Posts Tagged ‘Super Committee’
DoD US Military Casualties in Afghanistan as of 25 November 2011
As Americans celebrated Thanksgiving on Thursday and pursued the madness of Black Friday yesterday, with shootings and pepper spraying, young American men and women in Afghanistan continued to put their life on the line in the service of their nation. The Department of Defense (DoD) reports that another five Americans paid the ultimate price. The DoD report shows no change in those wounded in action. That number should be taken with a grain of salt and may not have been updated due to the Thanksgiving long weekend. Earlier this week, the CNN National Security Debate, moderated by Wolf Blitzer, had GOP candidates face off on issues of national concern. While little time was devoted to Afghanistan as a whole, the candidates touched the issue of Pakistan. Funding of Pakistan was [...]
President Obama Blames Republicans for Supercommittee Failure
After the Congressional Supercommittee, charged with achieving $1.2 Trillion in debt reduction over ten years, fizzled out with a whimp and no agreement, President Obama made a statement from the White House at 5:45 pm. In his statement he mentioned "fair share" twice and said that a larger sacrifice was needed from the top 1%. In his statement he clearly blamed Republicans for their unwillingness to budge, while apparently Democrats on the committee were prepared to sacrifice. The statement sounded like another campaign speech. He said that an overwhelming majority of Americans support a balanced approach to the deficit. Yet Republicans, said Obama, were unwilling to budge from their position not to tax the rich. He said while the failure is disappointing, the situation was [...]
Statement by 'Super Committee' Co-Chairs Congressman Hensarling and Senator Murray
The Chairs of the Super Committee didn't even have the Character to hold a joint press conference, instead they hand out (in our case e-mailed) a statement. They simply broke up and ran home. We warned that this was the Lefts desire all along. President Obama wants to run against a do nothing Congress and the Democrats made sure that he would be able to do so. Here is the written Statement by Co-Chairs of Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction, Representative Jeb Hensarling and Senator Patty Murray: "After months of hard work and intense deliberations, we have come to the conclusion today that it will not be possible to make any bipartisan agreement available to the public before the committee’s deadline. "Despite our inability to bridge the committee's significant [...]
Chretien: ‘We would have been the Greece of today’ – Canada Cut Spending and Size of Government
In the 1990s Canada was in dire straits. Its spending outstripped revenues, its credit rating was being downgraded and bold action was required to get Canada's economy to where it is today, the envy of the G8. Chretien, to his credit, took bold action and says of the state of Canada's finances back then "We would have been Greece of today." Canada bounced back, in part, due to the Canada/US Free Trade Agreement, which faced vocal opposition. The deal was negotiated by former Prime Minister Mulroney's government, who also introduced the Goods and Service Tax (GST), which Chretien promised to tear up. The result was that the Federal Liberal's had some of the conditions created for them to reduce the deficit and get Canada back on the rails. The hated GST and Free Trade deal are [...]
Statement by Speaker Boehner on Joint Select Committee Co-Chairs Jeb Hensarling & Patty Murray
Washington (Nov 21) Washington (Nov 21) House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) issued the following statement on the announcement by Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction co-chairs Jeb Hensarling (R-TX) and Patty Murray (D-WA): "While I am disappointed, the House will forge ahead with the commitments we have made to reducing government spending and removing barriers standing in the way of private-sector job creation. Doing otherwise is not an option. This process did not end in the desired outcome, but it did bring our enormous fiscal challenges into greater focus. I am confident the work done by this committee will play a role in the solution we must eventually find as a nation. "I commend both of the panel's leaders, Jeb Hensarling and Patty Murray, for the dignified and [...]
The Impotent super committee fails to perform
By Albert N. Milliron Already blame is being cast on one another in the Super Committee. A group of 6 Republicans and 6 Democrats from the House and Senate charged with cutting a mere 1.5 Trillion from the debt. With the National Debt at 15 Trillion, 150 Billion a year is a drop in the bucket. One can only infer that the committee was set up to fail and "Kick the can down the road" as is the saying inside the Beltway. Why set up to fail? It's election season and the President is running on two things: The Congress is a Do nothing body and that our financial woes are because of 'fatcats' on Wall street. One can almost repeat his manta in by memory: Tax breaks for the millionaires and billionaires, corporate jet owners, hedge fund managers and Big oil subsidies. How could the [...]
Polls: Congress Job Approval Record Low of 13%, Super Committee will Fail
by Albert N. Milliron One year before the 2012 election, Congressional Job approval remains at all time lows. Gallup who tracks approval ratings for Congress show a graph that contains approval ratings for 2011. Had one gone back to 2009, following the Healthcare bill and the Stimulus package, approval ratings were at 13% as well despite the Former Speaker going on the Daily Show and declaring that the good ole days when she lead up the House, "our approval ratings were at 40%". We here at Politisite are still looking for that Gallup Poll. Truth is, no matter how she tries to spin it, She did not enjoy an approval rating of 40% after she became speaker. Factually, Congress had a bump shortly after President Obama took office. Once they began legislating, their poll ratings [...]
If Congress doesn't talk Turkey by Thanksgiving, Moodys ready to downgrade
Another credit downgrade is in the works in the likely event that the super committee punts on reining in spending and reducing debt. via Moodys ready to downgrade US if committee fails - YouTube.
Super Committee to big to Fail? Nope, Nada, Nyet – Set up to Fail? You Betcha
There is some speculation that the White House wants the Super Committee to fail so that the President can continue his Campaign stump speech that the Congress is a "Do Nothing" entity and "we can't wait" for them to act. The Presidents entire effort to get re-elected is that he says he will act without Congress from the executive branch. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-KY., today suggested that the White House is pulling for the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction, the so-called Super Committee, to fail because success would step on their storyline of Republican obstructionism. After leaving the Republicans’ weekly policy luncheon, McConnell was asked about Senator Charles Schumer’s prediction yesterday that the Super Committee would likely fail to strike an [...]
Analyst Prediction: Another US Debt Downgrade Is Coming In Just A Few Weeks. Who will Obama blame this one on?
In an analyst note, Bofa/ML Ethan S. Harris drops a bit of a bombshell prediction: We expect a moderate slowdown in the beginning of next year, as two small policy shocks—another debt downgrade and fiscal tightening—hit the economy. The “not-so-super” Deficit Commission is very unlikely to come up with a credible deficit-reduction plan. The committee is more divided than the overall Congress. Since the fall-back plan is sharp cuts in discretionary spending, the whole point of the Committee is to put taxes and entitlements on the table. However, all the Republican members have signed the Norquist “no taxes” pledge and with taxes off the table it is hard to imagine the liberal Democrats on the Committee agreeing to significant entitlement cuts. The credit rating agencies have [...]
