The big question of the day is whether the House Republican majority will just muck up about with principled, Burkean tax cuts and investigations of ACORN or whether they’ll try to blow the country up with impeachment and government shutdowns and debt defaults. For all the happy talk we’re hearing, I still think they’ll probably try to blow the country up; they’re certainly not taking anything “off the table”.
QUESTION: Are you willing to say right now we’re not going to let the country go into default, and we won’t allow a government shutdown?
CANTOR: Chris, look at this now. The chief executive, the president, is as responsible as any in terms of running this government. The president has a responsibility, as much or more so than Congress, to make sure that we are continuing to function in a way that the people want.
aimai
I suffer a little more than usual when I read stuff like this because its such a fucking shonda for the jews. I can take this from Boehner et al because I don’t believe they should know any better. But I have to believe that Cantor’s dead relatives would get up out of the grave and kick him to death if they could.
aimai
Ross Hershberger
IOW yes, we’re going to flush everything but it’s Obama’s toilet that the country’s going down so blame him.
BTW dodging the issue of whose responsibility it is to raise the debt ceiling. Hint: not the President.
Dave
Cantor is a fucking tool. They all are. They have to understand what a default would mean – and yet they talk about it like it’s no big deal.
Obama should call them on it. And if the GOP wants to go that route, he should hammer them every damn day on it.
Calouste
I wonder whether the GOP realizes that obstructionism for two years creates a major opportunity for a third party in 2012. A decent part of the electorate was disappointed with the achievements in the first two years of Obama, but they won’t vote for the GOP if nothing happens in the next two years and there is a third choice.
jacy
Any over/under on how long it takes the country to actually just go lord-of-the-flies/mad-max/zombie apocalypse?
I fret, I really do. All the grownups are slowly being shoved out of the building.
Rick Massimo
In other words, “Do exactly what we say and the country doesn’t get hurt.” Gawd, what really scares me is that the GOP expanded their Senate majority so greatly that it’s now filibuster-proof.
This is the effect of the asymmetrical warfare going on in Washington. Obama and the Democrats aren’t going to bring anything of the sort up now, because they figure it’ll blow over by the next election, and that won’t help their goal, which is to win the next election. The Republicans’ goal, on the other hand, is to destroy the Democratic party and erase anyone and any idea to the left of Mary Landrieu from American politics. So they attack all the time.
Scott
@jacy: I figure if they default on the debt, it’ll be about two seconds before some teabagger goes outside and just eats a homeless person.
beltane
It is tragic that we are forced to endure this state affairs without the likes of Joe Strummer. No one makes platinum selling Marxist punk albums like “London Calling” anymore.
El Cid
From Amanda Terkel in the Huffington Post:
quaint irene
Will if fuckwit Newt Gingrich has anything to do with it, that’s a big ‘Yes!”
Kryptik
@Scott:
The difference between playing to win, and playing to kill.
MikeBoyScout
You know, I’ve heard that “Everything is on the table.“, but I’ve yet to hear who is going to pay for this very large table!
Is this new big table the Republican majority proposes to be a government owned table???
Let me be the first to cry ‘SOCIALISM!!’ When will we outsource the construction and maintenance of the table?
Maude
@Ross Hershberger:
It’s all Obama’s fault.
Cantor was mealy mouthed on that.
He didn’t say they’d take their stand for Truth, Justice and The Amreican Way.
I wonder if the bluster that sounded so fine to the Republican ears is becoming less attractive.
Shutting down the government could lead to a backlash against the Republicans.
It costs money to shut down and re open the government, which I am sure Obama would point out.
beltane
@Calouste: The GOP would love to see a third-part because it would go a long ways towards helping out whatever unappealing sack of crap they end up nominating. For an example of how this will work see Maine, where a bona fide teabagger was elected governor with 38% of the vote in a three-person race.
As Maine goes so goes the nation.
chopper
nice country you have here. it’d be a shame if it, i dunno, went bankrupt. yep, real shame.
El Cid
@quaint irene: I keep reminding people that right up until the day of the first House vote on the TARP, Newt Gingrich went everywhere to fervently condemn this piece of soshullism, and then the very morning of the vote, when it was evident that it was going to fail, immediately reversed his position and was all over the media urging Republicans to pass this imperfect legislation.
