teach footspeed? He’s like that.

  49. JD says:

    As I jav said, I think they should pass the 2004 or 2006 budget, and appropriations, repeatedly. And they should vote on Barcky’s budget submittal weekly.

  50. sdferr says:

    Then beyond the McConnell-Reid fiasco, expressing as well my opposition to tax rate rises as part of the deal, I hope merely to register as a number in the aggregate in opposition to the lying liar claiming 80% to his side.

  51. Pablo says:

    And they should vote on Barcky’s budget submittal weekly.

    You mean the one that absolutely everyone voted against? That would be boring. I want new ones to laugh at.

  52. newrouter says:

    if we had leadership on our side they would tell baracky that this is the 2012 issue. cry if you want.

  53. bh says:

    I’ve had similar thoughts, Pablo. Rubio is a number one pick. A first year starter.

    Yeah, just like that, JD. We need to pass twenty different versions of “we didn’t cause the shut down” while not giving up our structural advantage of no agreement=40% reduction in spending. We’ll end up getting what we get but we need to be moving the general ballpark in our direction every chance we get.

  54. cranky-d says:

    Whether or not it wins the vote, which I doubt it will, this gives the Dems an obvious talking point for the failure of bipartisanship. Even though we know bipartisanship, according to the MBM, always means capitulating to the Dems, the people who aren’t political junkies don’t know that.

    McConnell has stabbed the House Rs in the back. I had hoped for better from him, but I didn’t expect better. Jeff’s comment at #4 says all that needs to be said, really.

    Pablo is right that we couldn’t fix it in one election cycle, but I still had some hope that the establishment types got the message. They didn’t, and they won’t. The need to be primaried out.

  55. newrouter says:

    ” I think they should pass the 2004 or 2006 budget”

    oh noes pass the ’96, ’97, or ’98 budgets ’cause those were the clinton golden years.

  56. sdferr says:

    Nothing can save the Obama Presidency. Obama will see to that.

  57. Darleen says:

    sdferr

    my senators are Boxer and Feinstein … lost cause there. Did shoot an email to my Congresscritter.

    this is a shitsandwich with a topping of Obama Peas.

  58. newrouter says:

    you know if we had leadership they would be asking why baracky care is so partisan? effin’ drag that pos into the discussion.

  59. Danger says:

    “We’re over.”

    Not while we still have the Streetwise Hercules to fight the rising odds, Mr!

    Time to Draft Demint for DePresident

  60. sdferr says:

    Rubio has been nothing short of stellar as I see him. Every time he ope’s his mouth something beautiful spills out.

  61. geoffb says:

    I guess that’s my way of saying that I think we have some serious leadership problems because the team itself isn’t all bad.

    Not that I’m saying any different but just how easy it would be for an opposition Party, whose core belief is that politics is the real war, to plant mole staffers into the heart of a Party whose political model is “Hail fellow well met”, let’s get a drink after this meeting is over buddy. Easy peasy I’d bet. It’s staff that comes up with all these fabulous “plans” and sells them to the “boss”.

  62. newrouter says:

    “It’s staff that comes up with all these fabulous “plans” and sells them to the “boss”.”

    if you want fewer lobbyists drastically reduce fed gov’t.

  63. geoffb says:

    My Senators are Carl Levin and Debbie [stab you in the back] Stabenow. Waste of good bandwith to write them. Wrote my Tea Party Rep. “Just say no to Reid/McConnell.”

  64. Danger says:

    Can you vote the speaker Senate majority leader out mid-term? That would be helpful.

    Tweaked that a little for ya Cranky;)

  65. geoffb says:

    You’re all RACISTS!!!

    Is this enough for the Pablo pool or are we still waiting for the O! to go there?

  66. sdferr says:

    It’s a good day to throw a chip into the anti-tax pile I think. Or maybe I’m just idiosyncratically resentful about being misrepresented to my own face by lying liars like Obama. Anyhow, I wrote Bill Nelson with just such an aim in mind.

  67. Danger says:

    From geoffb’s link:

    “I am particularly sensitive to the fact that only this president, only this president, only this one has received the kind attacks and disagreements and inability to work. Only this one,” Jackson Lee said on the House floor this afternoon.

    GWB had to much class to respond.

  68. Darleen says:

    sdferr posted on 7/15 @ 7:32 pm

    Hear! Hear!

    Paul Ryan, too.

  69. bh says:

    OT: Spotify really is better than those other streaming music options. Also, this Sara Lov person does a decent cover of that Peter Gabriel song “My Body Is a Cage”.

  70. Bob Reed says:

    You’re all RACISTS!!!

    I put up a rant about that over at Dan’s new place.

    http://www.conservativecommune.com/2011/07/congress-is-making-it-difficult-to-raise-the-debt-limit-because-theyre-racists/

    I don’t know about this ending Pablo’s pool though, the O! himself hasn’t hinted at that yet; but he’s thrown just about everything else out there seeing if it would stick to the wall.

  71. Danger says:

    Can a brother spot me an “o” on my last sentence?

  72. bh says:

    Okay, that’s an Arcade Fire song, I guess. Older people shouldn’t cover younger people. It’s confusing.

  73. bh says:

    Unless that older person is Johnny Cash, maybe.

  74. sdferr says:

    Older people shouldn’t cover younger people. It’s confusing.

    In spooky action at a time-distance, I heard that Bach riffed a few bars of An die Freude on a Clavicord in 1726. Surely he was confused.

  75. bh says:

    We shouldn’t play around with such things, sdferr. That’s how we tempt our fathers to come to the future and kill us before we ever get the idea to travel back and kill them.

    Fathers hate paradoxes.

    There’s a decent chance that everyone who doesn’t exist only doesn’t because of forward traveling fathers. Yes, I feel pretty solid about this conjecture.

  76. bh says:

    On topic.

  77. Pablo says:

    Hear! Hear!

    Paul Ryan, too.

    Yes, Paul Ryan is money. But he’s been simmering for a while, sort of a Tom Brady type of development. These are the droids we’re looking for.

  78. sdferr says:

    The student who related the story said Bach’s only remark — after abruptly ending his exploration mid-passage — was “This sounds greasily democratic Heinrich, no?”

  79. sdferr says:

    And Heinrich’s retort? “Ja, well . . . that’s what you get for being a Protestant Johann.”

  80. bh says:

    I’d say that Paul Ryan is both money and a Tom Brady/Aaron Rodgers type.

    And… a case-in-point for not getting too crazy on home team ball-busting over things like TARP.

  81. Bob Reed says:

    GWB had to much class to respond.

    Affirmative. And even after the petulant President Pissy Pants routine over the last few weeks, all of the progressives, and putzes like Brooks, will still be gushing about Obama’s Superior! Temperment!, Class!, and marvel at his pants creases and Niebuhr burbling…

    Meanwhile, even though it drove many of us nuts at times, Bush demonstrated real dignity in the face of fare more vicious, sophmoric, and often absurd attacks…

    I could go into my usual, “imagine if Bush had done [X]”, and it’s corallary, “imagine if they said [Y] about Obama like they did with Bush”. Dude’s, the race cards would be flying so fast one would think they were being dealt by a Vegas croupier…

  82. bh says:

    No one yanked my chain over sneaking Aaron Rodgers in there?

    Just wanted to point that out.

  83. JD says:

    I was waiting for you to be struck by lightning, bh.

  84. bh says:

    I stand with a raised 2 iron on the mountaintop, JD.

  85. sdferr says:

    Since, for even God can’t hit a one-iron.

  86. Bob Reed says:

    I suppose there’s something tangentially appropriate about using a WI QB when trying to use a football analogy to express Paul Ryan’s awesomeness.

    Definitely not Favre; Ryan’s no showboat :)

    I’m thinkin’ JD would be looking for one Manning, Peyton in that comparison.

  87. bh says:

    Shit, yeah, I messed up the joke.

    Can’t hit either, myself. Or a 3 iron for that matter. This led to my confusion, I suppose.

  88. sdferr says:

    …messed up the joke.

    Oh, no, my mistake then, as I’d assumed you were confessing error and thus inviting the proper retribution.

  89. bh says:

    Or a five wood. Or three. Can’t really drive either.

    Or play the short game.

    Or putt.

    When you think about it, I have lots and lots of lovable foibles that God is too cool to be bothered with.

  90. sdferr says:

    . . .a WI QB

    You know who else is a product of cheeselandia? Yeah, that’s right, my guy.

  91. bh says:

    You know who else is a product of cheeselandia? Yeah, that’s right, my guy.

    Tony Romo?

  92. geoffb says:

    I hadn’t seen this piece of the presser before.

    Obama described a proposal offered by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., as “the fallback position … the least attractive option” because it only deals with raising the debt limit and does not address cutting spending. “If we take that approach, this issue is going to continue to plague us for months and years to come,” he said.

    That’s just precious, Obama scolding everyone else about not cutting spending.

  93. Bob Reed says:

    Tony Romeo?

    Speaking of Dallas, how did you ever deal with Staubach, him being an Annapolis man and all?

  94. Danger says:

    “You know who else is a product of cheeselandia? Yeah, that’s right, my guy.”

    Liberace?

  95. sdferr says:

    Yep, Romo. Who seems to have taken the lead organizing off season work outs. We’ve got an exhibition in Denver Aug.11, not far off really. I rooted my lungs out for Staubach, both when he was at Navy and when he showed up with the Pokes Bob, but he was long gone by the time I got to Anna-no-place.

  96. bh says:

    “Fighting Bob” La Follette?

  97. bh says:

    Heh, I almost snuck that one in before your answer.

  98. I Callahan says:

    I don’t know – this is the Hill, so I’m not too sure I want to put too much stock into it. Especially since I’m not finding an inkling of this anywhere else, and I’ve been looking all night.

    According to a number of other sites, the Cap, cut and balance legislation is being moved through this coming week, and no mention of any plan B.

    I’ll get worried when I see something else. It’s just one article.

  99. Darleen says:

    When Krauthammer is even saying “call his bluff”, just what yellowbellied, egg-sucking dogs are these GOPers who won’t?

  100. sdferr says:

    Yet another cheeselandian, Steve Hayes, has seemed to me to have the measure of the proceedings right along now. Here’s what he says about Dr K’s proposal (which I favored myself):

    Others have urged Republicans to “call Obama’s bluff” and pass a short-term hike in the debt ceiling. The idea is that Republicans would present a short-term extension with spending cuts equal to the debt ceiling increase and dare the president to reject it, in effect trying to restore the leverage they had before the McConnell plan. But it’s still unclear such a measure could pass the House.

    But even if it does pass:

    And if the time comes when the president is faced with either of these?—?a tough choice between the new Republican austerity plan and the default that his administration has said must be avoided at all costs?—?he now has a third option: the bipartisan McConnell plan. Republicans in effect changed the debate this week from “austerity or else” to “austerity or there’s this back-up plan that we’ve laid out for you.”

    But there’s a more worrisome prospect for Republicans. The president and Democrats may fully embrace the McConnell plan (they quickly warmed up to it in the days after it was introduced), while the House refuses to pass it. Many House Republicans simply don’t believe there will be economic consequences if the debt ceiling is not raised by August 2. So they will vote against it.

    He’s none too optimistic in the end.

  101. bh says:

    No one is paying me for this so you can’t gripe afterwards.

    Yes, we can go beyond that drop dead date. We’ll pay our debts. We’ll then pay debt-like things regardless of other theatrics.

