The Republicans have a potentially powerful bargaining lever with this, now that they have 41 votes. Actually, it's more of a bludgeon, if they were as ruthless as Yours Truly.
They could say, look here Barry-O, Madam Freaker, and Dirty Harry... Unless you want the US government to default on your watch, you better drop ObamaCare, Cap & Trade, repeal the unspent 2/3 of the "stimulus" bill (and general purpose Democratic political slush fund), find out where the TARP money went, and leave the banks who paid back their debt be, because WE CANNOT AFFORD ANY OF THIS NONSENSE. Cut taxes, cut the massive bloat out of every aspect of the budget (yea, even defense), and put together a road map for real budget surpluses, even if that means canning a few popular entitlements. We'll let the people replace all of us if need be, but unless we do this, we're all toast anyway. So, the real nuclear option is to filibuster this mind-boggling 1.9T debt ceiling increase (which, unfathomably, is only enough to make it to the election!). This is a button that I think needs to be pressed just to get our politicians off their high-and-mighty, you-need-us pedestals and get everyone in this country invested in getting out of debt instead of wracking up more and more and more and more of it to make some narcissistic neo-Marxist twit look like some kind of patriot-genius so we all feel good about America again. I know, it will never happen. Neither party has the courage to face the facts. Obama is said now to be planning to talk about fiscal responsibility in his SOTU, but after last year's record-smashing deficit spending binge and many more raids of future taxpayers' wallets lined up for this year and next to fund his "fundamental transformation of America," that's like Tiger Woods talking about the virtues of marital fidelity, or Bernie Madoff teaching classes in how to run an investment club for fun and profit. Somebody has to stop this insanity, somehow. Before the laws of physics do. - Publius On Wed, Jan 20, 2010 at 8:02 PM, Publius Maximus <[email protected]> wrote: > http://bit.ly/4uI1Zc > > - - - > The record increase in the so-called debt limit is required because > the budget deficit has spiraled out of control in the wake of a > recession that cut tax revenues, the Wall Street bailout, and > increased spending by the Democratic-controlled Congress. Last year's > deficit hit a phenomenal $1.4 trillion, and the current year's deficit > promises to be as high or higher. > > Congress has never failed to increase the borrowing limit. > > "We have gone to the restaurant. We have eaten the meal. Now the only > question is whether we will pay the check," said Finance Committee > Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont. "We simply must do so." > > A White House policy statement said the increase "is critically > important to make sure that financing of federal government operations > can continue without interruption and that the creditworthiness of the > United States is not called into question." > > Less than a decade ago, $1.9 trillion would have been enough to > finance the operations and programs of the federal government for an > entire year. Now, it's only enough to make sure Democrats can avoid > another vote before Election Day. > - - - > > Just say no. > > Baucus is wrong in his analogy. The correct analogy would be: > > "We've been maxing out our credit cards for decades, and are unable to > pay back what we owe. Please be so kind as to give us another increase > in our credit limit, so we can keep going to expensive restaurants and > buying our constituents' votes." > > There is no other way to stop the insanity than to, well, stop the > insanity and accept reality. By any ordinary definition, the US now > owes more than it can repay, there can be no more running up of the > giant credit card in the sky. > > Treasury bonds are like crack cocaine to these vote-grubbing > power-hungry drunken whores. (I mean that in the very best possible > way, of course.) > > As I know from painful personal experience, running up debt cannot be > done indefinitely and the longer you get away with it, the more > painful the consequences. The sooner you own up, the quicker you can > bounce back. > > If we're already at the point where to do so would be fatal, then > we're already past doomed, and it only reinforces the need to stop the > insanity. > > Stop it now. > > (Not holding my breath of course.) > > - Publius > > -- > > "It ought never to be forgotten, that a firm union of this country, > under an efficient government, will probably be an increasing object > of jealousy to more than one nation of Europe; and that enterprises to > subvert it will sometimes originate in the intrigues of foreign > powers, and will seldom fail to be patronized and abetted by some of > them. Its preservation, therefore ought in no case that can be > avoided, to be committed to the guardianship of any but those whose > situation will uniformly beget an immediate interest in the faithful > and vigilant performance of the trust." [Federalist Papers #59] > -- "It ought never to be forgotten, that a firm union of this country, under an efficient government, will probably be an increasing object of jealousy to more than one nation of Europe; and that enterprises to subvert it will sometimes originate in the intrigues of foreign powers, and will seldom fail to be patronized and abetted by some of them. Its preservation, therefore ought in no case that can be avoided, to be committed to the guardianship of any but those whose situation will uniformly beget an immediate interest in the faithful and vigilant performance of the trust." [Federalist Papers #59] _______________________________________________ Post Messages to: [email protected] Subscription Maintenance: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profox OT-free version of this list: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profoxtech Searchable Archive: http://leafe.com/archives/search/profox This message: http://leafe.com/archives/byMID/profox/[email protected] ** All postings, unless explicitly stated otherwise, are the opinions of the author, and do not constitute legal or medical advice. This statement is added to the messages for those lawyers who are too stupid to see the obvious.
