Beach Peanuts

Marco Rubio Votes "No" To Paying The Country's Bills...Again

Add to the ever growing list of "no" votes by Marco Rubio: Paying the country's bills!

Of course he would vote no on this, because Congress adding things like unnecessary wars, eight-plus years of tax cuts for the wealthy and other assorted big ticket items to Uncle Sam's credit card, and then later deciding that you don't need to pay the bill is kind of like what Rubio did when he was in Florida running up a tab courtesy of the RPOF.

"Charge it!"

In a 64-34 vote, the Senate gave its blessing to a House bill that suspends the debt ceiling until May 19, when the Treasury Department will need to use “extraordinary measures” to keep paying the nation’s bills.

Republican Sens. Kelly Ayotte (N.H.), Roy Blunt (Mo.), Thad Cochran (Miss.), Susan Collins (Maine), Lindsey Graham (S.C.), Dean Heller (Nev.), John Hoeven (N.D.), Lisa Murkowski (Alaska), Richard Shelby (Ala.), John Thune (S.D.) and Roger Wicker (Miss.) voted with the Democratic caucus to pass the legislation.

Not so Rubio. Because that, apparently is what he means when he says he's a "fiscal conservative."

Conservative when it comes time to pay the bills.

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The Big Grift? Rubio, The GOP, And The "Manufactured Crisis" Moneymaker

The "Miracle" Is That Marco Rubio Managed To Make It To The U.S. Senate

The Tea Party grifter wing of the Republican Party still hasn't learned that a majority of the country views them as a walking, talking disaster waiting to happen, and now helping to lead the charge is Florida's own "Sen. Duh," Marco Rubio. 

Fresh from his "no" votes on Hurricane Sandy relief and the fiscal cliff, cheered on only by the uniformed voters he and the party do their best to manipulate, it seems Rubio has found another way to capitalize on misinformation:

Help to create a manufactured crisis, play the false "both sides" blame game, then fundraise off of it.

U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla, Tuesday sent out a fundraising email citing “manufactured crises” as a reason people should give to Reclaim America, a political action committee he started in 2011.

“Whether it’s a "cliff," a "ceiling" or a "sequester," Washington politicians in both parties are guilty of using manufactured crises to force through bad legislation, often with loads of pork-barrel spending hidden inside the bills,” the email reads.

Manufactured crisis you say? Well, at least on that note, Rubio is being honest. The fiscal cliff and the debt ceiling are each indeed a "manufactured crisis," in that they were created by the Republican Party. There is no "both sides" there, and not surprisingly Rubio cites no examples for the statement in that fundraising letter. He just throws "both sides" and "pork" in there because it makes good grifter-speak.

You can read the Rubio fundraising letter here.

To be clear, the fiscal cliff came about in part when the Bush tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires were about to expire, a Republican imposed deadline. Those tax cuts have devastated our economy, but rather than raise taxes on the rich, Rubio and the GOP wanted to use the cliff to make more cuts to Medicare and Social Security, among other things. (More about that in a minute.) In short, they wanted to throw grandma and the poor off the cliff rather than Rubio's rich donors.

Rubio also used that tired old grifter fairy tale "we can't raise taxes on the job creators" nonsense as an explanation for his vote. To Rubio, small businesses are the likes of Koch Industries and AT&T, which each gave Rubio's Reclaim America PAC $10,000 in 2012.

During the negotiations over the fiscal cliff, it became well known that one of the not so secret plans the GOP had up their sleeves was to not only make those cuts to entitlements like Social Security (yes, they are entitlements because you've paid into them, and Republicans want to rob you of them) but to do so in a way as to place the blame on President Obama. It didn't work, of course, but Rubio was deep into grift mode there as well, as Paul Krugman pointed out in the New York Times. Rubio, Krugman says, flat out lied on the proposed changes to Social Security.

Now let's move on to the next "manufactured crisis," the debt ceiling. As Steve Benen explains, the debt ceiling basically boils down to this: Congress "bought things," or rather approved federal spending, and now we must pay those bills. That means President Obama has to borrow the money to pay for what Congress "spent." It's a simple concept, but Republicans again are attempting to muddy the waters and mislead the public about what's really going on. While much of that misinformation is intentional, there's also a good chance that many members of the GOP really don't understand what the debt ceiling is, and what it will mean if it isn't raised. (If I were a gambler, I would place money on Rubio for being one of the latter clueless members. But either way, facts don't matter much to Rubio.)

