Republicans and the debt ceiling

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You guys are overreacting. Mitch McConnell wants bigger government, as it makes it easier to get money to his donors.
John McCain managed to get them to get rid of earmarks, but I think those are back now.

There might be some push for a shutdown. Ideally they would just pass small debt limit increases for a month or so, with some budget cuts tacked on.
But that's not what McConnell and the corporate Republicans want, so we'll just have McCarthy make a show of negotiating hard.

Earmarks are not back. I wish they were because they were the only reason that politicians would regularly cross party lines. Now, it’s much easier to have ideological purity and no compromise at all. Personally, if a Senator has no strong feelings on a bill and they can get an new bridge or USDA research lab in exchange for their vote, I have no problem with it. It’s certainly a better situation than no legislation ever being able to pass unless one party has both houses and the presidency

[Anonymous]

BTDT! Rinse and repeat every R congress.

[Anonymous]

What people should be worried about is the fact that the GOP is way more interested in sabotaging Biden than in doing anything positive for the country. The MAGA faction will gleefully bankrupt the entire lot of us if it will only make Trump's pitiful performance look a little less awful by comparison. Having people in power bent on destruction of that magnitude is truly terrifying.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What people should be worried about is the fact that the GOP is way more interested in sabotaging Biden than in doing anything positive for the country. The MAGA faction will gleefully bankrupt the entire lot of us if it will only make Trump's pitiful performance look a little less awful by comparison. Having people in power bent on destruction of that magnitude is truly terrifying.

Democrats are operating on MMT, modern monetary theory, which essentially says deficits don't matter, spend all you want.
Republicans are operating on modern Republican theory, which says that deficits don't matter, tax cuts all you want.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:“The widening deficit, which was $587 billion in 2016, is due in part to increased government spending and the $1.5 trillion tax cut package signed by Mr. Trump in 2017.”

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/whats-in-the-budget-deal-negotiated-by-congress-and-the-white-house/

Funny to read that quote now. Trump's tax reform proved to improve the economy in 2018 and 2019 in ways that were both predictable and apparently mysterious to CBS "journalists"

Trump’s tax cuts had no net positive effect on economic growth. What minimal benefits they might have added were offset by the money taken from the economy to service the increased debt.

Not only were his tax cuts of absolutely no benefit to the economy, but his attacks on the IRS meant that we lost more money.

You folks are truly crazy. The Trump tax reform, controversial as it was, proved to be a massive success in the economic data of 2018, 2019 and 2020 up to Covid. Look it up,

You know who it wasnt a massive success for? Military and civilians who PCS. They now get taxed on everything the government gives them in order to move. HHG storage so you can go overseas- taxed. Meals and hotels while you look for housing in a different country- taxed.
Bezos 2nd yacht- not taxed.

The company that sold the yacht wasn't taxed?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:House Republicans are preparing to hold world economy hostage for political gain. Backed by Speaker McCarthy, the emboldened Far-Right "Freedom Caucus" plan to hold up raising the Debt Ceiling - which they raised 3 times under Trump - unless demands are met.

What are their demands?

20% cut to discretionary spending, but excluding defense from any cuts. That means closer to 50% cuts everywhere else to get to their 20% threshold which will never happen.

That means defense is 60% of the budget.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:McCarthy is saying he won’t support a clean debt limit hike. Biden needs to keep explaining why that’s the way to go. But crickets so far

Because the money has already been legally appropriated and it is unconstitutional for the US to not pay its debts.

The debt ceiling isn't about paying debts, it is about borrowing more money, creating more debts.

[Anonymous]

Narrator: They were not six months away

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What people should be worried about is the fact that the GOP is way more interested in sabotaging Biden than in doing anything positive for the country. The MAGA faction will gleefully bankrupt the entire lot of us if it will only make Trump's pitiful performance look a little less awful by comparison. Having people in power bent on destruction of that magnitude is truly terrifying.

This! The GOP is just super toxic and no longer capable of rational thought. Completely incapable of leading anything positive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:McCarthy is saying he won’t support a clean debt limit hike. Biden needs to keep explaining why that’s the way to go. But crickets so far

Because the money has already been legally appropriated and it is unconstitutional for the US to not pay its debts.

The debt ceiling isn't about paying debts, it is about borrowing more money, creating more debts.

Congress already passed laws appropriating the money, the debt is to pay for what congress has already spent

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:House Republicans are preparing to hold world economy hostage for political gain. Backed by Speaker McCarthy, the emboldened Far-Right "Freedom Caucus" plan to hold up raising the Debt Ceiling - which they raised 3 times under Trump - unless demands are met.

What are their demands?

20% cut to discretionary spending, but excluding defense from any cuts. That means closer to 50% cuts everywhere else to get to their 20% threshold which will never happen.

That means defense is 60% of the budget.

Defense plus VA is half of the budget.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:McCarthy is saying he won’t support a clean debt limit hike. Biden needs to keep explaining why that’s the way to go. But crickets so far

Because the money has already been legally appropriated and it is unconstitutional for the US to not pay its debts.

The debt ceiling isn't about paying debts, it is about borrowing more money, creating more debts.

It makes it possible to borrow more money, but it is also needed in order to deal with debts already incurred. Refusing to raise the debt ceiling isn't about stopping new debt, it causes defaults on CURRENT debt.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:McCarthy is saying he won’t support a clean debt limit hike. Biden needs to keep explaining why that’s the way to go. But crickets so far

Because the money has already been legally appropriated and it is unconstitutional for the US to not pay its debts.

The debt ceiling isn't about paying debts, it is about borrowing more money, creating more debts.

Congress already passed laws appropriating the money, the debt is to pay for what congress has already spent

Exactly

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What people should be worried about is the fact that the GOP is way more interested in sabotaging Biden than in doing anything positive for the country. The MAGA faction will gleefully bankrupt the entire lot of us if it will only make Trump's pitiful performance look a little less awful by comparison. Having people in power bent on destruction of that magnitude is truly terrifying.

Democrats are operating on MMT, modern monetary theory, which essentially says deficits don't matter, spend all you want.
Republicans are operating on modern Republican theory, which says that deficits don't matter, tax cuts all you want.

Except the Dems have generally been paying for their spending bills whereas the GOP is not.

In fact...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:McCarthy is saying he won’t support a clean debt limit hike. Biden needs to keep explaining why that’s the way to go. But crickets so far

Because the money has already been legally appropriated and it is unconstitutional for the US to not pay its debts.

The debt ceiling isn't about paying debts, it is about borrowing more money, creating more debts.

Congress already passed laws appropriating the money, the debt is to pay for what congress has already spent

And mostly spent by W and Trump.

Face it, if the GOP were truly interested in this, they would not have exploded the debt by the 2017 tax cuts, and they would have reigned in spending when they controlled the House, Senate and White House between 2017 and 2019. They didn't do that, but rather quite the opposite.