    If ratings agencies (Moody’s, hey, Zandi, you fucking hack) want to pretend to prefer adding more bad debt onto barely sustainable debt? They should look to their own rating, then. It’s not like they’re the gold standard. It’s not like people don’t have instance after instance of bullshit they can be called on until they fold up. We could always go into the way back machine and find some of their fun and zany bloopers. There isn’t a limited supply. It wouldn’t be a drip, drip, drip. It would be a daily deluge.

  102. happyfeet says:

    the McConnell plan is a lot hobbled by pussies McCain and Graham prancing around it with their miniskirts and pom-poms

  103. happyfeet says:

    sashay shantay

  104. sdferr says:

    Fred Barnes, who seems to be pals with Mitch McConnell, paints a fairly withering portrait of Obama in action as a successful but loathsome scumbucket.

    http://tinyurl.com/5utt354

  105. happyfeet says:

    sashay *shante* I meaned

  106. happyfeet says:

    it’s french!

  107. happyfeet says:

    most of the fat-ass subliterate union whore TSA hoochies I’ve seen you could feel up their titties all day long and not have a single sexual moment … what the TSA has done mostly is aggregate a heretofore lost tribe of mutant human-cow hybrids I think

  108. sdferr says:

    Seems like some of the Democrats either don’t like McConnell’s plan and don’t mind saying so or else know how to put down one helluva smokescreen.

  109. happyfeet says:

    the percentage of American civilians what will be following the bouncing ball on this fiasco is vanishingly small I think

  110. geoffb says:

    From sdferr’s link.

    Biden, despite his reputation as Washington’s premier windbag, had restrained himself. The president hasn’t. He’s talked incessantly and for so long that others often gave up trying to get a word in. Obama dominated one session so completely that only one of the four Republicans spoke and then only in short spurts.
    […]
    The state of things after two months of negotiations suggests Republicans made three mistakes. One, their leverage in a fight over a debt limit increase turns out to be far less than McConnell, among others, had figured. Two, by agreeing to secret talks, they let Obama and Democrats pretend to support deep spending cuts without offering any public evidence, like a budget. And three, they played into Obama’s hands by walking out of the Biden talks and calling on the president to take over.
    […]
    The president has been less genial away from the prying eyes of the press and the public. In the private talks, he’s dominated the discussion with the eight most senior members of Congress in an overbearing way not likely to lead to compromise. He’s been argumentative. He’s come across as President Blowhard.
    […]
    Republicans believe Obama isn’t used to being challenged. “Any time you take a policy difference from him and stick to it, he doesn’t like it,” House majority leader Eric Cantor says.
    […]
    The pillorying of Cantor could have been spontaneous, but Republicans doubt it. Obama grew up in the politics of Chicago, an Illinois Republican noted. “The president views Eric as a greater threat to him than Boehner,” the Republican told me. The treatment of Cantor is “Chicago-style politics?—?destroy him.”

    I’d say #2 is the mistake that counts most. With no audio or video record of the meetings they can be portrayed by Obama in anyway he wishes as his cadre can be sent out to spin the meetings according to a script that has no relation to reality but is the way they need the public to see it. This as I said before is the method that the Clinton people used in grand jury hearings of the special prosecutor to demonize Ken Starr for things that never happened, questions never asked and answers never given. They were free to speak to the public and say anything whereas the jurors and prosecutors could not say anything.

  111. happyfeet says:

    National Soros Radio is on the case with a handy handy megaphone to explain all about the double super-secret talks.

    “We have a unique opportunity to do something big” and put the federal government’s fiscal books in order for the next decade or so, President Obama said this morning at a White House news conference where he again laid out his view of where things stand in deficit-reduction talks with Republican leaders.

    And during his second news conference of the week, the president made the case that Republicans haven’t yet been willing to embrace what he calls a “balanced” approach to deficit reduction that includes spending cuts and increases in tax revenues. Republican leaders, meanwhile, continue to say that the president is wrong to be talking about asking anyone to pay more in taxes at a time when the economy remains weak.

  112. geoffb says:

    The link in #104 I meant.

  113. serr8d says:

    I think the U.S.’s vaunted AAA credit rating gets dinged no matter what, because there’s no way BHO and the Democrats, with or without Team R’s contributions – detractions, will agree to the S&P’s demands that they see 4 trillion in cuts ‘n tax increases, or else…

    Standard & Poor’s still anticipates that lawmakers will raise the debt ceiling by the end of July to avoid those outcomes. However, if the government is forced to undergo a sudden, unplanned fiscal contraction–as a result of Treasury efforts to conserve cash and avoid default absent an agreement to raise the debt ceiling–we think that the effect on consumer sentiment, market confidence, and, thus, economic growth will likely be detrimental and long lasting. If the government misses a scheduled debt payment, we believe the effect would be even more significant and, under our criteria, would result in Standard & Poor’s lowering the long-term and short-term ratings on the U.S. to ‘SD’ until the payment default was cured.

    Congress and the Administration are debating various fiscal consolidation proposals. At the high end, budget savings of $4 trillion phased in over 10 to 12 years proposed by the Adminstration, (separately) by Congressional leaders, as well as by the Fiscal Commission in its December 2010 report, if accompanied by growth-enhancing reforms, could slow the deterioration of the U.S. net general government debt-to-GDP ratio, which is currently nearing 75%. Under our baseline macroeconomic scenario, net general government debt would reach 84% of GDP by 2013. (Our baseline scenario assumes near 3% annual real growth and a post-2012 phaseout of the December 2010 extension of the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts.) Such a percentage indicates a relatively weak government debt trajectory compared with those of the U.S.’ closest ‘AAA’ rated peers (France, Germany, the U.K., and Canada).

    We expect the debt trajectory to continue increasing in the medium term if a medium-term fiscal consolidation plan of $4 trillion is not agreed upon. If Congress and the Administration reach an agreement of about $4 trillion, and if we to conclude that such an agreement would be enacted and maintained throughout the decade, we could, other things unchanged, affirm the ‘AAA’ long-term rating and A-1+ short-term ratings on the U.S.

    This pretty much seals it. Tax increases will trigger another downturn; cuts in handouts will trigger street protests; the S&P dings; the resulting fallout across the economic spectrum ushers in a real and painful economic crisis. I don’t think the word ‘depression’ would correctly describe it; we’ll need a new term.

    Fun times will be had by all.

  114. Bob Reed says:

    I think you’re right about the S&P downgrade serr8d, no matter what happens. I’m just not sure that it’ll be as calamitous as everyone thinks.

    Downgrade or not, the US debt value at least stands on it’s own, as opposed to the Euro-zone that’s being propped up by the Chinese interventions on the Euro’s behalf in the FOREX markets using their accumulated reseves, as well as trying to play “white knight” to the PIIGS…

  115. geoffb says:

    The TEA Party budget.

    Stop the borrowing, pay the interest on the existing debt to avoid a default, and then prioritize spending for the balance of the budget, starting with Social Security, medical, and military expenses.
    […]
    Today’s debt interest of US$225-billion remains manageable, amounting to but 10% of the US$2.2-trillion in taxes and other receipts that the government will be bringing in. After paying the interest, Bachman would use most of the almost US$2-trillion that remains to make the payments for Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, and the various defence and veterans-related expenses. These expenditures would consume two-thirds of the federal government’s ready cash, much less once the fat is cut in these areas.

    Then she would set out the priorities for the remainder of the government’s budget, both in terms of what new revenues to raise and what spending to cut.

  116. serr8d says:

    Heh. For David Bowie fans, Politzoid’s latest, (Little) ‘China Debt’.

