Let’s be clear: President Obama has orchestrated this unnecessary drama for the specific political purpose of causing a crisis that he — with the willing assistance of the liberal media — hopes to blame on Republicans.
Yet while Obama, the Democrats and the media (but I repeat myself) are scripting a kabuki dance, economic reality threatens to intervene:
U.S. stock futures fell, indicating the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index will drop after rallying within 1.4 percent of a three-year high, as President Barack Obama and Congress failed to reach an agreement on raising the federal debt limit, intensifying concern the nation will default.
S&P 500 futures expiring in September declined 1.1 percent to 1,326 at 12:13 p.m. in Tokyo. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures lost 133 points, or 1.1 percent, to 12,488.
The Japanese Nikkei index lost 82 points. The Chinese Hang Seng was down 175 points. Meanwhile, Harry Reid — who has been worse than useless in this phony crisis — now says he has a plan:
The Senate’s top Democrat rolled out a plan Sunday night to raise the nation’s debt limit – in a way he said even Republicans could not refuse.
Senate Democratic boss Harry Reid proposed slashing $2.7 trillion in spending and raising the debt ceiling through 2012 to avoid a market meltdown.
The offer “meets Republicans’ two major criteria: It will include enough spending cuts to meet or exceed the amount of a debt ceiling raise through the end of 2012, and it will not include revenues,” Reid said in a statement.
“We hope [House] Speaker [John] Boehner will abandon his ‘my way or the highway’ approach, and join us in forging a bipartisan compromise along these lines,” Reid said.
The accusation that Boehner is the obstacle to a “bipartisan compromise” is laughable. The GOP leadership very much wants a deal, but Obama and Harry Reid’s Democrat majority in the Senate refuse to play ball.
For two years, Obama, Reid and Nancy Pelosi acted as if they could spend infinite money with no regard whatsoever to the effects of deficit spending. Now — with Obama looking for something he can score a “win” against the GOP — suddenly they’re all about the balanced approach.
Lying bastards.
John Hayward at Human Events rakes Obama over the coals for his dishonest rhetoric.
Meanwhile, John Boehner lays it on the line:
It boils down to this: The president wants his $2.4 trillion debt limit increase all at once, without any guarantees that we’re going to cut more than $2.4 trillion in spending. The administration says they have to have it all upfront so we don’t have to deal with this again until after the next election. You heard the president say that himself on TV the other night.
We’ve seen this coming all year long. But here’s the challenge: To stop him, we need a vehicle that can pass in both houses. . . .
The White House has never gotten serious about tackling the serious issues our nation faces — not without tax hikes — and I don’t think they ever will. . . .
So today, everyone will be watching Wall Street. And if you’ve got your 401(k) or other retirement investments in stocks . . . well, see, what happens to your money is of no interest to the Democrats. All they care about is politics.
Obama Fears Losing Reelection More Than Default. And meanwhile, here’s a kick in the head:
Gold hit a record high above $1,620 an ounce on Monday . . . over fears of a possible U.S. debt default as the debt ceiling talks in Washington stalled.
Yeah. You should have listened to Glenn Beck.
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