Facts aside, here's another clue the debt ceiling crisis is another GOP grifter tactic. Before they threatened not to raise the debt ceiling in 2011, Republicans currently in Congress at the time had raised it 19 times under President Bush, no questions asked. Think Progress has the details here. Bush kept increasing the debt, and GOP leaders said no sweat, here you go. Ka-ching! But suddenly last year the GOP decided they could no longer do that, because President Obama was at the helm. Instead they held the country hostage, and in doing so nearly crashed the economy, and cost us a credit downgrade.

You're welcome. Love, The GOP.

Now here we go again. No matter what the GOP implies, one fact is clear: If the GOP forces the country into default and the debt ceiling isn't raised this time around, it's going to be worse for our economy than it was the last time around. A LOT worse, as Ezra Klein explains:

Imagine we hit the debt ceiling Feb. 15. The BPC’s analysis suggests that federal spending over the next month will be about $450 billion. Federal revenues will be nearer to $277 billion. That means that the government will have to default on about 40 percent of its obligations.

The choices it will face quickly become stark. It can cover interest on the debt, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, defense spending, education, food stamps and other low-income transfers, and a handful of other programs, but doing all that will mean defaulting on everything — really, everything — else. The FBI will shut down. The people responsible for tracking down loose nukes will lose their jobs. The prisons won’t operate. The biomedical researchers won’t be funded. The court system will close its doors. The tax refunds won’t go out. The Federal Aviation Administration will go offline. The parks will close. Food safety inspections will cease.

This is the difference between a debt-ceiling shutdown and a government shutdown. As Shai Akabas, a research at the Bipartisan Policy Center, puts it, “in a government shutdown, the government is shutting down future obligations. With the debt ceiling, They’ve already obligated the money. They owe these people the payments now, and they can’t make them.”

So much for the claim of fiscal responsibility on the part of the Republican Party. They claim they're willing to crash the economy, and hold us hostage, with disastrous, long term effects merely because Obama is in the White House. It's not much of a stretch to say it's a sick sort of revenge against him and those who dared to reelect him.

That brings us back to Marco "Fiscal Conservative" Rubio, and his "manufactured crisis" fundraising scheme. As I said, there is no "both sides" to this fiasco. Republicans have manufactured this crisis all on their own. It was never a "crisis" when Bush wanted the debt ceiling raised while he spent money like a drunken sailor for eight years. Rubio may not have been there then, but it's a fact nonetheless.

Just imagine you're one of those $10,000 donors who receive this latest plea for big bucks from Marco, as he and his colleagues pop up in front of any camera they can find to make their bogus threat not to "give Obama a blank check" by raising the debt ceiling. Then consider this:

Then, of course, there’s the financial-market chaos. Trillions of dollars in derivatives and other financial products are based on the interest rate that the federal government pays when borrowing. U.S. government debt is, after all, supposed to be the safest investment in the world, and so it’s used to “benchmark” all other sorts of debt. A spike in the Treasury rate would mean a spike in credit card rates and mortgage rates, not to mention all manner of more esoteric financial derivatives. The damage to the economy would be tremendous, and it would occur at every level, from individuals looking for a loan to buy a house to hedge funders trying to play the markets.

“Think about what we’re talking about here,” says Steve Bell, director of economic policy at the BPC. “We’re talking about the reserve currency of the world. We’re talking about the deepest and most liquid markets in the world. And we’re sitting here wondering if we’ll cover our obligations?”

If Republicans were to make good on their threat and they did crash the economy, how would those rich donors of Rubio's feel about the potential for their own portfolios to go up in a puff of smoke? After all, it would no longer be just a matter of the poor "moocher" class who must pull themselves up by their own bootstraps. We're talking the potential to lose more than a million here or a million there. So imagine if one of those big donors gave to Rubio's Reclaim America PAC in honor of that "manufactured crisis" letter? Are they willing to donate even more to enable Rubio and his party to potentially cost them a lot more than a $10,000 check in the debt ceiling crash later?

Give money to Rubio's PAC now and enable him and the Republicans to cost you everything else in the future? Really? Nice grift work if you can get it, huh?

Something tells me Sen. Duh hasn't thought this one through. But then the days when we had Republicans in Washington who actually knew something about governing and the economy are long over.

