Obama storms out of debt ceiling talks

[anvi]

I now positively want congress not to raise the debt ceiling.  Congress decides whether of not to raise the ceiling, and congress also tells the executive branch how much to spend on what, so the decision is theirs.  Let the president make his case to the public about whom he wants more taxes from and when and what spending he wants to cut for whom, let congress make their case to the public about what spending they want to cut for whom in exchange for no tax hikes at all on anybody, presumably ever.  Then, just let August 2nd pass, let the public see how much government spending will have to be cut in the wake of the default, and what the effects are just so nobody ever has to pay any more taxes in any form, and let the public decide what they want.  I was against a version of this idea before, but now, well, sometimes the best way to deal with a virus is to inject the virus.  If talking is doing no good, then stop talking; silence and consequences can be quite good things all by themselves.

The financial crash of 2008 was everybody's fault; it was the fault of the Fed, of politicians on both sides wanting to artificially inflate home ownership, of GSE's that crafted a mortgage investment model, of banks and Wall Street deciding to cash in by using that model, and for those Americans who bought houses that they honestly couldn't afford.  If there is a crash of 2011, it will again be everybody's fault, Dems resisting any kind of entitlement reform and need for a broader and less progressive tax base, Pubbies for their very practiced my-way-or-the-abyss negotiation tactics and worship of private-sector profit-maximization as the only worthwhile thing about life, and the American people for lining up behind them year after year after ever-more-miserable year.  I'm serious, we should honestly blame ourselves for all of this.  I certainly blame myself.  I supported Obama in '08, and in that, I was being much too naive for someone who should know better.  Not that anybody else was a better choice.  But, all I do is support politicians who I naively think can accomplish anything, and then, when they don't, sit on the sidelines and bitch in internet forums; there's no particular virtue in that at all, and it sure doesn't make me any better than any of them.  Why blame the politicians when it was we who hired them all?

So, Obama is impatient and has a temper and Cantor is a cardboard-cutout parody of himself.  That's supposed to be news to anyone?  

Well, it's not news at all.  The real news...will be coming shortly.     And my only editorial on the news that's coming is that we all absolutely deserve it.

[anvi]

Joementum,

Oh, I don't disagree about your point regarding no equivalence.  If Mahatma Gandhi had to negotiate with Eric Cantor, I think he'd have slammed some doors quite a while ago too.  And, as mentioned, I find the way the GOP "negotiates" completely odious.  They started out, was it in March?, telling the White House they wanted a budget deal that had an 85%-15% split in spending cuts-tax increases based on their own economic team's study, and when the White House responded with a figure of 83%-17%, the Pubbies walked out saying they wanted tax hikes entirely excluded from the budget deal, and if the Dems didn't buy it, they wouldn't raise the ceiling.  Now, if it was me, I'd obviously have been yelling and slamming doors.  But I'm bad that way.  

Now, a president who had some executive experience and carried around a pair, in an ideal world, would at that point just given Boehner a polite call and said: "by the way, John, we're done talking about tying the debt ceiling to your latest budget outlays.  I'm gonna give a national, prime-time address, tell the public about those negotiations and tell them what I think the consequences will be to them in not raising the debt ceiling, and recommend Simpson-Bowles.  You all tell the American people what you want, and otherwise, vote as you see fit.  Have a lovely day, and please say hi to the Mrs."  If they want the country to go into default and wreak havoc on the country over not being able to haggle over 2% of tax revenues over the next ten years, out-years during which the recession will have continued to wane, mind you, then I'd let them--they're Congress and it's their decision, and for their decision, they're answerable, just like the president is.  The cynical and nihilistic GOP "negotiation" tactics work because the president lets them work, and that's a failure of leadership.  Late might be better than never, of course, but knowing what one is doing is better than not knowing what one is doing.  But, this is all, of course, wishful thinking.  Like I said, I couldn't be that ideal, I'm unfortunately rather prone to fits myself.

Now, having said all that, the Dems really do have to get themselves unstuck from some of their sacred cows too.  Entitlements really are facing a crisis on a massive scale, and if we can't broaden our tax base to generate more revenue than comes from just trying to "soak the rich," especially in a downturn, or if we can't restructure the programs both more fairly and in such a way that they cost less, or, what would be the best solution, if they can't agree on ways to actually control health care cost inflation in this country, we absolutely are going to be in very deep trouble soon.  The fact that some Dems in Congress and many in the liberal media don't acknowledge that is really irresponsible.