But, no one in the media cares and Gingrich is still considered some honorable elder wise statesman.
Bulworth
Well I think the new GOP majority will vote to increase the debt ceiling. Nobody, certainly not conservatives, care about the debt or deficits, even though, and especially because, the anti-debt teatards have already given the GOP their votes.
Increasing the debt ceiling will either be ignored entirely by Faux and the rest of the librul media or trumpeted as the height of a new “responsibility”, etc.
Also, too, we have always been at war with Eurasia.
CJ
Why not? They screwed the country for years and managed to blame the Democrats. It got them (in their eyes) a House majority. Now all they have to do is shoot a few more holes in the keel and they can get the Senate and White House.
Win win.
El Cid
@Bulworth: I do think it’s likely that it will be passed, but it is also likely that this will be a very hostile first battle between the regular far right conservatives and the ‘tear it all down’ TeaTards and allies.
AlanDean
It galls me every time I hear a Republican state they know what the people want. These guys have no clue unless you think only corporations are people. I am hoping that during my lifetime, just once, a Republican would take responsibility for something. Hell, even the losers on Tuesday blamed everyone but them selves. Victims all.
Redshift
Shorter Eric Cantor: “Why are you hitting yourself?”
Dennis SGMM
Cantor (AKA, “the people”) is simply setting up the “Look what Obama made us do!” argument so that he and the rest of “the people” can pull off every hare-brained scheme that their resentful little minds have come up with since ’06.
The liberal media won’t challenge them on this and their voters will cheer the collapse of the government. Goldman Sachs will book record profits by shorting the whole fucking country.
Steve
Imagine a world where five different media sources made daily demands for the GOP to take the idea of a default off the table, where countless op-eds proclaimed that uncertainty about the default is preventing small businesses from hiring, and where moderate Republicans line up to announce that their extremist colleagues are making a serious mistake by refusing to renounce the idea of a default.
chopper
@Redshift:
FTFY. give them a year, this country is doomed.
Dennis SGMM
@Steve:
Could you hand me down a pinch of whatever you’re smoking? :)
mclaren
Impeachment, no. Because they know they can’t get it past the senate. But government shutdown, investigations, threatening default on government issued bonds — yes to all of those. They won’t actually force a default, of course, because their Wall Street masters will call ’em up and scream at them, but threatening default is something they’ll have no problem with.
These are all a done deal. Mark it on your calendar, it’s already set. The bigger questions involve how fast the military budget will grow. My guess? The Department of Homeland Security budget will have doubled by 2012 and the current military budget will skyrocket by at least 50% by 2012.
JGabriel
U.S. Constitution, Section 7:
Hmm.
.
trollhattan
@aimai:
Thank you for that image. The obvious followup question is whether zombie Reagan would
racelumber to Cantor’s defence. Zombie smackdown!Chyron HR
Also an older boy did it, and ran away.
Nerull
Translation: Nice country you’ve got there. Shame if anything were to…happen to it. For a small fee…
Sly
I’ll take a little from Column A and a little from Column B.
Obstruction is just like a salad bar at Applebees.
Dennis SGMM
@mclaren:
Impeachment, yes, because they don’t care whether it gets past the Senate. All they’re interested in is throwing as much shit as possible at Obama. As soon as the new chairman of the House Judiciary Committee introduces the resolution calling upon his committee to begin a formal inquiry into the issue of impeachment the RWNM will begin chanting “Where there’s smoke there’s fire,” 24/7. That’s all that they need to accomplish.
Steve
Cantor’s statement reminds me of Boehner’s reaction to the election: “Remember, the President still sets the agenda in this country.” These people are so not ready for any kind of responsibility.
cleek
and when 75% of the people say they want you compromise with the other party … ?
Ross Hershberger
@Dennis SGMM:
Bingo. They’ll piss and moan about the deficit, then cave in to ‘the Democrats’ runaway spending’ for the good of the country. Set the joint on fire, stand in the way of the fire trucks and try to look like a hero for showing up with a hose.
Basic GOP tactics 101.
BruceFromOhio
Translation: everything good that happens is now to our credit, and everything bad that happens is now the Presidents’ fault, not ours.
