Reuters reports that debt talks have collapsed today after Republicans walked out over Democrats’ unrelenting desire to include taxes in any form of a budget deal, thwarting the efforts to focus on spending cuts, and casting overall doubt on Washington's ability to reach a deal that would allow the government to keep borrowing and avoid a debt default. Not that Reuters might understand that ‘borrowing’ has been part of the spending problem.
Representative Eric Cantor, said participants had identified trillions of dollars in potential spending cuts but were deadlocked over tax increases sought by Democrats. "Regardless of the progress that has been made, the tax issue must be resolved before discussions can continue," Cantor said in a statement.
House Speaker John Boehner, the top Republican in Washington, said Democrats must take tax hikes off the table. "These conversations could continue if they take the tax hikes out of the conversation," Boehner said.
Hopefully, the GOP leadership will stick to their guns this time, demanding required spending cuts; but on the other side of the aisle, what kind of ‘negotiations’ are Democrats pursuing? Tax hikes. And if they can’t get them with the usual gimmicks, this time a temporary payroll tax holiday for employers, alongside the usual empty promises of spending cuts, then they’re ready to return to their default economic plan: blame Republicans for everything! And now they’ve ramped up the rhetoric: Republicans are deliberately sabotaging the economy to bring down Obama! I guess it’s easier to conflate theories about Republicans, who are attempting to contain and decrease our national debt, over admitting to the fact that the liberal economics of ‘spend-and-spend-some-more’ in the name of stimulating the economy simply don’t work.
Nonetheless, while Democrats are busy blaming the GOP for all their economic woes, polls show that Americans aren’t buying it. And how could they when we’ve got Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke admitting that he’s at a loss as to what’s causing the economy’s soft patch? At a ‘loss’? How about Bernanke’s party and president’s job-killing, over-regulated and hemorrhaging, Big Government policies that are stifling economic growth? Couldn’t be that, could it? ‘No’ says Bernanke, he sticks with the statist’s Keynesian approach and joins in on railing against Republicans, “I don’t think sharp immediate cuts in the deficit would bring more jobs,” while reinforcing his desire to raise the debt ceiling without any preconditions for containing the debt.
I’m just gonna default to what DNC chairwoman Rep. Debbie ‘Blabbermouth’ Schultz reminded us of a week ago: the Democrats own the economy NOW. And A Hollywood Republican article supplies us with a detailed deed of ownership to put the shape of what they’ve done to America’s economy in crystal clear perspective:
Democrats own a 9.1 percent unemployment rate.
Democrats own a 16 percent unemployment rate for African Americans.
Democrats own the fact that the average unemployed person has been out of work for 39.7 weeks.
Democrats own inflation, which just hit a 2-1/2 year high.
Democrats own the rising core inflation (up 1.5 percent versus the expected 1.4 percent in May).
Democrats own the weakening of the average hourly earnings (when adjusted for inflation earnings have dropped to 1.2 percent).
Democrats own the rising food costs.
Democrats own rising gasoline and energy costs.
Democrats own the weak dollar (dropping over 6.5 percent in value in 2011).
Democrats own the 32nd straight month the federal government has been in the red.
Democrats own a housing crisis that is now worse than the Great Depression.
Democrats own the $14 trillion in debt ($1 trillion in just the last 7 months).
Democrats own the possibility of a debt downgrade.
Democrats own the misery index… now at a 28 year high.
Democrats own the stagflation that has just arrived.
Take that to the 2012 ballot box.
