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Failure looms for U.S. debt talks

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Perhaps you're confusing that with the Civil War: conservative southerners (ne: Republicans) have never gotten over the thrashing they received there. Ah, the loss of a docile workforce had but for the cost of subsistence! And with Obama in the White House - it really must burn, no?

Ah, name calling. When you don't actually have any real arguments, this is what you resort to.

By the way, less than a fourth of white southerners owned slaves or were part of a slave owning family at the time of the Civil War. Sorry to introduce facts into your little rant.

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Why don't Americans stop using the Orwellian term "Defence budget" when what they are talking about is mainly a war budget? If it were called a war budget, people might be more likely to accept cuts.

Because the majority of the money spent does not go towards the war effort? But I guess you already knew that, didn't you?

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@Mojado

Please check the facts. The high interest rates were part of a policy of the Federal Reserve, operating independently of the White House. That policy eventually squeezed out the double-digit inflation of the 1970s.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

@Justaguy.. please.... check the facts... Carter has like 28 percent interest rates and 12 percent unemployment... that is why he got booted out of office

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I would say that Obama has had 1/2 of the US government actively working to make him fail Wolfpack. I cannot find another example in our modern times of a sitting US president being called a liar while giving the State of the Union speech, well in any times for that matter. When the GOP make it priority number one to make Obama fail, it is little wonder that many of his programs have not been as successful as they could have been. But still since you make the case that Obama is the worst I would like to share a few facts. First the job loss per month when Obama took over were around -500,000/month. Now we see +60=100,000/month gains in jobs. Second the DOW was at 6,000 now it is at 12,000. The Iraq and Afghan wars were both going on and Al Qaeda was still a threat with Osama Bin Laden still alive and active. Now Iraq is over and Afghan drawdown will occur next year and Al Qaeda is nearly destroyed and Bin Laden is dead. Second, the recession ended and while growth has not been great it is only in the minds of conservatives that you can make the case that things are not better now compared to what they were in 2008. The time to cut government is when the private sector is booming not when it is struggling. The GOP economic plan amounts to a desire to cut spending so as to hurt economic recovery and cut taxes on the rich, while also cutting social programs used by the poor. Conservativism has failed not because it came from a bad idea but because it has become radicalized. What are the conservatives going to do when Obama win? My bets is cry and gnash their teeth and do what they do best, try and stop progress, act petty and try and impeach Obama on some trumped up charge like they did with Clinton.

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democrats and republicans want each other to fail . how can there be succes unless you get a majority government . I dont care who wins,just want a majority to get bills passed.

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@Laguna:

a look at the facts show that Obama has shown more restraint than most any modern president.

Are you serious? Obama raised the baseline budget by nearly $1 trillion per year since 2009. This is on top of the gap turned over from the Bush years. Of the $4.4 trillion he has added to the debt, $3 trillion in three years is clearly Obama's. The remainder is due to his failure to cut spending (or raise taxes) to make up the difference.

President Obama is the worst president in American history. The budget and economic numbers alone tell the story.

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"Very telling attempt at a historical analogy. The modern totalitarian Left indeed basically wants a second French Revolution; Libertarians and many conservatives want a second American Revolution."

Oh please, lets just put that faux outrage right back in its box. You have wanted this president to fail, at the expense of the country since before he was even elected.

Outrage? It's a fairly common observation, recollected in calm reflection, and made by many libertarians. It was true long before Obama's imperial presidency, (Isabel Patterson essay from 1943 - "The Humanitarian With the Guillotine") it will be true when he is gone.

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Figures. Democrats or Republicans, they're just the same sh...sh...shtuff with different labels. They can't even see themselves for what they are and their fans of course also can't even see that. They spend too much time thinking they're better than the others instead of thinking how to improve themselves.

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When you wish failure upon America, just to spite a black president, you just don't deserve citizenship in my opinion.

See my post above about how totalitarian the American left has grown.