Manufactured crisis, indeed.

 

Happy New Year: The Cliff Diving Edition

Back after a vacation from politics and spending time with my family. Hope you all had a nice holiday and a Happy New Years.

I must say I was not the least bit sad to say "Don't let the door hit you" to 2012 and the most worthless Congress in recent memory. (Oh, I'm sorry. I meant EVER.) Let's hope that 2013 brings an improvement. (Right. But I did say "hope.") While the Republican obstruction machine promises threatens to do even worse in the New Year, and I have confidence they mean it, we do have things to be thankful for. For instance, we gained some sane lawmakers like Elizabeth Warren and lost many a wingnut, including one of the biggest: Allen West, who predictably didn't go quietly. I assume he will continue howling at the moon on FOX-GOP-TV, perhaps with his own time slot, but at least we can turn him off knowing he can't actually vote on things anymore. 

I did not shed a tear when Republicans began whining their way back to Washington over the weekend, complaining that they had to actually govern lest we go over the fake fiscal cliff of their own creation. As they complained that they had to miss some of the holidays with their families, many more families were missing things like meals, health care, and shelter of their own thanks to those grumbling blowhards. Still, a few rushed back to happily vote against the poor and the middle class so that their overlords could recoup their investment in them (looking at you Marco Rubio) in spite of some who actually voted for the fiscal cliff fix. Not so shocking, considering that they're planning to make up for it by taking Americans and the economy hostage once again over the debt ceiling in a few short months. Because nothing says "fiscal conservative" like defining the term as not paying your bills at the expense of the poor, the elderly, and the nation's economy (again, looking at you and your little credit card and foreclosure problems there Sen. Rubio, among other things.) As I write, it isn't quite over yet. The Republicans in the House and their "leader" (wink, wink), John Boehner, the man who requested a super sized gavel he has yet to use if you don't count the photo op when he took over with it, have not yet voted. Will he use it now on the knuckles of the Senate as they hang onto that cliff by their fingers? Maybe, maybe not. Either way he'll probably still drop it on his own foot just to be consistent. Stay tuned...

So yes, 2013 will undoubtedly bring more of the same obstruction from the far right wingnut Tea Bag Republicans (because now there really is no other kind left) but we return more resolved than ever to fight back. The majority spoke again in 2012 and gave President Obama another four years in spite of the voter suppression tactics and big spending for $0 return thanks to con men like Karl Rove, the Koch brothers, and The Dick Armey. They'll keep at it and we'll be on our toes. Florida Governor Voldemort has been busy continuing to build his State of Denial around his record (just because I've been silent the past week doesn't mean I haven't been paying attention) and the GOP case of Charlie Cristaphobia has nearly sent the Republicans completely around the bend, so it promises to be an amusing, but at the same time sobering New Year for Floridians.

For that reason alone, 2014 can't come soon enough when we finally say "Don't let the door hit ya'" to the worst governor in the history of governors ever recorded in the history of governing.

So as they say, strap yourselves in folks, it's going to be a bumpy ride....

Tea Party Followers, You've Been Had

If there are still true believers in the so called Tea Party movement who haven't recognized it for the re-branded Republican party corporate funded scam that it is, this message is for you.

It's also a wake up call to the fact that in spite of what you've been told, and what you may believe, President Obama has been fighting for you all along, and still is. The Tea Party/Republicans? They're not. Never have. Never will. 

You've been had.

Like many others, this blogger has tried to tell you this before and I've been called a liar and much worse for doing so. If you're one of those who still thinks that after you read this, you're welcome to your opinion. It won't bother me in the least.

Facts are facts. Just because you may refuse to believe them doesn't make you immune to them. The Republican/Tea Party have been scamming you all along and in the coming days, if America is pushed off the cliff into default by this Republican manufactured "crisis" you'll be riding into the abyss along with the rest of us. Your so called "leaders" have no interest in saving you from the disaster they've created, and they won't.

In spite of what they tell you, they also have no interest in Democracy.

Let me give you just the latest examples of reality from the Tea Party world.