Same stupid sh!t, different Republican Congress d!ckhead. I swing from dejected resolve to not let these soulless ratfvck sonsabitches get me down, to hoping the whole kebosh comes falling apart in a giant, flaming ruin at all our feets.
azlib
The MOUs will not allow a default. After all they need the Federal Government to bail them out periodically. :-)
Seriously, these people are what passes for political leadership these days? We are in serious trouble.
Zifnab
They’re not going to default on Treasuries. Do you have any idea how many rich people own government bonds? Especially right now? However, they are going to seriously try and default on the Treasuries in the Social Security Trust Fund.
This is going to be Gingrich Era politics all over again. I am curious to find out how Amazon and E-Bay are going to react to a shut down of the post office, though. That should be fun to watch.
jl
I guess, best thing to do is make sure you have an emergency fund that will help you make through next two years. I will remember to juice mine up over next couple of months.
JGabriel
@Calouste:
The GOP is already a third party in Colorado — due to the Republican candidate, Dan Maes, getting less than 10% of the gubernatorial vote. Maybe it will become a trend, but that’s not necessarily for the better.
The second party in Colorado is now the American Constitution Party, the party line on which Tom Tancredo ran. So it seems likely that if the GOP gets replaced by a third party, it may be one even further to the right.
.
Lurking Canadian
@Rick Massimo:
What do you mean by “filibuster proof”? (Genuine question.) Can the Minority Party force the Senate to vote on bills coming from the House? Can the Republicans count on 60 votes, between themselves and (ahem) bipartisan Democrats?
I mean, I don’t expect the Democrats to filibuster very much, because if they did, Brooks and Broder would crucify them for how they’ve poisoned debate in the world’s most venerated deliberative body and how dare they abuse the Rules of the Senate, but you’re saying they won’t be able to?
Kryptik
@BruceFromOhio:
It’s absolutely infuriatingly retarded too just how successful they are at getting sympathy for being such aggrieved victims and underdogs, despite absolutely fucking owning the whole of the political process from top to bottom.
There really is no fucking way to win unless you want to fucking turn the country into a living breathing test of Galtian principles anymore.
Lurking Canadian
@cleek:
That’s the 75% that doesn’t count, so they don’t need to worry about it.
Phoenician in a time of Romans
Imagine a world where five different media sources made daily demands for the GOP to take the idea of a default off the table, where countless op-eds proclaimed that uncertainty about the default is preventing small businesses from hiring, and where moderate Republicans line up to announce that their extremist colleagues are making a serious mistake by refusing to renounce the idea of a default.
That’s fairly simple to arrange.
Draw up a list of the corporate contributers to the Republicans, arranged by size of contribution. Let it be known that, in the event of a default, these corporations will be the first not to be paid.
But that would depend on Obama growing a pair.
va
Boehner said something similar, to the effect that Obama determines legislative agenda. I frankly wonder whether Republicans are just too lazy (as well as inept) to try to do anything, and think they’re just going to spend the next two years pointing at an enormous Obama portrait hanging in the House chamber and chanting No, no, no.
JGabriel
@Dennis SGMM:
Mitch McConnell:
Yep, looks like that about sums it up.
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gene108
I hope the Republicans in the House, where appropriation bills originate – like say a bill to extend the debt ceiling – don’t raise the debt ceiling.
I want those bastards to make some hard decisions. If they let us default fine. If they wipe out all non-defense spending, fine.
I want to let shit burn. The biggest mistake the Democrats made was working with President Bush, Jr. to pass TARP and thereby avoid a total collapse of the financial industry and the rest of the economy.
I want to let the dumb bastards, who keep voting the ass-hat Republicans to suffer the consequences of their decisions, without adults in the room to do reasonable things, even if it’s unpopular.
4tehlulz
@Zifnab: I just had this image of Bill Gross walking into the House and just wrecking shit if they tried to default on Treasuries.
It made me smile a little.
Judas Escargot
@mclaren:
They won’t actually force a default, of course, because their Wall Street masters will call ‘em up and scream at them, but threatening default is something they’ll have no problem with.
The mere threat of default might be enough to throw the whole world economy into chaos, past a tipping point.