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"People who keep blaming Republicans and Democrats are missing the boat. The problem is lifetime politicians. Get rid of lifetime pols by instituting term limits and common sense from Congress will rise considerably"

@Globalwatcher. I grant you the Tea Partiers are quite a group but hardly indicative of the average American. In fact, I believe that the reason they TP candidates are so rabid is because they are already planning on re-election and new the TP support. Besides, the problems America is facing are due to years of neglect by lifetime politicians. Lifetime pols don't live in the real world and are free from responsibility which is why they make disasterous decisions. Get a group of people who understand that government work is temporary and I believe you will see a raise in common sense rather than the stupidity being shown by both parties.

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To recap the above:

It's the democrats fault!

It's the republicans fault!

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It will be interesting to see whether they will "untrigger" the trigger, thereby abdicating any and all fiscal responsability.

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Very telling attempt at a historical analogy. The modern totalitarian Left indeed basically wants a second French Revolution; Libertarians and many conservatives want a second American Revolution.

Oh please, lets just put that faux outrage right back in its box. You have wanted this president to fail, at the expense of the country since before he was even elected. Conservatives in America have proven themselves to be VERY un-American and many, yourself included, are no longer deserving of the benefits America offers.

When you wish failure upon America, just to spite a black president, you just don't deserve citizenship in my opinion.

Taka

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People who keep blaming Republicans and Democrats are missing the boat. The problem is lifetime politicians. Get rid of lifetime pols by instituting term limits and common sense from Congress will rise considerably

samwatters, the attempt already has failed and actually made it even worse when some Americans sent first timer congressmen of TP (no way, my way, highway) to Washington. They do not understand a negotiation #101 that includes to COMPROMISE.

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USA RIP. 1776- 2001. Brain washed America let by gones be by gones.

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"Sen. Jon Kyl, an Arizona Republican, said on NBC's "Meet the Press" he believes the Pentagon cuts would be devastating."

Right on pal - America needs to build more aircraft carrier and bomber fleets. Why bother investing in America's human capital, you know, the ones that pay the taxes you guys spend so easily?

The Republican Dream of dismantling America continues full tilt and conservative voters are only too happy to give it the green light, especially if it preserves tax breaks for America's dreadfully oppressed and frightfully over-taxed elite.

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It pays never to misunderestimate the indomitable will of a conservative politician to try to cripple America.

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DS – “As to your point about only Americans having valid views on American threads...... sorry but that is plain ignorance. Do YOU restrict yourself? Do you refrain from commenting on threads about other countries- Japan, Greece, etc? I doubt it.”

LOL! No, you’re right – I agree that it’s ignorant to claim that only Americans having valid views on American threads.

I also agree that name dropping is a dumb thing to do, ay reconstructed? :-) 

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Sushi;

Closing the Iraq War? I'll believe it when I see it. He's just trying to re-name the mission as "training" rather than "combat", but the reality is that there are still tens of thousands of US troops there.

As for health care, don't confuse a level of health CARE with a level of health insurance. The vast majority of Americans were satisfied with their health care when Obama was elected. Of course, the system wasnt perfect, but it shouldnt have been a priority. He squandered vast political capital on trying to fix something that wasnt an immediate priority.

As to your point about only Americans having valid views on American threads...... sorry but that is plain ignorance. Do YOU restrict yourself? Do you refrain from commenting on threads about other countries- Japan, Greece, etc? I doubt it.

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...nationalizing one sixth of the economy with ObamaCare.

Ha! - made me spit my coffee on my monitor with that. The health care lobby - capitalists all, truly - were fully behind the unfortunate results of this law. Individuals will be required to buy insurance from PRIVATE companies to be used at PRIVATE hospitals, though with public subsidies for the needy. You need to invest in a dictionary, my friend.

As mentioned earlier, though, this will be improved when the public option is finally ushered through during Obama's second term; relieving employers of the burden of insurance and offering workers true insurance portability will provide a huge boon to the US economy, as anyone with economic knowledge and an understanding of America will attest.

But heck, Bush clearly outlined the Republican position when he said, "One of my concerns is that the health care not be as good as it can possibly be." Penny wise, pound foolish: Republicans keep building on that legacy, leaving America with the world's highest per-capita health care costs for very average life expectancy.

