Boehner Blinked.

[kpete]

Boehner Blinked.

by ABL

Well, what do we have here:

*********House Speaker John Boehner is abandoning discussions with the White House on a large-scale debt deal slated to achieve $4 trillion in deficit reduction. The bone of contention is Boehner’s insistence on no tax increases in the deal. Instead, Boehner said the talks should focus on reaching a smaller debt-reduction deal.

**********“Despite good-faith efforts to find common ground, the White House will not pursue a bigger debt reduction agreement without tax hikes,” Boehner said in the statement.

http://www.balloon-juice.com/2011/07/09/boehner-blinked/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/09/john-boehner-debt-ceiling_n_893952.html

[aquart]

1. Better than having his eyes fall out into his hands.

Which is what I was wishing for him.

[bahrbearian]

14. LOL

[murielm99]

2. How is that blinking?

Am I stupid?

These are both honest questions.

[KittyWampus]

3. He refused to bargain if tax increases were included. There is no way out for him.

If the Republicans cause debt default, and they most likely will, it will be his fault.

[Yupster]

13. He'll pass $ 1 trillion of cuts in the House

to extend the limit $ 1 trillion.

He'll use the cuts everyone already agreed upon.

Then he'll say the Republican House has acted.

It's up to the Senate and the President to either agree or let the budget cutting begin.

The US does not have to default once it hits the debt limit.

It can survive without borrowing a dime above the limit if it just cuts spending by about 50 %.

With that choice, the $ 1 trillion will be accepted.

And we'll be back in 7-8 months for another go.

[bahrbearian]

15. Boner beating Obama at checkers,

Obama gave 1 trillion with no Revenue, nice, so we needed a tax break, thanks.

[sad sally]

39. If this happens - another go at the debt ceiling in 7-8 months -

who will the US look to buy the debt coming due then?

Before the end of March 2012, the Treasury must redeem all of the $1.7trillion in Treasury (one-year) bills that were existing as of March 2011.

Since China is less interested than ever before in owning US debt and with so many other nations facing crisis, the government is going to have to find new buyers of that $1.7trillion debt. Will they (government) give another tanker load of cash to banks at zero interest and have them buy up debt at the same time paying them 3% interest on that debt?

It means the government could end up having to pay higher interest rates to finance our growing debt, which is now estimated at a whopping $14.34trillion. That could cost taxpayers even more money.

The "mess" this country is in is mind-boggling.

[Yupster]

40. It's going to be a mess fixing it, but

let's do it now.

It will be a lot more painful five years from now.

[sad sally]

41. Agreed, and the phrase "best country in the world" needs to be abandoned

in those fixes. The US needs to face the reality that it's in a financial tailspin.

The IMF recently predicted that the size of China's economy would overtake the US's in the terms of purchasing power parity by 2016.

Robert Feenstra, an economist at UofC, Davis predicted that "global economic leadership" would pass from the US to China in 2014.

Arvind Subramanian of the Peterson Institute of International Economics claims China already passed the US in purchasing power parity in 2010.

What about America? Where are we headed?

[demwing]

18. murielm99 is right, that's not "blinking"

Blinking is saying you won't cave, and then caving. You know...like our President?

[dionysus]

43. must.. blame obama... when boner flees negotiations... obama bad.. bad.. bad..

[demwing]

45. please, this isn't a game

stop trying to be clever and just think

[Drale]

4. He did more then blink

he threw down his cards and ran out of the room crying. (not for the first time mind you)

[deacon]

20. He did. He really screwed up. n/t

[socialist_n_TN]

5. Well we'll see what happens, but it never

made sense to me that the Republicans would go against their corporate masters on Wall Street. And Wall Street wants the debt ceiling raised, so I figured it would be raised.

Of course, they just might be crazy enough to NOT raise it, but I did find it hard to believe. I guess we'll know soon.

[senseandsensibility]

6. I am quoting a response in the first link above

(not verbatim) We have gone from eighty five percent spending cuts and fifteen percent tax cuts to one hundred percent spending cuts and zero percent tax cuts, and this is a victory?

[pa28]

7. It seems to me he has.

Apparently somebody called his bluff. Republican sponsors have the most to lose and would never allow their wealth to be threatened by the uncertainty surrounding a default event.

[Palmer Eldritch]

8. Obama watches from the cliffside as Boehner goes right over the edge.

Boehner is the Rebel without a clue.

He just lost this game of chicken. And he took the GOP with him.

[Change Happens]

27. +1000!

[Major Hogwash]

32. Each time Obama takes a step toward Boehner, Boehner takes 2 more steps to the right to the edge.

The insanity is watching Boehner take baby steps as he gets closer and closer to the edge.

[safeinOhio]

9. Tea Bags will be

steaming. I look for the "Lipton Uprising" this week.

