Why is this a crisis now, when a non-balanced budget never was a crisis before?

[WinkyDink]

Is it simply a matter of the Right-Wing sharks smelling blood in the financial waters?

[hobbit709]

1. Three guesses, first two don't count.

Question: What is different now compared to before?

[WinkyDink]

5. Does it mean the first Black president has to go along with the charade?

[CelticThunder]

8. Yes, if the first black president is as spineless as this one.

[rucky]

2. It's a matter of manufacturing a crisis, so they can apply their "medicine" on it.

Privatization, cutting social programs, gutting tax codes and regulations for big business. That's their M.O. in every country they stink up.

[geckosfeet]

3. The pukes can't find a reason to impeach Obama and this is the best they can do.

[GoCubsGo]

6. Yep. Their guy isn't in the White House.

That's the crux of it. His skin color only exacerbates the issue, but it isn't the main issue. If the President was white, they'd be pulling this kind of shit, too. Just like the did with Clinton. It's worse now, because they had those six years when they controlled everything, and were able to rig the system in a way they could get away with more of this shit.

[no_hypocrisy]

4. It wasn't a crisis but became a crisis.

There are consequences if bills aren't paid, interest rates go up, checks don't go out.

Alternatively it's a crisis if Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid are systematically and incrementally pared down. Even a future democratic majority in both Houses won't be able to return them to their current status.

[hansberrym]

7. It is hard to see through all the smoke and mirrors, but the underlying issue is the ratio of debt

to GDP. We are approaching 90% now, the extension of another $2.8T might, if the US economy doesn't jump start soon, put us very near or over 100%. That alone would be reason to lower the US debt rating.

Unless we get our act together, we will default(in the long run) either by refusing to pay some debts(the usual meaning of the word) or by printing dollars and screwing creditors by paying back debt with much inflated currency. There are many on this board who think the second way of default is nothing to be concerned about, but then maybe they aren't retired on a fixed buget, or maybe they do not give a crap about those who are, or maybe they just do not understand how foolish is would be to ruin faith in our currency. We can dig ourselves out of the hole we are in now, but ruining the faith in our currency is a death spiral.


Facts are neither left wing or right wing. Our GDP is what it is, and our debt is what it is. The parties will spin, spin, spin, but the spin won't change the facts -though it may confuse the hell out of John Q. Public, which is the point.


The President is betting that if we inject enough money into the economy to spur robust growth, the denominator (GPD) will grow faster than the numerator(debt)and thus reduce the debt to GDP ratio. If he is right, problem solved for 5 or 6 years (average economic expansion), and we buy some time to fix the bigger things. This is kicking the can down the road, but the alternative is to take our medicine now while we are on the edge of another recession or possibly a depression.

This seems much more than the usual left v. right political squable, there seems to be real fear and conviction on both sides that the other guy is going to cause great and lasting harm the country.


(edited to add: in the long run)

[mindem]

9. It takes peoples eye off the ball.

If you blame all of those damned poor and old people for the crisis you can avoid the fact that it was their wonderful ideology that got us in to this mess. The fact of the matter is that unrestricted capitalism and greed has nearly brought our country to ruin and no one in DC has the balls to deal with the real causes. What the repukes are doing is criminal no matter how you look at it.