National Debt: Wake Up Media -- It's not a damn game, it's our lives!
I am disgusted with both the politicians and the national media who insist on portraying the political solution to our national debt problem as a “game.” It is not a game – each proposal and counter-proposal have significant and profound effects on the American public.
As it is, Americans are being screwed for the malfeasance of the government’s financial regulatory agencies and the criminal activity of the financial institutions the regulate. There should be no doubt in anyone’s mind that the government failed to detect and deter outright fraudulent behavior on a grand scale. Now, as a consequence of the technical insolvency of many financial institutions, including the major signature-name banks, the Federal Reserve is holding the Federal Funds Rate artificially low with its ZIRP (Zero Interest Rate Policy) to recapitalize these financial institutions. With no consequences to those who took tens of millions of dollars in bonuses for essentially excusing fraudulent activity. What does this mean for the American public? All investors and depositors – especially senior citizens living on a fixed income – are denied an adequate rate of return while the financial institutions are being re-capitalized and the exorbitant and undeserved bonuses continue to be handed out for little more than making profits as easy as shooting fish in a barrel.
So it angers me when ultra-liberals like Michael Tomasky couch the solution to our debt problem in terms of a fight (We the People vs. We the People) or a game (Steal All You Can Before The Public Wakes Up) …
Obama Can Win the Debt Ceiling Fight
But to pull it off, says Michael Tomasky, he needs to take a tough negotiating line. And he has to start laying the groundwork for it now.
First and foremost, Obama has to get the business world on his side.
He needs to bang this home with an intensity like it’s October in a presidential campaign. First and foremost, he has to get the business world on his side, such that they’re willing at least privately to come down on the Republicans like a ton of bricks. In 2011, these titans had to hedge their positions because most of them were hoping a Republican president would be elected the next year. But Obama is in the captain’s chair for four more years. There’s no political point to such hedging now.
Second, he should use the State of the Union to drive home the absurdity of the situation, and the outrageousness of it. He needs to turn and face the assembled Republicans and say directly to them: “You fooled me once in 2011. I won’t get fooled again. No negotiating means no negotiating.”
Look at Obama’s approval ratings vs. Congress’ and the Republicans’, and look at public support for Obama’s positions vs. the GOP’s (on entitlements and defense spending, for example), and tell me this isn’t plausible. It most certainly is. And remember: You’re not likely to go broke betting against Washington conventional wisdom. Source: Obama Can Win the Debt Ceiling Fight - The Daily Beast
Bottom line …
One, Obama has big business on his side. Think about it. No criminal prosecutions for financial crime. Big handouts to the special interests. And, a convenient whipping boy for all of the price hikes.
Two, Outrageous is the government’s continued spending on special interest projects and the enlargement of the unionized government work force. Not to mention pushing money into billion dollar infrastructure improvements, repairs, or replacements which demand a “prevailing wage” – code word for union labor. We do not have a revenue problem, we have a spending problem.
Three, Negotiating – we are negotiating against ourselves, with the outcome being the spiraling downward trend of the safety and security of the United States.
But most of all – this is not a game to be handicapped like a sporting event. It is a zero sum game where there is a loser for every winner. And we know the winners are the special interests, including the unions – which leaves the legal, law-abiding citizens of the United States as the losers.
Remember folks, you reap what you sow. And we have planted Obama-seeds for the next four years.
-- steve
“Nullius in verba.”-- take nobody's word for it!
“Beware of false knowledge; it is more dangerous than ignorance.”-- George Bernard Shaw
“Progressive, liberal, Socialist, Marxist, Democratic Socialist -- they are all COMMUNISTS.”
“The key to fighting the craziness of the progressives is to hold them responsible for their actions, not their intentions.” – OCS "The object in life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane." -- Marcus Aurelius “A people that elect corrupt politicians, imposters, thieves, and traitors are not victims... but accomplices” -- George Orwell “Fere libenter homines id quod volunt credunt." (The people gladly believe what they wish to.) ~Julius Caesar “Describing the problem is quite different from knowing the solution. Except in politics." ~ OCS