Speaker Boehner is beginning to resemble the infamous Roman Emperor Nero who allegedly played with his fiddle while Rome nearly burned to the ground. He was supposed to have some kind of agreement with the Senate about a path forward by 4pm today so he could calm the Asian stock markets before they opened at 5pm. Instead, he had a conference call with his caucus at 4:30. Amazingly, he did the opposite of what needed to be done. He called on his caucus to stick together. That’s precisely wrong. What he needed to do is issue an ultamatum that divides his caucus between those who are willing to default on our debt and kill our credit rating, and those who are willing to call it a day in the interest of our country. His conference call produced nothing but a recipe for disaster. And, sure enough, the Asian markets were not impressed:
U.S. stock futures fell, indicating the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index will slump after rallying within 1.4 percent of a three-year high, as failure to raise the federal debt limit intensified concern of a default.
S&P 500 futures expiring in September declined 1.1 percent to 1,325.80 at 7:03 a.m. in Tokyo. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures lost 131 points, or 1 percent, to 12,490. The U.S. dollar fell against the euro, yen and Swiss franc.
House Speaker John Boehner told Republicans that there’s no agreement on a plan for raising the ceiling before a default threatened for Aug. 2. A Republican congressional official said Boehner, speaking by telephone to lawmakers, is reporting that discussions are continuing. The impasse has boosted the chance S&P will cut the U.S. credit rating from AAA within three months to 50 percent, the company said July 21.
“There’s a real risk for the markets and the economy,” Peter Sorrentino, a senior money manager at Huntington Asset Advisors in Cincinnati, said in a telephone interview. The firm oversees $14.8 billion. “The market just cannot let go of the fears about creditworthiness and liquidity.”
Why is Boehner still dicking around? Is he fucking drunk?
I assume so; and probably has been most of the weekend.
If I was in Boners position I’d be drunk, but probably not the same reasons…
A “Stay the course” speech right before the whole thing begins to unravel, making the whole situation worse? Is he doing this deliberately?
He’s trying to save his gavel. And the country will burn down around him.
He’s stalling. Perhaps he’s just trying to get an even better deal. I have no clue what these people are thinking.
They are thinking “How can I make a buck by tanking the US economy?” These are Repukeliscum. They think through their wallet.
Is he the weakest Speaker in American history? His caucus has him by the balls.
I’m sure his ‘job creators’ are real impressed with the thought that their interest rates to get flooring, get bridge loans, and basically keep their businesses afloat will all be running higher vs the give of what, 3% personal tax that they survived just fine in Clinton years.
The cost of doing business and thus of any incentive of hiring, not to mention breaking into the well sealed coffers they are hoarding just went the wrong direction.
Is Boehner?
Cantor has put about 10K into a stock fund which will make money if the economy tanks.
Which of the Repukes are shorting the US economy?
Boehner has thrown his lot with the Kamakazi Tea Party “Housekerteers”. He does not have a plan and intends to go down with the ship, however that plays out. He is playing a stalliing game while he waits to see what is the next move from the White House.
Stokely Carmichael used an expression in the early days of the Black Power movement, which although old is still very much applicable to what should be said to the Republican opposition who are blocking all attempts to raise the national debt ceiling. With fist raised in the air Stokley said, “Move on out the way or we will move on over you!” Alright Barack now repeat after me……
of course he’s blitzed
I get the impression he’s trying to pull the House Republicans to make a deal, and he has no idea how to do it. He said, “It’s won’t be Cut, Cap, & Balance as we passed it, but it should be a package that reflects the principles of Cut, Cap, & Balance.” So he’s telling them, no you can’t have cut cap and balance, even though a week ago he was pretending that was what the focus was on. But it will be based on the same principles, so Republicans should be able to vote for it. He said, “We’re committed to working with you – and with our Republican colleagues in the Senate – to get it done. No one is willing to default on the full faith and credit of the United States.” See he’s not working with the evil Obama, these are Republican Senators, so we’re not just caving!
At this point, I’m guessing Democrats will cave one last time, accepting 2.5 trillion dollars in cuts with no revenue increases, Boehner will attempt to get House Republicans to pass it and he’ll still fail.
He’s completely incompetent. It’s astounding.
Truly mindboggling. How in Hades did he ever make it that far up the ladder, anyway? It can’t be just seniority, surely? Wouldn’t he have to politic to move up the ranks to the Speakership?
At this point I suspect the Democrats are going to accept his original demand, offer over two trillion dollars in spending cuts with no revenue increases, and he’s still not going to be able to get House Republicans on board.
The plan was supposed to be Republicans would get their symbolic vote on cut cap and balance, and this would free them to pass something relatively reasonable when that failed, but the reverse seems to be the case. Now the House Republicans have voted voted in favor of raising the debt ceiling, they feel they don’t have to compromise any further; they offered a way to raise the debt ceiling, so if there’s a default it’s not their fault.
According to Talkingpointsmemo that was pretty much what happened today. The only reservation the Dems had was to lay off SS and Medicare (otherwise the Dems in the Senate would block the deal — good for them).
However, the GOP changed the goalposts again and wanted the deal to be an extension only until January, at which time SS and Medicare would be slashed.