Rick Scott, John Mica

I'll start with your "leaders" in Florida. You've likely gotten the message from your Tea Party "Hero" Governor Rick Scott already. He made his bold statement against the "establishment" when he said F--- you to high-speed rail. You rallied around him in support for that move in spite of the fact that it actually resulted in F--- all of us. It cost many of your own a chance at a job and a step in the direction of boosting our economy in Florida. But then he turned around and sold you out not long after when he said yes to SunRail. Why did he do that? Well, because Republican John Mica, another big timer you supported put the pressure on the governor because SunRail helps his district. Your Tea Party organizers on the ground who enabled the Republicans made lots of noise and claimed they would go after Scott and Mica for selling out to that rail project unlike the first. How's that working out?

Crickets.

Mike Haridopolos, Dean Cannon

How about yesterday, when John Boehner buckled under yet again to his Tea Party members and passed a bill in order to hold the nation's economy for ransom, a bill that he knew had no chance of going anywhere in the first place? Zero? Governor Scott, along with stooges Mike Haridopolos and Dean Cannon jumped at the chance to kiss up to you by crafting a message in support of the Boehner non-starter bill, saying they "looked forward to Florida leading the way towards ratification of a federal balanced budget amendment.” As they wrote it they no doubt knew that the bill had less than a snowball's chance in Tea Bagger hell of passing. No worries though, they could safely go on the record for your benefit, no skin off their noses. Why else would Cannon and Haridopolos suddenly be so tight with the man they've been running from in recent months when his poll numbers were in the tank? To illustrate an empty united front to help the Republican Tea Party scam stay afloat. That's why. They want to keep you on a sinking ship. If you're still not convinced, grab a life preserver anyway just in case, and keep reading.

The crown jewel: Allen West 

Many of you have seen Allen West as a rebel for the average Tea Party Joe. You're in a very small minority who fails to recognize the crown jewel of crazy when you see it. However, your numbers just went down in the last couple days when he too sold you out by showing his true colors. You sent him to Washington because he told you he was an outsider who would never become a part of the "established Republican party." Remember? Well, file that memory away in your scrapbook, because it took him only a few short months before his status as a sellout became visible to true believers. When John Boehner bent over backwards to try and win Tea Party members over with his vast collection of rewritten bills, your hero Allen West folded into the party line when others didn't. He even offered to "drive the GOP clown car off the cliff." But alas, when reality kicked in and Boehner turned the bill back into the Republican version as it used to be, Allen West was still happily on board. West knows only the established Republican bread gets buttered in Washington even if his Tea Bag cohorts don't get it yet. He wants that butter so bad he'll churn it himself if he has to, but he doesn't want you to know.

That's why he was so quick to attempt to cover himself and his tracks by insulting your intelligence by writing "you" a letter explaining why he did it, invoking his fall back blind excuse of "patriotism" as he always does to get himself out of a bind. No one would dare call out this "steadfast and loyal" veteran! He writes as if all this congressional mumbo jumbo is really above your head, in a "trust me" fashion, claiming "It is now time for the focus to be on the United States Senate to produce a plan to take this country forward." If you've been paying attention to politics in the last few months, you know this actually translates to a "Republican party plan to take over the country" while moving forward as the lot of you remain behind and under that forward bus.

West ends his letter to you, his followers, as any "steadfast and loyal Washigton Republican would" with a rallying cry of patriotism wrapped in a flag: 

My fellow Americans, I ask you: If I had voted “No” on the Budget Control Act, who would I have been voting for?"

Who indeed? If you're curious and want an answer to that question, I would suggest you give him a buzz or send him an email in order to find out. Let me know who that is if you get a response, because the suspense is killing me.

Still convinced the Tea Party is a separate group from the Republican Party? Well, here's one more example to ponder. We'll move beyond just Florida.

Tea Party "Darling" Marco Rubio

Where to begin with this one? If you haven't seen through this Republican robot by now, there may be no hope. Still, I'll give it one more try.

This is the guy who many of you think might make a great President one day, or a great VP a little sooner? Take time to read up on him instead of reading his Tweets and listening to his script on the Sunday morning shows. He's a phony.

Fiscal conservative? Sure, if by fiscal conservative you mean not paying your bills and forcing a foreclosure, for starters. Can't get much more conservative than not paying for something I suppose. But there's plenty of investigations working on his past spending habits. For now let's focus on the fact that he is no more of a math whiz than Rick Scott is. He probably has trouble spelling the word "economy" much less understanding how it works. Sign up for Marco Rubio's world, and you'll be working until you drop dead, and if that doesn't kill you, having no health care will. You see he wants to kill everything from Social Secuirty to Medicare (but only AFTER his Mom has collected hers, of course). While Rubio has tries to paint himself as a Tea Party hero when it suits him, it's apparent he's anything but. He'll knock Allen West off that butter churn in a heartbeat and he's been at the Republican game a lot longer. He'll do anything they tell him to.