Who will buy (or value) US-issued bonds once it becomes clear that their value is totally beholden whatever mood Congress might happen to be in that week?
That’s my main fear right now: The GOP believes it can get away with playing chicken on this, but it’s not like they haven’t overestimated their powers/luck before.
4tehlulz
@gene108: Internet revolutionary is revolutionary.
Dennis SGMM
I’d guess that undoing every environmental regulation on the books is high on their wish list. They probably know that they’ll only have two years so enabling their masters to go on a binge of consequence-free strip mining, oil drilling, planting genetically engineered crops as far as the eye can see will have a high priority.
Martin
This is a dynamic system, and one that disfavors the GOP getting it right.
If the GOP reach too far – doing too many things that the tea party wing of the GOP demand, they’re not likely to notice, because who the hell is going to say anything? The key voters in 2012 aren’t part of the media noise. They have their own channels and express their views in places that the GOP can’t see.
If they overreach, they’ll never know it until it’s too late. That’s the problem with Fox News – they paper over the problems, just as they did from 2000-2008.
So what the GOP does here depends on what they hear. If we (the not-Fox News demographic) can find a way to tell them that they’re fucking up then they’ll back off and not do some of this crazy shit. They aren’t stupid about electoral calculus. But if all that happens is the Fox News echo machine, well, it’s going to be a really insane 2 years.
Pennsylvanian
These are republicans. Either/Or? Why not both?
MTiffany
I think the Repugs are too smart to even allow a failed vote on the debt ceiling. A failed vote would spook global markets so much it would hobble the non-recovery recovery so badly the fickle, impatient, and above all else, entitled America electorate would vote the Dems back into power in the House in 2012.
Catsy
@Dennis SGMM:
This. Take a close look at who’s in line for which committe assignments.
The Republicans know they can’t get HCR repeal through the Senate, let alone Obama. They know they can’t pass anything that Obama will veto. They have no intention on making good on the more insane policy prescriptions of their teabagger base, such as dismantling the EPA or DOE.
What they have, now, is subpoena power. And they will use it. How can they not? They’ve been foaming at the mouth for the last four years, raging over their own impotence and Obama’s soshulist destruction of Real Murka. Now that they have a little power again, they’re going to use every bit of it they can in order to try to destroy the uppity president.
I’m actually looking forward to it. Let their freak flag fly. Shut down government again–that worked really well the last time. Bring on the impeachment hearings over Obama’s birth certificate, and the Black Panther voter suppression horseshit. It will go nowhere and accomplish nothing except making independents and moderates go WTF.
The harder they go full metal teabagger, the harder they’ll fall in 2012. They’re going to get annihilated. The main question is how badly, and a lot of that depends on how batshit wingnut they go in the next few years. I’ll deal with a couple years of teabaggers impotently turning the House into a room full of monkeys flinging poo, if that means the electorate gets a good hard look at exactly what they just voted for.
The worst possible outcome is that the old-guard GOPers put a muzzle on the crazy and just refuse to do anything. Then they might have a chance of spinning a web of bullshit about how it’s Obama’s fault that the economy hasn’t improved.
gene108
@va: That’s the plan, in my opinion.
Force Obama to push an agenda and fight like hell to undo it, thereby making him look weaker and more ineffective, thereby achieving their goal of making him a one-term President.
As long as the Democrats have the White House, Republicans can’t undo whatever benefits Americans now enjoy because of the 111th Congress.
If they can get the White House in 2012, they can repeal HCR, since the exchanges won’t go into effect until 2014, which is when people will see the benefits of the plan.
Michael
This is going to be cool.
Shorter Cantor:
Kapo cocksucker.
JGabriel
@MTiffany:
A-heh.
Heh-heh-heh.
Hee-hee-hee-haw-haw-haw.
BWAHAHAHAHAHA.
Oh, my, that’s just … AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
Sorry, I just can’t stop …
Oh HOHOHOHOH HAHAHAHA BWHAHAHA HEE-HEE-HEE …
.
jl
@gene108: Looks like the lesson they learned from Gingrich’s attempt in the 90s was that they were not obstructive and absolutist enough. I think they R doing it rong, and will find out at the next election (assuming the Democrats do not mess up worse than this Congress’ GOP, which is a tall order even for them).
