Reid and Boehner Proposals

Here is a great link I found today comparing Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Speaker of the House John Boehner's respective Debt-Ceiling proposals:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/the-two-plans/2011/07/26/gIQAuNflbI_graphic.html

To Default or Not to Default...That better not be the question!

Sadly folks, the debt-ceiling debate is still unresolved since I posted last and personally I am disgusted by what is going on in Washington D.C. over the past week..to the point I couldn't find the inspiration to post.

Thankfully the good people at PolitiFact don't take as much time off from posting as I do and are trying their best to sort through the bull and get to the real truth of the debt-ceiling debate.

And today they posted an article that I think is very helpful to those who want to understand the seemingly counter intuitive argument that the government will not go into default after August 2nd. In my previous post, I pointed out that Michelle Bachmann was a supporter of this belief, claiming that the government has enough revenue coming in to cover the most important payments...But there is the real flaw in the argument. There isn't nearly enough money coming in per month to cover ALL of the payments.

According to the Bipartisan Policy Center, the government will bring in roughly $172 Billion for the month of August. At the same time, the government has $306 billion in "bills" to pay, meaning that without an increase to the debt ceiling (which allows the government to borrow money above the current $14+ trillion level) the government would be unable to pay some $134 billion for that month.

So in theory, the government could prioritize what bills get paid and what bills don't such as Social Security, Medicaid, Medicare, Pentagon Vendors, Unemployment benefits, and Interest on the Debt. Choosing to pay those bills would require the entire month of August's revenue and as such ALL other government programs will have no funds for the month of August and beyond. This includes: federal employee pay, IRS refunds, the entire Department of Justice (including the FBI), Active military duty pay, Veterans Affairs programs, Pell grants and many others.

And there lies the problem, people like Michelle Bachmann assume that the financial markets and credit lenders (who have already threatened to downgrade US credit) will be OK with the US only paying SOME of its bills as and that as long as some bills get paid the US will not technically go into "default".

Now hopefully, if the Debt Ceiling debate pushing past the August 2nd deadline, a compromise will follow sometime soon after, hopefully limiting the damage done to the United States' credit in the financial world but the damage will still be done. Now how extensive this damage will be no one truly knows but the risk of it alone should make every American stand and take notice and should a compromise not be reached in time and the financial markets tanks and creditors downgrade US credit, let us remember the idiots and twits who claimed that everything would be just fine if the debt ceiling isn't raised..Because I sure as hell will.

Finally, I would like to give all those Americans who have been calling and emailing their members of Congress this week, to the point that the switchboards are overrun with phone calls and the government's servers are crashing because of the sheer volume, a pat on the back. This flood of political participation started almost immediately after the President and Speaker's respective speeches last night and shows American are really watching this debate and want to see where their elected representatives stand on the issue and therefore are holding them accountable. Keep it up people!

http://www.politifact.com/georgia/statements/2011/jul/26/tom-price/georgia-republican-tom-price-says-paying-debtholde/

Updates to the Blog!

Today I have added some much-needed new political links including the new Modern Whig Party website!

I also encourage those interested to visit and possibly Join one of Modern Whig Facebook groups, including the group that I personally run. I caution that my Facebook group isn't the official MWP page but is open to those of any or no political affiliation.

My Facebook Group:
http://www.facebook.com/groups/34271001727?id=10150262563376728&notif_t=group_activity#!/groups/34271001727?ap=1

Ron+Paul+Ad+Invokes+Reagan%2C+Imprecisely

Ron + Paul + Ad + Invokes Reagan +% 2 c + Imprecisely

FactCheck caught Presidential hopeful Ron Paul stretching the truth a bit in a new ad airing here in my home state of Iowa and New Hampshire...

And to think Ron Paul claims to be a different kind of politician...Keeping dreaming people.

It's Official: Herman Cain Doesn't Deserve to Run

Further proof today that Herman Cain not only isn't savvy enough for the highest office in the land, he doesn't even deserve the opportunity to run for it.

Today on FoxNews Sunday, Herman Cain was discussing Islam in America and made a serious of ignorant statements that in itself make him look like an idiot and a twit, but went even further than that.

First, Herman Cain tried to claim that because Islam in general does not separate Church as State as the 1st Amendment of the US Constitution does and as such it can be treated differently. He went as far as to say when asked by Chris Wallace whether communities had the right to tell Muslims they can't build a Mosque in their community, he claimed they had such a right.

Now first off, how a religion views the issue of Church and State is irrelevant, they are still protected under the 1st Amendment which states the Federal Government (and thanks to the 14th Amendment the respective states as well) CAN NOT infringe on the people's right to exercise their religion freely and as such have no such authority to deny Muslims their RIGHT to build a house of worship.