But most of all, he's been parroting one of the biggest scams of all: "American Exceptionalism." This is his all time favorite,  all purpose "patriotic" calling card. He's used it a lot, but what exactly does it mean? You could look to Rubio himself fr an answer the next time he reads his script on the air, but if you'de like a glimpse of the future from his world view of "American Exceptionalism," here's just a taste of the reality he has in store if he and the Republican/Tea Party scammers get their way when the country can't pay those bills come next Tuesday, and we all slide into default. 

You don't need to take my word for it. This is how some in other parts of the world see the scam for what it is.

From Think Progress:

But as the U.S. inches closer to defaulting on its debts for the first time in history, criticism of Congress is starting to come from beyond our own borders. From France and Germany to China and India, countries around the world are angry that American politicians play with the possibility of a U.S. default like a yo-yo with little regard for the international economic system that depends on American solvency.

Despite China’s traditional preference of staying out of the domestic affairs of other nations, senior Chinese officials’ frustrations are growing louder and louder. Stephen Roach, the non-executive chairman of Morgan Staley Asia, said senior Chinese officials told him the debt ceiling debate in the U.S. is “truly shocking.” “We understand the politics,” a Chinese official said, “but your government’s continued recklessness is astonishing.” And newspapers around the world are voicing discontent with Congress’s handling of the debt ceiling:

Conservative German Die Welt: “[T]here are few signs of self-doubt or self-awareness in the U.S. … [The Tea Party movement] sees the other side as their enemy. Negotiations with the Democrats, whether it’s about appointing a judge or the insolvency of the United States, are only successful if the enemy is defeated. Compromise, they feel, is a sign of weakness and cowardice.”

The German mass-circulation Bild: “What America is currently exhibiting is the worst kind of absurd theatrics and the whole world is being held hostage… Most importantly, the Republicans have turned a dispute over a technicality into a religious war, which no longer has any relation to a reasonable dispute between the elected government and the opposition.”

French newspaper Le Monde:”The American politicians supposed to lead the most powerful nation in the world are becoming a laughing stock.”

Chinese state-owned newspaper Xinhua: “Given the United States’ status as the world’s largest economy and the issuer of the dominant international reserve currency, such political brinksmanship in Washington is dangerously irresponsible.”

The founding documents of many nations around the world take their inspiration from and quote the U.S. Declaration of Independence and Constitution. But now, foreigners don’t seem to be too inspired watching the intransigent wing of one political party that controls one house of one branch of the federal government hold the entire U.S. hostage. American soft power has taken a self-inflicted hit as a result of the debt ceiling debate.

Even if Congress manages to forge a deal against the wishes of the Tea Party and deliver a bill to President Obama’s desk raising the debt ceiling before default, the damage to our international standing has already been done. Other nations won’t forget how some members of Congress were so careless to allow the international economy fall into another financial disaster in order to score a few political points.

There's your "American Exceptionalism." Does that sound like the future you've dreamed of?

No? Had enough? Because like it or not, believe it or not, this is what President Obama has been up against all this time. He's been fighting against it on your behalf. Now Republicans are fighting amongst themselves, and all the while this scam is trashing our country, our future, and our standing in the world.

It may not be too late. Call your leaders and tell them to get their act together. 

The scam is over.

Hell No He Can't!

All Gavel, No Votes

Ironic quote of the day:

“When the House takes action today, the United States Senate will have no more excuses for inaction,” Mr. Boehner said Thursday afternoon, just before the debate began. 

Oh really, Mr. Boehner?

Can't wait to hear his excuse for inaction.

Which "Americans" Are Republicans And John Boehner Speaking Of? (Updated)

(Updated below.)

If you're like me, you're getting really sick of hearing Republicans stand in front of the cameras and say "The American people don't want...(fill in the blank)" and then proceed to tell you a view very far from your own or that of anyone you've ever spoken to who wasn't a rich Republican or member of the Tea Party.