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unrecenstructed - "Dems had massive majorities from 07. And they squandered the political capital they had on nationalizing one sixth of the economy with ObamaCare."

I guess they were only trying to provide Americans with a level of health insurance that most other civilized countries have. As usual, the GOP wouldn’t have a bar of it.

And as you are clearly not American, what makes you think your view is valid on threads about America?

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n the long term, I’m confident that future Americans will look back and view this present generation of conservative “leaders” as more destructive than any terrorist.

Dems had massive majorities from 07. And they squandered the political capital they had on nationalizing one sixth of the economy with ObamaCare. Now they are trying to back out on that and offering waivers to thousands of politically connected groups and institutions. Sushi, you are lost. You know zero about America.

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DS - "I say cut down on ALL the wars. Obama is following in the tradition of warmonger Democratic presidents. He expanded Afghanistan, illegally bombed Libya, expanded the predator drone campaign, failed to close Gitmo..."

I think you forgot he's closing down the war in Iraq,

A minor point, I know....

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In the long term, I’m confident that future Americans will look back and view this present generation of conservative “leaders” as more destructive than any terrorist.

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I say cut down on ALL the wars. Obama is following in the tradition of warmonger Democratic presidents. He expanded Afghanistan, illegally bombed Libya, expanded the predator drone campaign, failed to close Gitmo...

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It should be fairly obvious to anyone who knows anything about anything that once the US frees itself from the financial parasites that have brought the country to bankruptcy, it will be the one of the best places in the world to invest in. The US has the world’s best high-tech, best universities, hardest working people. The days of obese Americans mindlessly glued to their TV propaganda as they consume far more than the planet can support are over forever.

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Wow, surprise.... As long as the super committee members wrap up in time to catch their flights home for Thanksgiving break they'll consider it a success (that they didn't accomplish anything doesn't matter). I was worried about the "mandatory cuts" until I found out that they won't hit until 2013 & this congress cannot obligate another congress to act (even though they'll mostly be the same bozos).

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"long-term solution to the U.S. debt crisis"

A second American revolution! Clean out the House! The House of Representatives, the White House, and the Senate for good measure!

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da Repugs in da South fought against the Republican Lincoln.

Yeah, I left that opening for ya there as Republicans still like to pretend they're the party of Lincoln - a quick look at the electoral map shows nothing but Republican red pooling in the grave of the old South, while the birthplace of the American revolution is a solid blue. Labels change; values persist.

Lincoln was a Whig before the Republicans existed, and the Whigs demanded much of what the Democrats demand today. Were Lincoln here, he'd cringe at the timidity of government action in the face of national need and at the hijacking of national interest by the monied class.

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How about cutting down on one or two of the wars?

I know it's great fun, using all those high tech toys, drones and all, but it costs money.

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And in other news, a Balanced Budget Bill was defeated in Congress by........... which party?

The problem isn't revenue, it has been relatively steady. The problem is spending. The gov't is borrowing nearly 4 BILLION dollars every day to fund their programmes. You could confiscate the entire wealth of "the 1%" and it wouldn't pay for a year of government deficit.

Politicians love to thow around big sounding numbers, like "a 300 billion dollar spending cut", without adding little details like it is spread over 10 years, or projected against anticipated revenue, or...

To repeat. The problem isn'T executive compensation. That's a red herring. Or taxes/tax breaks. That's a distraction too. The problem purely is spending. Spending is outstripping revenue by 30%. This is unsustainable.

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"We are the 99 percent" is as totalitarian as you can get.

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Right, Laguna, da Repugs in da South fought against the Republican Lincoln. Quite a grasp of US history there.What's next? Wisconsin, where the R party was founded, was secretly confederate?

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The modern totalitarian Left indeed basically wants a second French Revolution; Libertarians and many conservatives want a second American Revolution.

That bastion of Republican support, the South, were less than eager to join the American Revolution; many colonies didn't join until fighting was well underway, and Virginia remained so peeved that they reneged on their pledge of territory for the new capital, leaving Washington DC bereft of one corner. Following the war, a large number of southerners fled back to England or to British Canada.

Perhaps you're confusing that with the Civil War: conservative southerners (ne: Republicans) have never gotten over the thrashing they received there. Ah, the loss of a docile workforce had but for the cost of subsistence! And with Obama in the White House - it really must burn, no?

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America today = France 1788

Very telling attempt at a historical analogy. The modern totalitarian Left indeed basically wants a second French Revolution; Libertarians and many conservatives want a second American Revolution.

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Keep in mind that the U.S. is constantly criticizing Europe for its debt policy and are urging reforms, but they are not even able to make small compromise.

The U.S. is the real danger for the world economy, Europe is acting but the USA is on a debt explosion spree. Strangely enough there is enough money there for further military expenditures.

America today = France 1788

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unrecontructed - "Oh, so it's Norquist who has duped 50 million Americans to help his super rich buddies in 'Da One Puhcent'?"

It's obviously false statements like this that show you barely have a clue what's going on.

Norquist hasn't done it - he has just duped almost all GOP politicians to sign his no taxes pledge.

They've driven themselves - and the economy - into the corner, and before toolong, probably off the cliff.

But it's folks like Norquist who love folks like you, who actually attempt to defend him while his actions wreck the economy.

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Let's face it : this boondoggle was DOA by the Republican­s as soon as it was a zygote in somebody's mind.

With their pledge to King Norquist, no republican who drank his Kool Aid would ever vote to do the job that was supposed to be done.

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Oh, and name names? How about the Koch brothers, whose vast corporate network now ranks alongside you and I in the realm of legal personhood.

Koch bros, worth 50 billion, leveraged our 16 trillion dollar economy! And the Soros-backed AmericanProg website is where you can get the unvarnished truth.

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For a little background, unre, read this; you may find yourself reconstructed. http://www.americanprogress.org/kf/ceo_pay_web_final.pdf

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Unreconstructed - yes, that same Krugman, though he was discussing areas like healthcare and executive pay, not the Euro; he is still correct.

Executive pay - at 24 times average worker pay when I was born back in 1965 - has soared in the US to over 240 times. That's about three times the average of European countries, and five times that of Japanese. The 1% pay themselves this much because they can, and they can because they repress compensation to the rank-and-file. Average worker pay did not budge during the Bush years despite productivity gains; it IS the average worker who is paying for this gross inequity.

Oh, and name names? How about the Koch brothers, whose vast corporate network now ranks alongside you and I in the realm of legal personhood. How can you imagine they are using their vast clout?

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People who keep blaming Republicans and Democrats are missing the boat. The problem is lifetime politicians. Get rid of lifetime pols by instituting term limits and common sense from Congress will rise considerably.

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Five words: Grover Norquist Taxpayer Protection Pledge.

Oh, so it's Norquist who has duped 50 million Americans to help his super rich buddies in 'Da One Puhcent'? - many of whom are Democrats. Wowser. Grover should run for pres. Sushisake should go into comedy.

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Unreconstructed, you are either willfully or ignorantly misleading other posters.

Five words: Grover Norquist Taxpayer Protection Pledge.

Combine that with conservative voters who will never vote for the other party and – bam – you have probably the main causer of today’s deadlocked Congress.

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

As GW pointed out, show me a time in history with less uncertainty than we have today. Krugman calls it the "confidence fairy" and has completely and repeatedly debunked it.

The same Krugman crowing back in 08 that the European model was our only hope...

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

sushisake

Conservatives? Simply not interested in helping ordinary Americans or America. Too busy trying to protect the elite 1% with every excuse in the book.

For the umpteenth time - let's name some names here. Who are the main forces in the super scary 'one percent' ? Do you seriously expect people here to believe that Repub voters - who number over 50 million, vote in unison to protect the interests of one percent of Americans who, if you'd actually bother to do a little research, are themselves all over the political spectrum?

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Sailwind,

As GW pointed out, show me a time in history with less uncertainty than we have today. Krugman calls it the "confidence fairy" and has completely and repeatedly debunked it.