  117. geoffb says:

    Last night in a new report, Democrat-friendly Goldman Sachs dropped an economic bomb on President Obama’s chances for reelection.
    […]
    Following another week of weak economic data, we have cut our estimates for real GDP growth in the second and third quarter of 2011 to 1.5% and 2.5%, respectively, from 2% and 3.25%. Our forecasts for Q4 and 2012 are under review, but even excluding any further changes we now expect the unemployment rate to come down only modestly to 8¾% at the end of 2012.
    […]
    But the slowdown of recent months goes well beyond what can be explained with these temporary effects. … final demand growth has slowed to a pace that is typically only seen in recessions. .. Moreover, if the economy returns to recession—not our forecast, but clearly a possibility given the recent numbers …
    […]
    Alarms bells must be ringing all over Obamaland today. Unemployment on Election Day about where it is right now? Sputtering — if not stalling — economic growth? To many Americans that would sound like the car is back in the ditch — if it was ever out.

  118. geoffb says:

    Related to my #110.

    Polls showed Americans still largely opposed to raising the debt limit, despite months of pushing by the White House.
    […]
    “Public opinion” is always a challenge! But he impressed Politico. … It’s as if Obama has avoided emasculation by becoming a star in a fake little drama of his own creation, in which the audience (so far) consists mainly of MSNBC viewers, source-greasing reporters and Bloomberg editorialists.

  119. Joe says:

    http://theothermccain.com/2011/07/16/panic-at-1600-pennsylvania-avenue/ Now is not the time to fold. Now is the time to call. Republicans, grow a set will ya? Boehner, if you lost yours, grab a pair out of your golf bag and use them as nuticles.

  120. sdferr says:

    Mickey Kaus is a fella who knows how to stand back and look, and delights in it, even. It’s a rare predisposition in the press today. Americans ought to pay Mickey some mind, I think.

  121. geoffb says:

    #120, #118 says heh.

  122. happyfeet says:

    I wonder if Goldman is taking into account that there’s still lots more regulatory ass-rape in the making and our sad little economy will be even more shackled and brutalized come 2012 just from the inertia of all the industrious obamawhore regulators

  123. sdferr says:

    Mr Steltzer just says “Too much debt, too little growth”: Barry’s legacy.
    http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/obama-legacy-too-much-debt-too-little-growth_576898.html?page=1
    I say, Barry is screwed by his own doings, and for all I can see, his future doings.

  124. sdferr says:

    And by the way, I think that will become a story people pass around among themselves, whether anyone in particular likes it or not, just because that will be they way people will see the vicious world around them. And that’s the sort of thing Barry can’t escape, no matter what sort of fairy tales he invents to say otherwise.

  125. happyfeet says:

    did you see this yesterday

    …details have now been released regarding new mandatory requirements incumbent on ship designers and builders aimed at the reduction of greenhouse gases (GHG’s) from international shipping. All types of vessel whether general freight or container carriers, bulk tankers or passenger liners are affected if they exceed 400 gross tonnes.

    The amendments to MARPOL Annex VI Regulations for the prevention of air pollution from ships, add a new chapter 4 to Annex VI on Regulations on energy efficiency for ships to make mandatory the Energy Efficiency Design Index (EEDI), for new ships, and the Ship Energy Efficiency Management Plan (SEEMP) for all ships. Other amendments to Annex VI add new definitions and the requirements for survey and certification, including the format for the International Energy Efficiency Certificate.

    what this means is the soros-fellating obamawhores have won a new tax on international trade! Which, yay!

    But I wonder if the Goldman douchebags know about this.

  126. sdferr says:

    Nope, but I saw this this morning and fell very sad.

  127. […] h/t sdferr via geoffb The state of things after two months of negotiations suggests Republicans made three […]

  128. zino3 says:

    Too bad that Biden is the “one” that you always hated to wake up with. I haven’t done that in decades, but if I did, I would have to put a round through my own head.

    Holy Moly! Biden is dumber than a box of hammers.

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