White House: not close to a deal on debt, deficit - Reuters

[gateley]

http://news.yahoo.com/obama-open-short-term-debt-fix-bi...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House denied on Thursday a New York Times report that President Barack Obama and Republican House of Representatives speaker John Boehner were close to a deal to cut the deficit and raise the debt limit.

"We are not close to a deal," White House spokesman Jay Carney said. Discussions were ongoing, he and other officials said.




(I'd posted the NYT Breaking News e-mail I received stating they WERE close to a deal -- so sorry! And MANY thanks
to Tierra_y_Libertad*** for providing this info and link.)

[tridim]

1. But I heard on DU that he has already gutted SS and Medicare.

:eyes:

[jtown1123]

4. He certainly proposed it. And that alone is devastating.

[gateley]

6. I specifically did NOT hear Obama use the word "gutting". nt

[jtown1123]

7. You know what I meant...cuts, trims, slashes, all the same to me

[gateley]

16. Yeah, I know. ANY tweak to any of these programs now

is wrong and unnecessary. So I'm backing off on my criticism of the "gutting" choice. Carry on!

[mzmolly]

21. There was never an Obama proposal to cut SS or Medicare.

If there ever is, I'll be among the first to criticize it.

[jtown1123]

22. Haha really? He proposed Chained CPI and raising the Medicare age

[mzmolly]

26. Says who? John Boehner?

eom

[gateley]

5. Well, there is that... :-) nt

[LLStarks]

10. DU has devolved into knee-jerk reactions over plans that are in their infancy or dead in the water.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

20. Knee-jerk reactions? If that includes writing to congress

then I'm guilty as charged.

I think sometimes the White House floats ideas just to see what the reaction would be. If there are a bunch of knee-jerk reactions, then they back off and say they were just thinking out loud or some other nonsense. Whatever, if the reduction in medicare/ss is dead, I'm glad.

Latest nonsense I heard was using "substitution" to compute inflation. If the price of salmon goes from $10 per pound to $12 per pound, but you can substitute whitefish which went from $8 to $10 per pound, then there is no inflation. Fish is "still" $10 per pound.

If you moosh hamburger just right, it looks just like filet mignon.

:hi:

[democracy1st]

11. after Obama appointed this economic team you're still being a smart a$$?

[tridim]

15. No, I'm just sick of the organized disinformation campaign currently being run on DU.

Do you approve of the disinformation?

[jtown1123]

23. What disinformation pray tell? Everything I've been reading is from credible news sources.

[monmouth]

2. Just read that at Yahoo. You want misinformation and speculation?

Stay right here, it's in abundance...JHC...

[gateley]

8. And I do my fair share of spreading it. I believed the NYT which

is why I posted it, but I think the WH trumps on this one. Just wanted to un-do my wrong. Don't always get the chance. :)

[monmouth]

13. Hahaha, don't worry about it gateley, you are not alone. I used to

believe everything I read here on DU then I realized there are a lot of "dramatists" here to fire people up. I spend less and less time here. It's starting to suck majorly...

[gateley]

17. Have to agree. I used to come and ask for clarification on just

about everything I didn't understand fully (which was just about everything!). Used to get very helpful, balanced answers, now the majority of "helpful" responses are snarks and opinions. Then the responders get in fights with each other. :rofl:

[jtown1123]

3. They still have to cut a "deal" soon.

[gateley]

9. Yeah, and I wish they'd fucking DO something. Then we

can start fighting about the "deal" and predicting whether or not it'll pass the House and/or Senate.

Never a dull moment.

[woo me with science]

12. Of course they can't reach a deal this early.

The deal must be reached just before the deadline, or the masses would be able to respond.

[jtown1123]

14. Yep.

[n2doc]

19. +1 n/t

[SammyWinstonJack]

25. Yup!

:thumbsup:

[gratuitous]

18. Well, what to believe?

Seems a lot of conflicting stories are out there. But if the past is any prologue, I don't think it's unrealistic to believe that the non-wealthy elites are being sold down the river in the panic of yet another ginned-up ersatz "crisis." We saw this tactic tried with the TARP progam in the waning days of the Bush presiduncy, the extension of the Bush-era tax cuts and health care reform. Here's another "controversy" over a similar "crisis" foisted upon us for no good reason, and in the name of expediency, bipartisanship and kicking the can down the road, we're going to be sold a lousy solution that just coincidentally benefits the wealthy at the expense of the rest of us.

But like all good, reasonable Democrats, I guess I should withhold any analysis or judgment until it's too late, so I can take my scolding for not speaking up sooner or not recognizing the clear signals put out by the administration that whatever screw job eventually happens was being telegraphed for anyone who was paying attention, so it will be my own goddam fault.

[jtown1123]

24. rec.