Also, taxes on the wealthy and on corporations are already at historic lows, yet that doesn't seem to be encouraging the "job creators" to create jobs. I agree that health care is a burden companies dread and is one that they should not have to bear; that is why the Democrats pushed so hard for a single-payer system such as exists in Japan. Guess which party shot that one down; with luck, it will be given another chance in Obama's second term.

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No one should expect this latest bunch of GOP presidential candidates to do much to help right the economy.

They’re simply too uninformed, too uninterested, and proud of it.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Conservatives? Simply not interested in helping ordinary Americans or America.

Too busy trying to protect the elite 1% with every excuse in the book.

But that’s the conservative way.

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Clinton could pull this off. Obama? too weak.

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Sail,

All that is the same thing ANYONE starting up in the last 100yrs has & will continue to face. Some of that stuff you can answer or reasonably so, others yeah its a damn whats it going to be next yr or the year after that...........ie same as its always been.

Hell I have a lot of those concerns here, now in Japan because its all as clear as mud on these isles.

As an outsider looking at the US here is what I see, 2parties that are behaving like kids in a sandbox(just like Japan yeah!). I see the US debt getting outta control, largely due to Afghanistan & Iraq. While Iraq was a 100% mistake, Afghanistan less so, but the US changed its gameplan imo, it shudda just stuck with nailing bin laden etc, shudnt have tried its hand at nation building.

I see the distribution of wealth shift obscenely towards the wealthy side, this imo is clearly stupid stupid stupid, how on earth do the rich expect to keep making $$$$ if they are DESTROYING the markets wealth & ability to survive, it isnt sustainable & now finally people are seeing that this isnt all just numbers, it actually affects people, hence the recent protests, which were easy to predict. Now, if the wealthy dont start cluing in to what they have caused, its going to get worse, note I dont condone this but I predict it will happen(violence that is) unless those who have vacumned up all the wealth since the 80s start changing their ways.

To summarise yes Govt is a huge part of the problem, but even more so its the wealthy, now what are you all going to do?

You both need to start getting your acts together before this gets REAL NASTY, and yes I know its bigger than the US but if the US starts mending its ways, the other will start falling in line!

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Famboy - "I suggest genuine compassion, cooperation, and a desire to build a better future together are necessary steps toward a solution to our problems, "

Agreed. Problem is, even if you spelt that out to Republicans in big letters, they still wouldn’t get it.

Too tightly welded to their elite 1% paymaster sugar daddies.

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Sail, good post.

That doesn't mean I agree with all of it though. :-)

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Ok then why dont all the filthy rich invest more of their ill gotten gains to help yr idea along? Instead they are just banking their record take home pay & not doing much with it................

I'll answer seriously. Do you really blame them right now? Do you have any idea what tax rates are going to be in the future? Are they going to go up after all or will Congress finally set the bar and say this what the rates are going to be period, so people that are inclined to invest would actually do it instead of holding on to their working capital so they don't get nailed with a huge tax hit latter and wipe out any potential profit gain on their investment. Health care reform, small business has no clue as how hard this is going to effect them other than if you have more than then 50 employees your going to get nailed with a surcharge to pay for it and nobody really knows how much that is going to be. So what do small businesses do? They stay below 50 employees stagnating hiring all through-out the economy. And who can blame them??? Would you hire or start a business if you didn't know what your manditory expenditures or going to be, your future employee health care costs are going to be? You need that basic information just to set what would be your profit margin in the first place to set your prices for the goods and services your business going to provide. Some poster mentioned it isn't rocket science, he's right it isn't. get Government out of the way level the playing field with a permanent reliable tax structure that wipes out ALL the loopholes and repeal the monstrosity that is Obama-care and reform health care through market and consumer reforms. Then you will see the economy take off, jobs created and most importantly real economic growth as confidence returns and people aren't afraid to invest back into the United States economy again.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Jeremiah - "Not sure if you even live in America or are American, but the Occupy Wall Street protests are getting bigger.

Did Faux News tell you otherwise?

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Except the GOP simply isn't interested in that. All they want to do is protect their elite 1% paymasters

We all thought that was the message the Occupyiers were going to convince America was true.But they failed. It was a failure.

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Sailwind - "There are other ways to increase tax revenue rather than raising rates on those who happen to be in the higher income brackets and playing the class warfare bull."

Says someone who is playing the "class warfare bull" himself....

" Increasing the tax base by real private sector job creation would do the trick quite nicely."

Except the GOP simply isn't interested in that. All they want to do is protect their elite 1% paymasters, and unfortunately, thinking conservatives like Sailwind are buying it, hook, line and sinker.

"I call Obama's........ Mine, Mine, Mine Tax plan."

Rubbish. Obama’s administration wants to invest in rebuilding America’s infrastructure.

The GOP won’t have a bar of it.

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US is looking pretty bad these days, the bickering is more & more like the BS that goes on here in Japan!

Also you Yanks had better watch out you dont pull a USSR, ie let the military sink the economy!!!!

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There are other ways to increase tax revenue rather than raising rates on those who happen to be in the higher income brackets and playing the class warfare bull. Increasing the tax base by real private sector job creation would do the trick quite nicely. As a matter fact it would lower the financial burden on the Government in its current outlays to deal with the problem

Sail,

Ok then why dont all the filthy rich invest more of their ill gotten gains to help yr idea along? Instead they are just banking their record take home pay & not doing much with it................

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It does not take a rocket scientist to figure this out; increasing tax revenue while cutting spending. You need to do BOTH at the same time, otherwise nothing will work.

There are other ways to increase tax revenue rather than raising rates on those who happen to be in the higher income brackets and playing the class warfare bull. Increasing the tax base by real private sector job creation would do the trick quite nicely. As a matter fact it would lower the financial burden on the Government in its current outlays to deal with the problem. The Democrats and Obama instead of a pro growth private sector model along the lines of Mr. Cain's 999 plan, has a rather different vision. I call Obama's........ Mine, Mine, Mine Tax plan.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

It does not take a rocket scientist to figure this out; increasing tax revenue while cutting spending. You need to do BOTH at the same time, otherwise nothing will work.

GDP/TP remnds me a wife/husband who fail to go to work while devoting herself/himself for a 50 cents coupon clipping.

If someone is serious to get ahead of game, they need to focus on paycheck and the savings. No "if" "but" and exceptions. He/she needs to earn income.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Wolfpack, your statement that

The Obama Administration has added $4.4 trillion to the debt and there is still a year to go.

is incorrect. To ADD to the debt, Obama would have had to institute unfunded programs or cut taxes without offsetting budget cuts, and a look at the facts show that Obama has shown more restraint than most any modern president. The debt is rising for two reasons: the recession, which necessitates higher spending with lower revenue; and the effects of the Bush-era unfunded programs and non-offset tax cuts.

The last Republican president who seemed to care about the deficit was GHW Bush - and looked what happened to him! His son certainly didn't care; Reagan certainly didn't care. Republicans in general don't care unless Democrats are in the driver's seat; then they froth at the mouth and go red with apoplexy.

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The GOP ARE representing their corporate paymasters - the elite 1% - very successfully.

I bet all that GOP assistance is visible in the stock prices of the companies the elite one percent own. I would like some of that action.Sushisake3 did you take advantage of your knowledge?

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Obama probably will look to Greece - to see what might happen to the U.S. economy if the GOP take power.

That can't happen until 14 months from now. Let's use our brains.

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SushiSake - "Leadership involves – among other things – working to benefit what you represent."

Sorry, my bad. The GOP ARE representing their corporate paymasters - the elite 1% - very successfully.

Apologies for any misunderstanding.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

to see what might happen to the U.S. economy if the GOP take power.

SushiSake3 and JeremiahW, we may look for a soup kitchen and Red Cross Shelters if the GOP takes over.

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Jeremiah, you're right - Obama probably will look to Greece - to see what might happen to the U.S. economy if the GOP take power.

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Obama will look to Greece.

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

Sail, unnecessary sarcasm noted but you joke with this at your own risk.

Leadership involves – among other things – working to benefit what you represent.

The GOP/TP are totally against this concept as you well know.

The GOP/TP have no interest whatsoever in doing anything serious to help the American people or America.

No, the best thing Congress can do in my opinion is – NOTHING.

Then the Bush-era tax cuts will expire as planned.

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I'm not worried. President Obama will get the parties together under his wise leadership and work a compromise that will work for all involved. The man just oozes "leadership".

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The key problem with conservatives now is they think they can continue spending without earning a commensurate amount to cover costs.

They've done it before - we saw it when they launched both wars - did bush and co. implement anything at all to raise funds to cover the costs of both wars?

No.

Did conservatives demand it?

No.

Both are complicit, jus like they are compilicit now.

Any sensible mum knows that you have to earn in order to be able to spend.

And it's clear the GOP/TP elites are living in a different world than the rest of us.

Obama 2012.

-2 ( +1 / -3 )

The whole problem of the impass is that Rep wants to EXTEND the Bush's tax cut to riches. Dem. wants to cut deficut and wants to END the Bush's tax cut.

It does not take a rocket scientist to figure this out; increasing tax revenue while cutting spending. You need to do BOTH at the same time, otherwise nothing will work.

This is very serous.

-1 ( +2 / -2 )

Democrats can never find too many ways to involve the government in people's lives.

Serrano, Democrats put every issues on the table, no hiding. Rep just walked away. I have been keeping up with this very carefully from the beginning. The truth will come out. You will hear.

What does it mean to us?

If nothing is agreed, the US gov. will be down graded. What it means is that the US has to pay higher interest to borrow money from others due to a credit line downgrade, thus your qualify of life may well be downgraded accordingly.

1 ( +3 / -1 )

The Obama Administration has added $4.4 trillion to the debt and there is still a year to go. The failure of the "super committee" is meaningless. The $1.2 trillion sequestor itself is a joke. It's not even a cut in real dollar terms but in the amount of projected increase in spending of over 7% a year. These yahoo's in both parties will not get serious about cutting spending until the governments credit rating get's down to junk status. Tax increases of any amount - even of 99% on the millionaires and billionaires - will not make a dent in the real problem - which is huge entitlement costs.

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

The 21st century shall never never belongs to 'American century'!

-4 ( +0 / -4 )

It is looking like "downgrade" is going to define Obama 's presidency at this point.

-3 ( +0 / -3 )

Why don't Americans stop using the Orwellian term "Defence budget" when what they are talking about is mainly a war budget? If it were called a war budget, people might be more likely to accept cuts.

1 ( +3 / -2 )

Republicans have already started. Republican Senator Kyle had this to say:

I can't imagine that knowing of the importance of national defense that both Republicans and Democrats wouldn't find a way to work through that process so that we still get the $1.2 trillion in cuts but it doesn’t all fall on defense.... I think there is a way to avoid that if there is good will on both sides.

First, it doesn't all fall on defense; half of it does. And second, maintaining the final cut number while reducing defense's share means increasing that of social programs. Taking from the poor to give to the military industrial complex doesn't seem like something people of good will would do.

The Republicans have boxed themselves terribly: they must either make immediate, meaningful concessions in the Supercommittee, or the budget deficit will be slashed by massive spending cuts and the expiration of the Bush tax cuts. I'm kinda hoping for the latter.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

This is not a economy issue but a political issue, the republicans will doing all the dirty tricks in bag to stop Obama's re-election campaign! Remember the Carter adninistration 's bid back in 1980 and the' timing' of US embassy of Tehran hostage releases, you know the repbulicans put their own 'first' instead of the nation!

1 ( +3 / -2 )

Democrats can never find too many ways to involve the government in people's lives.

0 ( +3 / -3 )

"Failure looms for U.S. debt talks"

Failure...it's at the core of being a conservative.

Republicans can never find to many ways to screw the middle and bottom class to satisfy their corporate sugar daddy masters.

.

0 ( +3 / -3 )

"stubbornly high unemployment of more than 9%"

That's not as bad as Greece's more than 20%.

"Democrats"

"Republicans"

Lord help us.

-2 ( +2 / -4 )

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