[bahrbearian]

17. Why they are getting what the want with no taxes.

[tsuki]

10. Another legislator that shorted T-Bonds? Did he bet that America

would fail? Why do you hate America?

[Renew Deal]

11. The republcians position is intentionally dishonest.

They don't want a deal. They just want to make it look like they do.

[Hamlette]

37. bingo

they can no more survive talk of SS cuts than the dems can

[bemildred]

12. I think it's fake, I just wonder what deal they cut before all this bullshit started. nt

[dionysus]

44. of course you do. god bless.

[craigmatic]

16. republicans' are so ideological that they can't function in government.

[LetTimmySmoke]

19. Boehner has no control over the ship.

The crazies are at the helm and the GOP is heading straight into an iceberg.

[muriel_volestrangler]

21. Seems to me he's settled for the field goal

He's realised he can't push through the largest spending cuts that he wanted, but he now has a way of proposing some cuts (that have already been in negotiations, so he can accuse Democrats of backing out and ruining things if they don't agree), and making sure that this will have to be negotiated again, fairly soon. It gives a talking point for the Republican presidential candidate to use next year - "Obama wants to raise taxes!" with their more gullible potential supporters, who can't tell the difference between a tax rise that hurts corporate jet users and oil companies, and one that actually affects voters.

I think he'll be able to sell this to Republican congressmen as 'a move in the right direction'.

[bahrbearian]

24. Score 3 for Boner. O for Obama, now that he has show them that SS and medicare are on the Table.

[Hamlette]

38. new math?

[Palmer Eldritch]

28. Now those are mental gymnastics! You should do PR for Boehner.

[muriel_volestrangler]

31. Really? You think that's 'gymnastics'?

Tell me what in that post you think is a stretch. It still looks most likely there will be some spending cuts from a deal.

Geithner said that Republicans want a smaller deal than the president because the GOP is only interested in reducing the deficit with spending cuts.

"And as you saw on the Ryan budget, if you try to do it with just cuts, you're putting unacceptably deep cuts in benefits for Medicare beneficiaries in the future and you can't do that politically, and it's unfair to do it," he said.

Geithner said Mr. Obama is willing to make "politically difficult" decisions to modify entitlement programs like Social Security. He said the president has proposed "very substantial savings" in that area while maintaining the integrity of the program.

"The president has been clear from the very beginning, that to protect these programs, these critical programs for Americans - and they are absolutely essential to what defines the country - the basic commitment to retirement security and to health care when you retire are basic commitments that define this country, and to preserve those, we have got to find ways, in a fair way, to preserve those programs over time," he said.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/07/10/ftn/main20078225.shtml?tag=stack

Obama seems to be trying to separate Boehner and some moderate Republicans from the far right Republicans. But I can't see that as Boehner 'blinking'. He's still getting large spending cuts.

If the Bush tax cuts are abolished (for the rich, or for everyone), then I'll admit he's blinked. If it's just closing relief for corporate jets, or even the subsidies for oil companies, then he hasn't actually given up much.

[Chan790]

22. Not yet...

but he might. The rebuttal now has to be no cuts without tax-hikes. You got the sorry motherfucker on the run, NOW is the time to give chase and see how much ground you can retake before he turns and fights.

[quaker bill]

23. His bluff was called

he folded.

[MH1]

25. He's not looking for 'common ground' and never was

if he won't put revenue increases on the table.

They have claimed in the past to be open to closing some tax loopholes. But not as part of this deal? F*** off, boner.

[mmonk]

26. Not yet. He is holding firm on taxes while extracting more

budget cuts. He has plenty to go on.

[Palmer Eldritch]

29. He's not holding firm on taxes. If they aren't part of a deal, Boehner will cause a default.

The GOP will be blamed.

[Major Hogwash]

33. Boehner sent an e-mail to several Wall Street firms 2 months ago saying he wouldn't do that.

He blinked 2 months ago.
Enjoy the Kabuki theater.

The clowns always come in at the end of the show, just before everyone goes home for the night.

[Leontius]

30. They win again.

Cuts but no new revenue. The Republics plan all along. The poor pay the rich smile.

[roomfullofmirrors]

34. the game is still on.

[Major Hogwash]

35. Actually, there is no game. It's just headline grabbing bs to try and fool the people.

There is no spoon.

And the sooner we wake up and realize that, the better off we will be.

[roomfullofmirrors]

36. fool the people in what way?

[rhett o rick]

42. Apparently you dont get it. nm

[roomfullofmirrors]

46. tell me then, how are we being fooled. I want to "get it". nt

[rhett o rick]

47. No you dont. Good luck to you. nm

[roomfullofmirrors]

48. If I wasn't genuinely interested in a response, I wouldn't have asked.

someone thinks we're being fooled. I want to know what he means. It isn't a big deal that requires subtle accusations by a third party (that would be you incidentally).