How do you want this to end?

[Cleita]

For me, I want Harry Reid to recess the Senate until Wednesday. Yes, it's past the deadline. This shuts the Senate down. The House has already passed the bill they want that the President said he would veto. They are done. This would put President Obama in the position of either defaulting or invoking the Fourteenth Amendment. Which will he do?

I don't think this scenario will happen and armchair quarterbacking is sometimes lame, but could this end the problem or make it worse?

[Davis_X_Machina]

1. There is no end, and there is only 'make it worse'.

President Obama has discovered that the Ship of State is the Kobayashi Maru. There is no answer.

(There is no answer short of a king, but we tried that, and came close to trying it a second time a decade ago.)

[tularetom]

2. 14th Amendment, yeah!

Take away all the options and leave it strictly up to the president.

No room to weasel, he has to make a decision one way or the other. What does he stand for, the country or Wall Street?

Yep, presidentin's hard. But he wanted the job.

[ixion]

13. "Take away all the options and leave it strictly up to the president."

That is called a dictatorship.

[Davis_X_Machina]

14. A taste for monarchy...

...may be the only really bi-partisan thing in American politics.

[Cleita]

16. No, according to the Constitution it's supposed to be

one of the checks and balances. If one branch of government goes awry, it's supposed to be the other branches that puts a check on it and brings in a balance. What I've seen with the Tea Party corrupted Congress, it's time for either the Supreme Court or the President to bring in a check and balance. Unfortunately, the Supreme Court has also been corrupted. That leaves the Executive Branch to do it's Constitutional duty and what better way than invoking an article of the Constitution meant for this purpose?

[Abq_Sarah]

24. Huh?

Checks and balances divides power in government to prevent dictatorships. Not liking the policies/ideology of the House doesn't mean they've gone "awry" and need to be taken over by another branch. It means they need to be replaced via the ballot box.

[Cleita]

25. Really, I can vote for Supreme Court judges in the ballot box?

Congress has been corrupted by lobbyists and is a broken branch of government. Until we can replace them by the ballot box, the efficiency of governing must fall to the the other branches of government. It was so there would be no kings, whether in the executive branch, the judicial branch or legislative. That's what I learned in my civics classes. We now have kings in two branches of our government, the judicial and the legislative. We are being ruled by a minority elite in both branches or for all intents an purposes kings and nobles. The President is our last hope, but he's probably a king too.

[ixion]

26. the pResident is ruled by the same group of people

so handing one person all that power, no matter what party they belong to, is a bad, bad, bad idea.

[Cleita]

27. He doesn't have all the power.

If he does invoke the fourteenth, it will immediately go to the courts, per Bill Clinton, and probably will be fast tracked to the Supreme Court. In the meantime we avoid the crash that supposedly will happen, according to all the experts, until saner heads might prevail. (I myself am wondering, whom we are protecting? The people? Or Wall Street.) Maybe by then the Tea Baggers are elected out of office or any number of other things that can happen so that real legislation can happen.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

3. Obama vetos "the Deal", invokes the 14th, and says, "To hell with bipartisanship."

Of course, I also want see Susan Sarandon elected president in 2012. Alas, both wishes can be safely placed on the "Fat Chance" shelf.

[erodriguez]

10. He wants that deal.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

11. As I said, that wish is safely on the "Fat Chance" shelf.

[Ruby the Liberal]

4. On the fence, but am leaning toward letting it all default

Maybe it will wake some of these newly minted congressman out of their trance where they realize that this is not a damn game.

Edit to add - on the 14th, if he HAS to do it, do it on Thursday, or even next week. If he does it to avert a crisis, then all we will get 24/7/365 for the next 18 months is how he is a Marxist taking over the government and how he needs to be impeached for treason. The talking point will be that we were never in any danger of default and he just unilaterally usurped the Constitution to write blank checks.

Pain then remedy. Get the people on Main and Wall Streets calling for blood, then step in and fix it.

Proactive remedy will just make this mess even louder and more unrelenting.

[gateley]

5. Pass a straight up/down bill with nothing included except raising the ceiling. nt

[Cleita]

6. That's the common sense solution but the

Republicans won't budge on this. I think probably McConnell might have gone for it, but far right members of his caucus won't so therein likes the dilemma.

[Davis_X_Machina]

12. It lost in April. It got less than a hundred...

...Democratic votes.

[gateley]

17. I'm listening to MSNBC now, and it seems that this still isn't a done

deal. They won't agree to ANYTHING. As much as I can't stand Boehner and McConnell, I think they would have agreed to it, too. And most of the "normal" republicans, as well.

[maryellen99]

19. I don't any deal is going to be reached

I think it's horrible the games they are playing-More and More people are becoming frightened.

[gateley]

22. As well they should be -- we shouldn't be yanked around like this. It's

unconscionable. :grr:

[mmonk]

7. Quickly so we can start trying to repair the damage it will bring.

I say this because I know it won't be just raised as it has been all the times before. The politicians don't mind sacrificing the welfare of some more people for more attempted political gain for 2012(except maybe for some members of the progressive caucus).

[patrice]

8. Anyone who says 14th Amendment NEEDS to put their ass on the line for getting THE PEOPLE involved in

actual discussion and action ON THE ISSUES (as many of them as possible), or, at least IMHO, their interest in following a 14th Amendment route should be considered relative to their apparent lack of interest in power to the people.

[alfredo]

9. 10 million people marching on DC, and those who cooked up

this crisis, in chains.

[left is right]

15. while I would like to return to the days of relative sanity and prosperity of the Clinton years

I would settle for a half dozen or so of the Koch-type billionaires and the media boys like Murdoch, Hannity, and Limbaugh have near fatal heart attacks or strokes. Mind you, I am not wishing anyone dead, just facing very long recuperative and rehabilitative time frames.

[Name removed]

18. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[maryellen99]

23. ewwwwwwwww

I'm just about to make dinner :puke:

[LiberalEsto]

20. Corporate personhood outlawed

The Koch Bros and their ilk behind bars
Corporate taxes raised to 70%
Serious campaign finance reform
Clarence Thomas impeached from the Supreme Court ....

wouldn't it be lovely?

[Cleita]

21. That would be lovely.

Right now though it might be easier to get a unicorn.

[blkmusclmachine]

28. Our economy/Middle Class on "austerity":

:nuke: