http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/02/charles-krauthammer-fiscal-cliff_n_2394206.html Charles Krauthammer: Fiscal Cliff Compromise 'A Complete Rout By The Democrats' Add Charles Krauthammer's name to the list of conservative pundits deeply unsatisfied with the fiscal cliff deal just passed by the House of Representatives. The political columnist lashed out at congressional Republicans in the hours just before the House finally passed the fiscal cliff compromise, capping a fraught evening in which House GOP leadership threatened to amend the bill approved last night by the Senate -- comprised largely of tax cuts -- with matching spending cuts, which would almost certainly have imploded negotiations. Ultimately, the Senate's bill was passed unchanged. Krauthammer said of the final bill: Look, there are a lot of conservatives in the Republican caucus in the House who hate the bill, and for good reason. This is a complete surrender on everything. The ratio of tax cuts, of tax hikes to spending cuts is 40-to-one, rather than one-to-one or one-to-two, or one-to-three. So, I mean, it's a complete rout by the Democrats, so it's understandable. The comments are in keeping with Krauthammer's earlier posture on the fiscal cliff talks. Last Friday, he commented that Obama was negotiating with "great skill, and ruthless skill, and success -- to fracture and basically shatter the Republican opposition."
"Joe Scarborough: 'The Seeds Are Being Planted For The Destruction Of The House Republican Majority'" "Joe Scarobourgh warned that congressional Republicans face an uncertain future in light of House Speaker John Boehner's decision to pull and then reschedule a vote on a Hurricane Sandy relief bill. "Boehner's decision, which sparked outrage among New York and New Jersey politicians, led to New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie publicly blaming the House majority and the speaker for delaying much-needed Sandy aid. "Wow. That was amazing," Scarborough said after replaying Christie's comments. "That is an amazing press conference." "I will tell you," Scarborough continued. "The seeds are being planted right now for the destruction of the House Republican majority. They are being planted before they are sworn in today." "We haven't even talked about guns," co-host Mika Brzezinski said. "We haven't even talked about Sandy Hook," Scarborough said. "We haven't talked about being wrapped as the party of Wayne LaPierre instead of the party of Ronald Reagan. The extremism that is going to be wrapped around this party, the men and women being sworn in today start - behind the 8 ball - they are already on their way to making Nancy Pelosi the next speaker of the House ... They better turn this ship around quickly or we're going to have a Democratic monopoly in Washington D.C. on January 4, 2015."
If you believe that I think you're a lot more optimistic than I am. Obama should have, imho, let the austerity bomb go off, then proposed legislation to cut taxes on the 98%, and let the reps try to block that. Admittedly the spending cuts were also part of the bomb, but it would have been great proof of concept, that "Keynesianism can't work"--we could have proven the reps and their crazy cult core of libertarians wrong both practically AND theoretically.
He did let the deadline pass,sent in Binden to propose cutting taxes for 98-99 % and dared the The GOP to block it Now he is going to dare them to let The US default knowing he has the 14th amendment option if they call his bluff.If they call his bluff they are on record as trying to destroy the US and global economy ,trying to stop granny from getting her SS check and seeing her doctor etc and lose The House in 2014
there is no 14th amendment option for the president. your concept is a fraudulent mis read of the law. However, there is a federal reserve option. the fed can just print the money without the treasury borrowing it.
"The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payments of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned."