Mid-Summer Dump

If you have been a regular reader of this blog in the past, and I thank you for that, you have obviously noted a discernible fall off in activity in the past several months.  As I told my brother earlier in the year, shortly after the Republican sweep last November, it's difficult to keep up the level of rage necessary for daily blogging.  On the other hand, given this president and the willingness of his state run media to manipulate the truth, how can anyone not remain consistently agitated.  I have listened long enough to the debate on the debt ceiling and can't remain silent any longer.  Like it or not, I have to purge.  Here are just a few thoughts I have had of late.

1)  The debt ceiling deadline.  Remember last winter's first prolonged debate on raising the debt ceiling?  Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner said it had to be raised by May 3rd or else all hell would break loose.   May 3rd came and went without a deal, and no fiscal calamity ensued.  Our nation officially hit its debt ceiling of $14.29 trillion on May 16th, at which time Mr. Geithner gave the the U. S. and the world economy a three week reprieve.  He set a new deadline of July 8th.  Remember what happened on July 8th?  I think I got my haircut.  His second three week reprieve extended doomsday to the current drop dead deadline of August 2nd.  While I don't think it's wise to continue to flaunt these deadlines, is there really anyone other than MSNBC, CNN, ABC, CBS, NBC, Obama, the Democrats, the NY Times, The Washington Post, Time magazine, Newsweek, The Nation, Mother Jones, et al, that really believe       fiscal Armageddon on the first Tuesday of next month?

2)  The debt ceiling.  Would someone please tell me the significance of breaking a barrier that has been broken repeatedly since its inception in 1917.  Seventy-four times since 1962 and ten times in just the last ten years.  It's a joke.  In theory, the ceiling is a mechanism of Congress to keep some semblance of control over our nation's debt.  Some theory.  In practice, however, the level of debt is a function of the budgets that Congress itself approves.  No other country has a debt limit separate from its budget process.  According to the General Accountability Office, Congress' own watchdog, credit rating agencies like Moody's and Standard and Poors view this disconnect between fiscal policy decisions (taxes and spending) and debt limit decisions as a "weakness in the U. S. budgetary framework."

3) Obama and the debt ceiling.  In 2006, when President Obama was just a lowly U. S. Senator he argued against raising the debt ceiling saying, "The fact that we are here today to debate raising America's  debt limit is a sign of leadership failure."  He went on, "It is a sign that we now depend on ongoing financial assistance from foreign countries to finance our Government's reckless fiscal policies."  "Increasing America's debt weakens us domestically and internationally."  He concluded that "America deserves better!"  You're damn right Mr. President!  Senator Obama voted against raising the debt ceiling in 2006.  He didn't even bother to cast a vote when the subject came up twice more during his term.  

4)  Democrats and tax increases.  If Obama and the Democrats think it is absolutely critical that we raise additional taxes on the so-called wealthy, then why didn't they raise them during the two years they controlled everything in Washington?  Why do we still refer to the tax cuts that President Bush pushed through in 2001 and 2003, and extended by President Obama in 2010 as the "Bush" tax cuts.  Mr. Obama has every right of ownership to these as anyone.  It is hyper hypocritical of the media or anyone else to continue to describe them as anything other than Obama's tax cuts.

5) Medicare, seniors, and memory loss.   What's with all the rhetoric about Republicans trying to eviscerate or kill Medicare.  Have we forgotten that not one Republican voted to pass Obamacare, yet the Affordable Care Act passed and signed into law by President Obama steals $500 billion from Medicare to help pay for this disaster?  Stop letting the president and his minions in the media rewrite history.  PAY ATTENTION!

6) Obamazilla.  Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is right.  I agree that "as long as this president is in the Oval Office, a real solution (to our fiscal problems) is probably unattainable."  What evidence exists to the contrary?  The unmitigated disaster that is the Obama presidency will continue to destroy any hope of a sustained recovery.