Hold the Deficit Terrorists Responsible

Politico Weighs In, Too

Polico is reporting

A Standard & Poor's director said for the first time Thursday that one reason the United States lost its triple-A credit rating was that several lawmakers expressed skepticism about the serious consequences of a credit default - a position put forth by some Republicans.

Without specifically mentioning Republicans, S&P senior director Joydeep Mukherji said the stability and effectiveness of American political institutions were undermined by the fact that "people in the political arena were even talking about a potential default," Mukherji said.

"That a country even has such voices, albeit a minority, is something notable," he added. "This kind of rhetoric is not common amongst AAA sovereigns."

The statement seems likely to bolster one Democratic line of attack, that it was tea party intransigence - not a shortcoming of leadership by President Barack Obama - that is to blame for the U.S. downgrade, from AAA to AA+. Obama himself called on Republicans to "put country ahead of party" Thursday - a dig at conservatives in Congress who are blocking his agenda.

This is a purely Republican problem, and they should be called out on it.

• The Republican leadership has openly stated that default would be acceptable
  
• No member of the Republican congressional leadership from either house condemned this game of chicken
  
• Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA), May 18, 2011: "What I think is that the markets are looking to see credible progress on changing the fiscal trajectory in Washington. The markets are not fooled by some date imposed to say that that is the trigger for the collapse. I think the markets are looking to see that there is real reform."
  
• Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI), May 17, 2011: "You want to make sure that the bondholder has confidence that the government's going to be able to pay them.... That's what I'm hearing from most people, which is if a bondholder misses a payment for a day or two or three or four what is more important that you're putting the government in a materially better position to be able to pay their bonds later on."
  
• more
  

Don't let them get away with this.

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by: saindenver @ Sat Aug 13, 2011 at 22:00:49 PM UTC

The MSM Is Picking This Up

Today's New York Times is reporting that is reporting "alarm over Washington's new austerity and antitax orthodoxy.  I think it's about time.

The boasts of Congressional Republicans about their cost-cutting victories are ringing hollow to some well-known economists, financial analysts and corporate leaders, including some Republicans, who are expressing increasing alarm over Washington's new austerity and antitax orthodoxy.

Their critiques have grown sharper since last week, when President Obama signed his deficit reduction deal with Republicans and, a few days later, when Standard & Poor's downgraded the credit rating of the United States.

But even before that, macroeconomists and private sector forecasters were warning that the direction in which the new House Republican majority had pushed the White House and Congress this year - for immediate spending cuts, no further stimulus measures and no tax increases, ever - was wrong for addressing the nation's two main ills, a weak economy now and projections of unsustainably high federal debt in coming years.

Instead, these critics say, Washington should be focusing on stimulating the economy in the near term to induce people to spend money and create jobs, while settling on a long-term plan for spending cuts and tax increases to take effect only after the economy recovers.

I don't know if this will stick, but it would be good for all of us if it did.  We call can help by talking to friends and raising our voices and pens.  

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by: saindenver @ Sun Aug 14, 2011 at 13:57:09 PM UTC

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