the U.S. debt ceiling raging, House Speaker John Boehner
and the Republicans in both the House and the Senate are
standing firm against President Obama and the Democrats
over whether to raise the debt limit and accompanying con-
ditions for raising it. The situation is thus:
The government fiscal clock is ticking toward the date for
resolution or default on the debt boundary; that date is
August 2. If there is no agreement by the White House
and Congress as to a resolution concerning the debt
mark, then Washington's meeting its financial obligations,
which include outstanding loans, entitlement programs,
and such will be delayed. This will cause international
financial uproar, along with a reduction in our country's
credit rating, which is currently AAA. If the U.S. credit
rating is downgraded it will make borrowing more money
from other countries more difficult as well as expensive,
thanks to a higher rate of interest; credit will become
less available and more expensive for domestic borrowers
as well. Businesses will have less access to vital funds
to expand their operations. Families will have similar
difficulty acquiring education loans to fund their children's
college education. Mortgages will become harder to
arrange for home buyers.
The Tea Party activists have advocated a program termed
"Cut, Cap and Balance", which would do three things to
start us on the way back to responsible fiscal policies and
resultant sound fiscal health. They are as follows:
1) Cut --- This bill calls for discretionary and mandatory
spending reductions in FY2012 by cutting next year's
projected $3.6 billion in expenditures by $111 billion.
2) Cap --- The legislation places caps on spending over
the decade to come from 24.1% of the U.S. economy
this year, 22.5% in 2012, to 19.9% in 2021. Overstep-
ping a cap would result in an automatic cut in spending.
Social Security, Medicare, Veterans, current military
personnel, and interest due on the debt would be exempt.
3) Balance --- The measure mandates that Congress
pass a Balanced Budget Amendment to the Constitution
and send it to the states for ratification before the Presi-
dent's request for a debt limit increase is granted.
President Obama and the Democrats have been doing their
nefarious best to scare the populace into going along with
their proposal for dealing with this dilemma, which is
raising the debt ceiling, accompanying it with higher taxes
coupled with spending cuts. On examination, the cuts
would amount to mere shavings rather than real savings;
they would be superficial. And don't forget, this president
has never retreated from prodigious spending throughout
his presidency thus far! As for taxation, same deal:
the more the merrier! Obama laughingly calls his plan a
"balanced approach". Boehner correctly calls Obama's
plan a "blank check", stating that it "isn't going to happen."
So the President blames the Republicans for being unwilling
to compromise. The truth is, House Speaker Boehner,
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, and the GOP
members in both chambers have sent President Obama a
compromise plan that, while not as strong as "Cut, Cap and
Balance", would still begin the badly needed fiscal healing
that we need --- without any tax increases, only to have it
thrown back in their faces by a stubborn and truculent
Obama. So today the House voted on Speaker Boehner's
latest compromise (a second compromise by the GOP, by
the way; they now lead Obama & Company 2-0 on that
score), a plan calling for a two-step increase in the debt
ceiling coupled with some spending cuts which will not be
as much as fiscal hawks hope for. As your favorite Peasant
types this piece, the resulting vote has not yet been
announced. Meanwhile, Speaker Boehner is being perceived
by political observers on Capitol Hill and from around the
country as being in a position of strength, while President
Obama is looking weak and vulnerable. Even some of his
fellow Democrats in Washington are frustrated with his
stubborn refusal to embrace what even they see, to their
credit, reasonable ideas for ending the debt ceiling impasse.
And the American people are clamoring all the more for such
a settlement, one that won't demand more "sacrifice" from
them, as Obama terms it, in the form of increased taxes
to pay.
Your optimistic Peasant proclaims that President Obama
has painted himself into a corner over the debt ceiling show-
down, with his unrelenting insistence on taking even more
money out of our pockets to pay for a bloated government
which he has made even more bloated than it had been before.
The country is starting to see just who is serious about fixing
our economy and who wants to milk it --- and us --- in the
name of political gamesmanship and lust for power. And isn't
it wonderful to see the previously milquetoast congressional
Republicans confront the Democrats a steel spine and fierce
resolve? And none to soon, I can tell you!
I can't wait for the 2012 elections. How about you?
MEM
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