If that was true, communities (cities and towns) would have the ability to deny Catholics, Baptists, Jews, Sikhs, and Buddhist (just to name a few) the right to build a house of worship. Clearly to anyone who has a brain and has read the US Constitution what Herman Cain stated is blatantly false and if the man can't even understand the 1st Amendment, what makes him think he has any right to run for President?

Secondly, this incident combined with his previous statements on Muslims (in which he stated if he had the opportunity, he would never have a Muslim in his cabinet, then denied it days later and then stated again on national television before back-tracking again saying he would be "uncomfortable" having a Muslim in his cabinet), shows a clear pattern of outright ignorance of Islam and outright bigotry towards them.

Sadly, there are Americans out there who do support such a position and for those people I truly feel sorry. One should pity those who are so willing to deny one group their constitutional rights so easily without even batting an eye but in the same breath charge the government is taking away their rights. I however do not pity them, I am infuriated by them and wonder who drives such ignorance and hypocrisy..

So to Herman Cain I have only this to say, "It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to open your mouth and remove all doubt"..

http://www.politico.com/blogs/politicolive/0711/Cain_Americans_should_have_right_to_ban_mosques.html

100th Post! My Thoughts on the Debt Ceiling..

What better time to discuss the debt ceiling debate then my 100th blog post?

As my readers my have noticed, I've taken a bit of break from blogging as of late, mainly because of personal stuff but I am back with a vengence, attempting to tackle the debt ceiling debate which has been going on now for several weeks and just when we thought they were getting some traction..

So for those who haven't been following the debate as closely as political wonks like myself, here is the short version:

Until this weekend, there was serious talk that President Obama and GOP House Speaker Boehner were discussing what has been called the "Big Deal" debt ceiling compromise which was to include a total of $4 Trillion in future cuts from the federal debt over the next ten years. It was to include possible entitlement reform and also an increase in income tax for some Americans. However, come this weekend, the GOP caucus made it very clear to Speaker Boehner that any tax increases would not pass the House of Representatives and as such the Speaker walked out of the meeting with the President.

Days later, Speaker Boehner made it clear that any tax increases would be part of any compromise and now is even denying they were ever on the table in the first place and this has now put the entire talks back into limbo.

Today, the President during a press conference agreed that entitlement reform would likely have to be done to help cut the federal debt but also emphasized that such cuts without tax increases would not fix our ailing economy.

A short time later, Speaker Boehner also held a press conference in which he agreed with the President that raising the debt ceiling is a must and not doing so put our fragile and barely existent recovery at risk. However he emphasized his major difference with the President: that raising taxes in a time of economic trouble is not a good idea. Speaker Boehner also made reference to suggestions of late that tax loopholes be taken out of the US tax code and by doing this and lowing corporate taxes, the tax base could be broadened and along with the proposed cuts could put the US government in better financial shape and in turn give the economy the best chance possible.

And just when you think they are only two sides to a political debate, Michelle Bachmann suggests a "third way" and what a great option it is..

Michelle Bachmann was recently released a political ad in which she promises to not vote for ANY debt ceiling bill no matter what...Even if it has Speaker Boehner's stamp of approval. Because of this rather surprising and somewhat dimwitted opinion, even Conservative commentator Bill O'Reilly had to call out the Congresswoman on her opinion of the issue. Bachmann claims that the government has enough revenue coming in to cover the immediate interest payments on the government's outstanding debt. However as FoxNews' Brit Hume pointed out on O'Reilly's show tonight, while the government does have revenue coming in, it likely won't be enough to keep from causing a major distruption worldwide and even affect government programs (he used farm subsidies here in Iowa). Bill-O's final opinion was that the debt ceiling needs to be raised because of not doing so it too great.

Personally, of the two politicians and the twit, I am finding Speaker Boehner's position the best compromise to raise the debt ceiling. While the cuts aren't as great as the "Big Deal" discussed this weekend, they are large enough that it certainly couldn't hurt the economy any worse then what the government is doing now (aka, NOTHING) and in the near future (perhaps after the 2012 election) more cuts could be made.

And while I do give the President credit for he rather abrupt U-turn when it comes to entitlement reform being part of any compromise (which is now incurring the wrath of Democrats in both houses of Congress), his change of opinion IMO suggests he is doing this more for his political survival then an actual change in belief.

And I also know the idea of raising the debt ceiling from its current $14+ trillion limit at all does make alot of people's head spin, the idea of defaulting on US debt for the first time in history should scare every American. Imagine overnight the stock market and US Dollar both racing to see who can hit the floor first..Not a nice thought is it?

But as you might have guessed, we are no closer to a compromise today then we were a week ago..Compromise may be what makes politics go 'round (at least that's what they talk me at college), it drives this American up a frickin wall!

So stayed tuned folks, after this weekend these talks could go into any number of directions and as politics usually do..It's going to get messy.