If so, there's a good reason. Here are the latest poll numbers from the Republican manufactured debt ceiling disaster:

Washington Post-ABC News:

The July 14-17 survey showed 77 percent said Republican leadership has been not willing enough to compromise on the issue.

CNN/Opinion Research Poll: 

A CNN/Opinion Research Poll July 18-20 showed 55 percent had an unfavorable opinion of the Republican Party, compared with 48 percent in a March 11-13 poll.

Reuters/IPSOS Poll:

Showing an intensity of interest among Americans who often ignore the intricacies of policy in Washington, 83 percent of those polled said they were either very or somewhat concerned about the potential for a U.S. debt default on August 2.

The poll found that 56 percent of Americans want to see a combination of government spending cuts and tax increases included in a deal to bring down the U.S. budget deficit and permit a vote to raise the country's $14.3 trillion debt ceiling.

This is the approach favored by Obama and his fellow Democrats to begin to put America's fiscal house in order.

Republicans oppose tax increases and instead want to cut back deeply on spending, saying the federal budget has gotten out of control.

"It does seem to be that the popular narrative is falling on the side of the president on this one," said Ipsos pollster Julia Clark.

In the poll, 19 percent said the best approach is only to cut existing programs, and 12 percent said only raising taxes would be the favored solution.

Pew Research Center Poll:

Overall, President Obama and the Democrats are winning the debt-ceiling debate as such. As Pew reported, 68 percent of Americans “say that lawmakers who share their views on this issue should compromise, even it means striking a deal they disagree with. Just 23% say lawmakers who share their views should stand by their principles, even if that leads to default.” That’s a margin of nearly 3 to 1. Pew noted that compromise was favored by 81 percent of Democrats, 69 percent of independents – a key number for Obama’s political advisers — and 53 percent of Republicans. The only group that favored risking default consisted of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents who said they agree with the Tea Party: 53 percent of them preferred lawmakers to stand by their principles even if it meant pushing the government into default. Just 24 percent of the non-Tea-Party Republicans and Republican leaners took this view. But the Tea Party still seems to be running the show in the House of Representatives at the moment.

This is not to say that the public isn't also growing impatient with the way Democrats have handled the debt ceiling situation, but overall this shows that they are more in sync with President Obama on this. They want the rich to pay their share of taxes for a change. They want Republicans to make reasonable compromises for a change. What a concept.

The other thing that recent polls show is that the American public that John Boehner speaks of do want something done about jobs. This is of course what Boehner and the Republicans ran on in the last election: jobs, jobs, jobs, to quote the Speaker, a subject he has scarcely spoken of since.

He says the American people are with him on cuts, cuts, cuts, but they're clearly not. They want jobs, and are asking him the question he tossed around before last November: "Where are the jobs?"

I can tell you where the jobs won't be found. In Boehner's latest budget plan:

It’s a plan that the usually “mild-mannered” Robert Greenstein of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) is describing as “tantamount to a form of ‘class warfare’” that “if enacted, it could well produce the greatest increase in poverty and hardship produced by any law in modern U.S. history.” Since Boehner’s blueprint contains no tax increases and his first round of cuts targets discretionary spending, the joint committee will have no choice but to achieve its $1.8 trillion in budget reductions by cutting entitlement spending, Greenstein explains:

– As a result, virtually all of that $1.8 trillion would come from entitlement programs. They would have to be cut more than $1.5 trillion in order to produce sufficient interest savings to achieve $1.8 trillion in total savings.

– To secure $1.5 trillion in entitlement savings over the next ten years would require draconian policy changes. Policymakers would essentially have three choices: 1) cut Social Security and Medicare benefits heavily for current retirees, something that all budget plans from both parties (including House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan’s plan) have ruled out; 2) repeal the Affordable Care Act’s coverage expansions while retaining its measures that cut Medicare payments and raise tax revenues, even though Republicans seek to repeal many of those measures as well; or 3) eviscerate the safety net for low-income children, parents, senior citizens, and people with disabilities. There is no other plausible way to get $1.5 trillion in entitlement cuts in the next ten years. [...]

In short, the Boehner plan would force policymakers to choose among cutting the incomes and health benefits of ordinary retirees, repealing the guts of health reform and leaving an estimated 34 million more Americans uninsured, and savaging the safety net for the poor. It would do so even as it shielded all tax breaks, including the many lucrative tax breaks for the wealthiest and most powerful individuals and corporations.

I say it's not just a question of where are the jobs, but where are these Americans you're speaking of Mr. Boehner?

UPDATE:

Boehner proved again today that he's not concerned with what everyday Americans want, and instead only concerned with a plan the Democrats and the President will hate, and therefore not what these polls show, what Americans want.

From Steve Benen:

House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) is obviously scrambling to secure as much Republican support for his budget plan as possible, and took his sales pitch to Laura Ingraham’s radio show this morning. One line in particular stood out:

A large number of conservative Republicans are opposing Boehner’s proposal, arguing it does not go far enough in reducing government spending.

 

But Boehner said he couldn’t understand why any Republicans would position themselves with Democrats opposing his plan.

 

“Barack Obama hates it, Harry Reid hates it, Nancy Pelosi hates it,” he said, naming off the Democratic leadership.

Now, at a certain level, it makes sense that the House Speaker would try to rally his side by leveraging partisan feelings. Boehner probably figures Republicans will be more likely to support a plan that Democrats “hate.”

But let’s not lose sight of the larger context here. The United States is in the midst of a crisis of Republicans’ making, and a potentially catastrophic deadline is just days away. We have a Republican-led House, a Democratic-led Senate, and a Democratic White House, so the nation will need a solution that can generate approval from all three institutions.

Speaker Boehner, meanwhile, isn’t just abandoning the search for a bipartisan solution; he’s publicly bragging about pushing a plan he knows isn’t a bipartisan solution.

 

 

A Lesson In Economics For Gov. Rick Scott

Call me crazy, but I think when someone is elected to higher office, there should be a requirement that they know a little something about governing before you put them in charge of running the government. I'm a stickler that way. Otherwise it's kind of like giving your car keys to a child and saying "here you go Timmy, let's see what you can do!" Just because a child can physically reach the gas pedal and see over the steering wheel doesn't mean you should actually let them drive.

That pretty much sums up the world of Florida Gov. WTF? Rick Scott. A little over a week ago Scott dazzled the locals with his views on the Republican/Tea Party manufactured debt ceiling hostage crisis which I wrote about here. At the time Scott said he didn't anticipate any halt in the flow of federal money to Florida. Generally speaking, he said, the federal government needs to live within its means and stop borrowing money.

It appears that a vacation didn't clear the cobwebs from his head, or he is actually that clueless and no one pulled him aside and explained how the world actually works. My money's on the latter.

This morning he went on national television to prove once again that he has no idea what he's talking about and elaborated on his view that the debt ceiling should not be raised:

Scott said the federal government should act like a family with one parent out of work or a business that has lost income. "They have to stop borrowing money," he said. "Our government is no different."

I'll get back to this ridiculous statement in a minute, but first, CNN hosts tried to clue him in on the errors of his reasoning, but even with help from CNN of all places, he still insisted the debt ceiling shouldn't be raised while using it as an excuse for his all purpose government band-aid: outsourcing. Seriously.

Romans asked Scott what he would prioritize if the debt ceiling was frozen. Such a move, she said, would leave enough money for Social Security, active duty military and debt interest payments and little else. That would mean huge cuts or the elimination of food stamps, disaster relief and federal education grants.

Scott said he'd outsource those things.

"You go through the most important things and then you have to cut back," Scott said.

"You have to figure out what do companies do," he said. "What they have to do, they have to say, 'You know what? I could outsource that and I could do it less expensively. You know, we don't need to do that to get the revenues we need. We can figure out a way to do that less expensively.'"

Well, Scott is well on his way to outsourcing disaster relief and education in Florida even without the added "benefit" of a government default that he and his Teabag ilk lust for. But outsourcing food stamps? That's a new one. (Keep in mind this is also the guy who went to court to block a blind woman from getting her food stamps.)

Outsourcing aside, lets get back to the governor's twisted logic on budgets and bill paying. Even when Scott is handed a dose of reality on the air from anchors on CNN (which is shocking in and of itself, I know.) he forged ahead on the record, again, illustrating that he doesn't understand the basics of economics (which he personally outsources to accountants):

"Your opinion and your advice here runs counter to what just about everyone from both parties are saying and it goes against what everyone in the financial markets is telling me and 15 years of my own capital markets reporting experience," CNN host Christine Romans, right, said winding up to her first question for Scott. "So tell me exactly why (not) raising the debt ceiling wouldn't have an effect on markets, the economy or states?"

