House Speaker Boehner ends debt talks with Obama

[The Minx]

Link

Washington (CNN) -- House Speaker John Boehner said Friday that he has ended debt talks with President Barack Obama's administration.

"I have decided to end discussions with the White House and begin conversations with the leaders of the Senate in an effort to find a path forward," he wrote in a letter to fellow Republicans.

The negotiations -- necessary to stave off an unprecedented national default that could prove economically devastating -- are testing the ability of leaders on both sides of the aisle to legislate effectively in an era of increasingly shrill and unyielding partisanship.

Republicans, who have railed against the growth of government, remain staunchly opposed to any tax increases. Democrats are trying to protect some of their party's primary legacies -- entitlements such as Social Security and Medicare, programs forged at the height of the New Deal and Great Society.

If this leads to the US going into default, then the Senate will be ostracized for future history for it. Default has never happened in the US before, this is one of very few countries where that's the case. And they're just toying with the prospect for cheap political points and ideology!

[frigidmagi]

Wall Street is gonna have kittens! Fuck they're gonna have full grown Tigers.

[Derek Thunder]

Question for the mechanically-inclined on the forum (in the event of a national default and subsequent collapse):

I recently purchased a 2012 Ford Focus - It's a great car, but it doesn't have any machine guns or death spikes and I intend to fight my way through Canada and establish a breakaway republic somewhere in the continental West. Can anyone recommend aftermarket parts/adapters for machine guns and/or rocket launchers? I have an idea in mind for a rusty spiked cow-catcher a la old trains but more long-range hitting power is needed.

The anarcho-fetishist wardrobe won't be too much of a problem, and hockey masks are readily available here (and if nothing else can be acquired easily in a rampage through Alberta).

[Charon]

Remember boys and girls. If the economy even looks like it's going to turn around the Republicans stand a big chance of losing the next election so they have to do everything they can to make sure we're in a shithole so they can take control and then try to pull us out of it, becoming the heroes.

God this shit makes me feel sick.

[Derek Thunder]

Has this all set a terrible precedent though? I mean, it used to be that raising the debt ceiling involved little more than idle political theater, but now it's become a fundamentally partisan issue. Will we go through this every time we have to raise the debt limit again?

Frankly, do we even need a debt ceiling? If it's no longer "safe" then we should probably scrap it, lest we repeat this multi-trillion dollar game of chicken when we burn through the next 2.4 trillion dollars. The credit rating agencies like Moody's and S&P are little better than crooks, admittedly, but I would be entirely sympathetic if they lowered our AAA rating anyway just as a consequence of this stupidity. I think we've shown already that our political system is ill-equipped to make deals, and it doesn't bode well for the future.

Remember boys and girls. If the economy even looks like it's going to turn around the Republicans stand a big chance of losing the next election so they have to do everything they can to make sure we're in a shithole so they can take control and then try to pull us out of it, becoming the heroes.

God this shit makes me feel sick.

I'm not sure I'd go so far - I think that Boehner and the party insiders realize where their bread is buttered and they're keenly paying attention to warnings from Wall Street. If there's a collapse, where are they going to get campaign contributions? The problem is they've lost control over the freshman who rode into Washington upon a wave of Rascal scooters, 64-ounce sodas, and thinly-veiled race resentment politics. They can't reach compromise because ideological rigidity is the entire reason why the Republicans have the house, and haven't been relegated to the status of a regional party.

[rhoenix]

Has this all set a terrible precedent though? I mean, it used to be that raising the debt ceiling involved little more than idle political theater, but now it's become a fundamentally partisan issue. Will we go through this every time we have to raise the debt limit again?

Prior to this, the debt ceiling has been raised 89 times. 89 times out of 89, this was done with a clean bill.

This is the first time it has suddenly become a partisan issue.

I'm not sure I'd go so far - I think that Boehner and the party insiders realize where their bread is buttered and they're keenly paying attention to warnings from Wall Street. If there's a collapse, where are they going to get campaign contributions? The problem is they've lost control over the freshman who rode into Washington upon a wave of Rascal scooters, 64-ounce sodas, and thinly-veiled race resentment politics. They can't reach compromise because ideological rigidity is the entire reason why the Republicans have the house, and haven't been relegated to the status of a regional party.

So your theory is that while Boehner and Cantor realize the importance of making Wall Street happy, they have to act like they don't so they don't look like weaklings in comparison to the Tea Party freshmen?

[Derek Thunder]

So your theory is that while Boehner and Cantor realize the importance of making Wall Street happy, they have to act like they don't so they don't look like weaklings in comparison to the Tea Party freshmen?

I think that's more accurate in Boehner's case - He's trying to toe a thin line between the traditional business interests of the party and the insurgent ideological movement (and not doing a terribly good job of it). He doesn't know what to do or how to please both interests.

Eric Cantor on the other hand has for lack of a better phrase "gone native." I don't think he's serious about getting anything done.