Look, I’m beginning to wonder if maybe the solution is to have the Dems let the debt ceiling expire for a couple days (for the size of the disaster to become apparent), then capitulate (it’s what they are good at after all) and make it clear that they gave the GOP everything they wanted, against their better judgement. Then spend every day of the next 16 months saying “this economy is following the GOP plan”.
Alas, the Dems are as bad at messaging as they are good at capitulating. But at this point the GOP has made it impossible for the Dems to do anything to help the economy. Therefore, might as well screw it royally and label the GOP as the cause.
alcoholism – many levels of denial, self serving unreality
Have we reached the point where they cause a default on purpose to see if it will be bad? And if it does go bad, just blame it on Obama.
Innocent people harmed be damn!
Obama, Boehner Come to Agreement That Cantor is Douche
The truth – as it often is – is simpler than is imagined in your philosophy.
And the “philosophic truth” is: there are a “core” group of Americans – depending on what poll you’re responding to – about 40% who HONESTLY believe that the world is 6,000 years old and American Democracy is there to serve God and Capitalism – PERIOD – END OF DISCUSSION.
These people quite happily vote against anything that stands in the way of Freedom and Liberty – no matter how much their vote hurts many American children – quite often their own children (health care for instance).
These people HONESTLY believe Government IS the enemy, Trickle down and Deregulate. They basically HATE Government and have used the Republican Part to help “starve the beast” to prove “it wouldn’t/can’t work” and now their endgame – with this “default” – is to “drown it in a bathtub.”
Game, set, match.
As a Canadian watching cross our undefended border (except on your side) it looks like insanity. However, it is very exciting. American is the first country on earth that believes what it believes SO STRONGLY it is prepared to be un-governable and un-liveable to PROVE that no Government can ever trump God or unregulated, clearly insane run amuck Capitalism.
Thank GOD you’ve got your 11 Nuclear Carrier Battle Groups at least you’re keeping the world’s oceans free from pirates – er – sorry – they can’t actually accomplish that can they?
We need a seance to conjure up LBJ’s ghost and send him to kick Cantor’s ass and then for fun spook the hell out of Boehner.
Is the McConnel plan still operative? There doesn’t seem to be any way possible to get any kind of agreement through both houses by August 2, and pushing the discussion even that far is going to have some big consequences like what we’re seeing in the Asian markets. Seems like the only way we’re going to avoid the big disaster is just say screw it on the debt negotiations for now, let’s just raise the ceiling and let the House GOP vote against it.
What I’m wondering these days is how this is going to play out in the next few months to a year globally. I don’t have any real knowledge of how things work in the global markets, but it seems to me that if I were a country with influence I’d be thinking the US has gone insane, and start looking for ways to insulate myself and my other trading partners from potential damage in the future–the idea being, the US has done this very very stupid and incomprehensible thing (and even pushing it this close to deadline is already bad enough to seed that impression), and there’s no reason to think it won’t happen again.
So I might start looking into things like pegging oil to the Euro, and other things like that.
I don’t see how we’re going to restore our image abroad as long as we have what the GOP has turned into, and enough delusional voters to keep them in power.
Problem with just raising the dept ceiling is that Boner controls what goes on the floor of the house for a vote. There’s no way to force him to get him to do it that I am aware.
SO the reps cant be forced to vote against raising the debt ceiling.
I’ve heard (where I don’t recall) that if Obama gets the deal done, he’s a shoe in for 2012. If he doesn’t and the market crashes, he’s done, a one-termer. The Tea Party House Republicans will not budge on revenues, tax increases, so-called, after pledging “no new taxes,” the old Bush I line that got him into election trouble. Realizing this Reid just proposed a no revenue/benefit slash plan, that the rigid House Republicans cannot refuse. But they will find some way to do so.
Looks as if this game of chicken is all about the presidency, 2012, and not about the country or the National Debt, IMO.
It’s certainly the case that Republicans would raise the debt ceiling without a whimper if a Republican were President. I guess we elect them, or they will make the country ungovernable.
It’s completely a game of chicken, the presidency, yes, but in the larger picture it’s about 2 directions of the country – the Koch backed corporatists vs the restoration of democracy Obama is about (ok, trolls, time to pile on). So it’s about presidency in 2012 as part of that – if Obama wins in 2012 there’s still much to accomplish (see Fighting Bills comment). The Get Obama Party has painted themselves into a corner and Obama has manoeuvered into showing crystal clear what they’re about, but that still leaves us with no clue how it’s going to play out because of their craziness, Orange Julius’ impaired functioning, and all the variables.
The big question that we might have answered today is what cuts the Reid plan contains. I’ve read that $1.2 trillion has to do with military expenditures, but that leaves another $1.5 trillion to account for. Guess we’ll find out soon enough.
Boehner’s actions are those of a man in a weak position, who cannot carry out his responsibilities because of forces beyond his control, and faces the possibility of destruction at every turn.
He is “dicking around” because there is nothing else he is able to do. He can’t deliver the votes for the deals he can cut, he can’t walk away from the table, and Eric Cantor is about to stick a knife in his back.