Scott said the federal government should act like a family with one parent out of work or a business that has lost income. "They have to stop borrowing money," he said. "Our government is no different."

Earth to Rick Scott: this isn't a debate over "borrowing money" and determining where to spend it. This is about an eight year credit card spending binge that George W. Bush and the Republicans went on, and the "debate" is whether or not we're now going to pay the bill.

Or, to put it into terms that Gov. Scott might understand, say last month you went to, oh I don't know, Montana, feasted your eyes on a 60.6-acre property with a  $1.45 million mansion that was up for sale, decided to buy it and told the seller something like "hey I'm a multimillionaire, I'm good for it. Trust me." Fast forward to a month later and the seller takes you at your word and wants his money, and you say "I'm sorry, but I'm a little strapped for cash right now so I've decided not to pay you."

This is the logic of government belt tightening in the warped mind of Rick Scott and his Republican Tea Nut friends. Live beyond your means, then stick others with the bill.

That's the "debate" we're having now. A Republican manufactured crisis. The Republicans allowed the rich to stop paying taxes and bought mansions both here and in Iraq among other things, and now they expect the poorest among us to pay the bill that they refuse to own. Never mind that many of those stuck with the bill may already be homeless, without health care, or won't be able to collect on Social Security and Medicare that they've already paid into for decades. If Rick Scott and the Republicans get their way, that's the world we'll all live in.

Like a potentially future Florida, that world would probably look something like a cross between Las Vegas, Somalia, and Pottersville from "It's A Wonderful Life." 

If you let a child get behind the wheel of there's a good chance it will end in a car wreck, and so it goes when you elect (yes, I'll say it) idiots to govern. What would you expect to happen?

We despearately need to put some adults in charge and the next election can't come soon enough. Let's just hope it isn't too late. 

Allen West Volunteers To Drive GOP Clown Car And The Country Over The Cliff

Fresh from attacking U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Shultz for pointing out the fact that he supported a plan that would make deep cuts to Medicare among other things with the House "Cut, Cap and Balance" demands in the debt ceiling hostage crisis, Allen West has been at it again, proving that he is "a gentleman who deserves great respect."

This time he did so again while throwing his support behind yesterday's "new plan" presented by House Speaker John Boehner. That plan of course was a rewrite of the Cut, Cap and Balance plan, which was itself a rewrite of the Ryan plan. The only big changes being that each plan basically doubles down on the already draconian cuts of the previous version.

If there's any doubt that the Republican/Tea-Nuts really enjoy sticking it to our President while cutting off the nation's poor at the knees, this should certainly remove any trace of it:

From Think Progress:

According to the Washington Post, the House GOP leadership played a short clip from the Ben Affleck movie “The Town” to rally their caucus around Boehner’s debt plan:

Ben Affleck: I need your help. I can’t tell you what it is. You can never ask me about it later. And we’re going to hurt some people.

 Jeremy Renner: Which car are we going to take?

Here is where the "gentleman from south Florida" chimes in:

According to the Washington Post, Rep. Allen West (R-FL) replied “I’m ready to drive the car.”

In the movie, the characters then put on hockey masks and bludgeon two men with sticks, then shoot one man in the leg.

Yes, this is what the Congress of the United States has been reduced to.

Full. Tilt. Insanity.

And Allen West is driving the car containing the Speaker of the House who can't do math but pulls a plan out of....wherever,  jots it down and quickly runs it by Rush Limbaugh for approval before taking it to his caucus, who have sworn they'll never raise taxes so that they may worship at the altar of Grover Norquist, the Koch brothers and the oil companies.

Unfortunately the clan got psyched up at their violent version of a pep rally all for naught. Allen West never even made it behind the wheel before Boehner's plan was shot down not only by several members of his own party, but the Congressional Budget Office as well:

In real life, Boehner has since decided to rewrite his plan and delayed a vote until “Thursday or Friday,” after failing to secure enough support for the current version.

That's right. Time for yet another rewrite.

Six days and counting before we hit the debt ceiling and the country defaults, at which time one might expect to find the Speaker of the House under the table, and Allen West cruising the want ads.

Good luck with that.

 

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It doesn't get much clearer than this.

Any questions?