Sure I do! But what happened in congress this past week was most definitely a catalyst for this present turmoil. Our finances were still shitty two months ago but the market still had some faith in the US, despite a host of reasons to be wary of us. This internationally-broadcast shit-show was enough to shake them awake, say "fuck this", and leave us hanging. Politics is a big reason. Our lack of new revenue is also a big reason, and the Tea Party legislators were perhaps the most vocal members of the Republican side of the aisle decrying any notion of raising income taxes on the rich, despite the rates being lower than they have been in years. Democrats and Republicans jointly made this shithole of a bed to lie in with their crummy management these past few decades. In this particular case, though, Republicans and their Tea Party subgroup were more directly responsible for the mess we're seeing unfold right now.
If it weren't for those ~20 Tea Party Republicans, the US would be in great shape financially, clearly deserving AAA+ credit rating. Another laughable premise. 20 members of Congress can't stop legislation from passing. They can make noise in the media. That's about it.
Oh noes the tea party told our secret! Maybe that means they care more about the future of our country?
Don't forget that 70 cents out of every dollar of federal "welfare" programs goes not to the "poor" but to government bureaucrats. Clearly, they need more monies.
Tea Party - "we have more than enough revenue to pay our creditors, social security recipients, medicare obligations, soldiers, and veterans every month. We won't default if the debt ceiling isn't raised." Obama - "we will default if the debt ceiling isn't raised. I can't guarantee social security checks will go out." Obama wanted a blank check, and got it... I love that the Tea Party pisses off the big government statists (republicans and democrats). Even more reason to support the Tea Party. Fuck John Boehner. Fuck Nancy Pelosi. Fuck Mitch McConnell and John McCain. Fuck Harry Reid. Fuck John Kerry. And Fuck you Obama!
We lost our legitimacy a long time ago | Young Americans for Liberty That's a good point... How much of the below can we pin on the Ron and Rand Paul's of the Congress? How much can be pinned on the "mainstream" assholes pointing fingers?
Of course the Global community has lost faith in the united states, they have proven that they don't know how to balance their budget without having to increase the budget! Who in the world WOULD have faith in somebody who spends more than than generate and borrow put together? Tea party congressmen are not to blame for this. You only discussing the inflexibility portion, which is about 2 inches deep into the problem. They are being inflexible, because they are trying to stop the behaviors that generate the need to raise the debt ceiling further, and increases our debt. It is the ONLY way they can force a budget to even be created. In reference to Taxing business, you said the cost should not go up if the inputs have not gone up. If inputs = cost, then you are completely ignoring the fact that businessmen count taxes as a cost, or input. If you cant trust the corporations to do the right thing NOW, why would you trust them to do the right thing when i get taxed more? They are just going to be good Americans and absorb the cost of extra taxes without trying to make it back? How is it that taxes make this happen magically?
Uploaded by southernavenger on Aug 8, 2011 [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3IBn-DFvkI[/ame] http://youtu.be/z3IBn-DFvkI
i think s&p is right on. i think the other rating agencies should have down graded the US too. i respect the Tea partiers more than any other caucus for holding firm on their beliefs...it has been far too long since anything resembling a spine has been seen around washington. deficits are NOT a revenue problem, they are a spending problem, plain and simple. new taxes would not have helped in the slightest. till you cut off the money flow politicians will just keep spending and spending and spending. like kirstie alley eating cake on a treadmill, hoping that if she eats it fast enough it will make her thin.
My favorite thing about the tea party is how angry it makes liberals and progressives. As the post above demonstrates nicely. All they can really say is " Fuck the tea party" because the are so indoctrinated with liberal propaganda.
So people get pissed because the Tea Party didn't want new taxes? Shit, if people think that if we raise taxes we're going to even make a dent in this debt, they're out of their mind. Do people realize how much they would have to tax EVERY American to even see a significant decrease in the deficit? Nevermind the obscene amount of government waste, or billions of tax dollars just vanishing. Taxes are not the answer. Like people have said, this is a SPENDING problem. Maybe if we didn't blow billions upon billions of dollars on 6 bullshit wars, we wouldn't be fucked sideways.
Not only that, but as it stands right now, our nation is wide open, vulnerable to more attacks. Homeland Security aint' got shit on a Mexican (or ANYONE who wants to cross the border through Mexico) who hates America. Just get knowledge of bomb making material, cross borders with nothing on you, get supplies at American store, do your deed. See that? We all just traded safety for security, and we got neither....
Was just checking my email, and in my junk mail folder I had this: Well, at least my inbox can tell spot junk when it sees it.
The last decade has been rough... Republican House, January 2001 - January 2007: $2,953,976,815,743.48 added to our National Debt (~$492,329,469,290.58/year) Democrat House, January 2007 - January 2011: $5,320,718,526,515.22 added to our National Debt (~$1,330,179,631,628.81/year) Downgrade? Let's blame the Tea Party! Source
That's a really vague statement. Are you talking about the political system, the economy, the debt.......? What exactly are you talking about?
Except for the fact that currently tax revenues are 14% of our GDP when the national average in our history has been around 18.3% So actually it's a spending and tax problem.
People are blaming the Tea Party (in my opinion it's the whole Republican party) because they are the party of no. They almost compromise on nothing and are willing to force the government to default if they don't get everything they want. Also the Republican party constantly shifts the goal posts unreasonably. S&P said they wanted 4 trillion dollars reduced in the deficit, the plan only reduces it by 2.5 trillion. We could have gotten that 4 trillion deficit if we ended the Bush tax cuts on the wealthy and closed corporate tax loopholes. In fact, if you look at the actual report by S&P on their website, one of their recommendations to keep the rating at AA+ and to prevent them from reducing it further to just an AA is "The outlook on the long-term rating is negative. As our downside alternate fiscal scenario illustrates, a higher public debt trajectory than we currently assume could lead us to lower the long-term rating again. On the other hand, as our upside scenario highlights, if the recommendations of the Congressional Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction--independently or coupled with other initiatives, such as the lapsing of the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts for high earners--lead to fiscal consolidation measures beyond the minimum mandated, and we believe they are likely to slow the deterioration of the government's debt dynamics, the long-term rating could stabilize at 'AA+'" http://www.standardandpoors.com/ser...lobwhere=1243942957443&blobheadervalue3=UTF-8