the U.S. Credit Rating a Victim of GOP Sabotage?

[no_hypocrisy]

-snip-

But Congressional Republicans deserve much more of the blame. For this calamity was entirely man-made -- even intentional. The contemporary Republican Party is fixated on taxes. It possesses an iron-clad belief that the existing tax rates should never go up, that loopholes shouldn't be closed unless they're offset by other tax reductions, that the fact that hedge fund managers pay lower tax rates than school teachers makes complete sense, that a reversion to the tax rates of the prosperous 1990's or 1980's would be unacceptable.

In the past two years, this attitude has combined with a general hostility to playing ball with Democrats on large legislative issues, a near-blanket refusal to conduct business with President Obama, and, since the arrival of the raucous Tea Party freshman, a cavalier attitude toward the nation's obligations. It was common to hear duly elected legislators argue that it wouldn't be a big deal if the government were to pierce the debt ceiling and default on its debts.

This downgrade is the logical outcome, to a degree, of the long-running "Deal or No Deal" dynamic in Washington. For much of the last two years, President Obama and various fiscal reform groups have urged a grand bipartisan deal that would make a dent in the short- and long-term deficits. Every group -- from the bipartisan Bowles-Simpson Commission on down -- argued that a large package of spending cuts and tax increases or reforms would be the way to go. Polls showed that American voters generally endorsed a mix of spending cuts and tax increases. And plenty of neutral observers thought that the approach of the debt ceiling expiration would help forge a grand bargain.

Many observers (including this one) argued that such efforts were doomed to failure. For President Obama, all the incentives weighed toward making a big deal, even one that would upset his base. It would show an ability to work on a bipartisan basis and make concrete progress and take the issue off the table for 2012. But for Republicans, all the incentives weighed against a big deal. By definition, anything that is acceptable to President Obama and Democrats is unacceptable to today's Congressional Republicans. It almost doesn't matter what the substance is. Why would they sign off on any measure that would include revenue increases that the president wanted? Congressional Republicans don't believe in higher revenues as a matter of ideology, as a matter of economics or, most importantly, as a matter of political tactics. Top Congressional Republicans have expressed a desire to deny victories to the president.

-more-

http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/daniel-gross/u-credit-rating-victim-gop-sabotage-021622372.html

[MH1]

1. Well, yeah, of course.

[malaise]

2. Let's call it Grover's legacy

delivered by Boehner (who was happy that he got 98% of what he wanted) and McConnell who also claimed victory.

Don't forget to thank teabagger deadbeat dad Walsh, Bachmann and Palin for their non-stop stupid rants. Sometimes the stupid does burn.

[Tennessee Gal]

3. Of course it is a result of GOP idiocy.

History has shown that what they advocate does not work. Trickle down is a fallacy. It does not create jobs. It creates more wealth for the already richest Americans. The wealth gap has grown consistently larger. This is unsustainable, but do they accept responsibility? Of course not. It is totally pathetic. They have been on a path of economically ruinous policies for decades in the pursuit of more and more power with absolutely no consideration for what is in the best interest of the majority of Americans. Why on earth anyone votes for them I don't understand.

[mwb970]

4. They did it on purpose. They are enemies of the state.

We need to turn our attention away from impotent foreign terrorists and begin defending America from the threat within: republicans.