Next two years will be rough though.
I am not sure they want to repeal all of the HCR, since some of the consumer benefits have already started, such as no preexisting conditions exclusions for kids, and children can stay on their parents insurance until age 26. When confronted with the fact that some benefits have already started, from what clips I saw, and quote I read, suggest they will try to keep new benefits that will have popular support and repeal the rest. But that will not result in a viable insurance system.
Not sure they really have a plan that will work.
Anyone know if any GOPer has given details of what they mean by ‘repeal’?
edit: and no lifetime cap on benefits, I think that has started too, though the number of people aware of this point through direct experience, will be so small that it may not matter. Most parents will be at least somewhat aware of the implications of any GOP total repeal for their kids though, I would think.
JGabriel
@gene108:
Which would have made the economy worse, and which the GOP would have successfully blamed on Democrats and Obama, just like they successfully blamed us for TARP.
In other words, it would have left the economy in worse shape, while leaving Dems in the same political position and an even worse mess to clean up. There’s no upside there.
What we needed was a much bigger stimulus, about 40% bigger than we got, with less emphasis on tax relief and more on infrastructure.
.
Peter J
A bit OT, but I got reminded that Cantor is the only non christian republican member of congress…
The 2010 election makes the congress,
more white, more male, and more christian.After the 2006 election there were five republicans in congress who were jews, after 2008, one. Despite the republican wave, there isn’t one new republican member of congress who isn’t a christian.
But, thanks to the republican wave, for the first time since 1978 there will be a decrease in the number of female members of congress.
Edit: Strike more white.
Paris
Cantor claims we can’t end the tax holiday on the rich while we’re in a recession. The recession has been declared to be over so what is his position on ending the tax holiday if we’re no longer in a recession?
Zandar
As I said yesterday, there’s no way the investor class will allow Eric Cantor’s little underpants gnomes to blow up the bond market with a debt ceiling default.
Redshift
@gene108: I agree; I think a lot of people missed the context of McConnell’s comment about “our highest priority is to make sure Obama is a one-term president.” The context is that every president for the past century who has lost Congress in the mid-terms has been re-elected. This happens (from what I’ve read) because the newly elected opposition Congress thinks they have a mandate and tries to pass as much as possible of their agenda. This reminds all those swing voters of what they don’t want, and the consequences of their knee-jerk vote against the people in power when things aren’t so good.
Since McConnell isn’t stupid (like Cantor), this means that he wants to continue to do nothing but obstruct for another two years. The only question of whether the teabagger base will let them. Unfortunately, since the teabaggers aren’t a real grassroots movement, this really means whether Fox, Armey, and DeMint will instruct the ignorati let them.
gene108
@Catsy:
I disagree.
The Republicans do one thing well and that is make sure their base is fired up. The low information voters, which make up most independents and undecided voters, just glance at headlines and make quick decisions based on the noise that’s gurgling from the right-wing noise machine and Congress.
Bogging President Clinton down in investigations that had nothing to do with what he was doing as President worked well for Republicans and I don’t see any changes in America, where it wouldn’t work well again.
Whitewater was a then nearly 20 year old bad business deal.
But the Republicans and right-wing media kept it front and center and no low info voter ever said, “WTF does this have to do with him being President, this irresponsible muckraking about his past just undermines his ability to be President,”, the low info voters just decided President Clinton was corrupt.
Plus, the Pelosi House started subpoenaing the Bush White House, so why shouldn’t the Boehner House do the same to the Obama White House?
Again low info voters aren’t going to differentiate between lying to get us into Iraq versus say Obama’s ties to black liberation theology. An investigation is an investigation and it’s all for political gain and doesn’t have any meaning in changing business as usual in Washington, D.C.
Liberals have decided to stay home for the foreseeable future, since Obama is a corporatist whore, who has managed to not only sell his soul to Wall Street but has Wall Street hating his guts, at the same time.
Every investigation will just get the Republicans more fired up. Any change that’s coming is going to be to push the Republicans more to the right, by getting rid of fake Republicans, like Lindsey Graham for true Republicans like Jim DeMint clones. I’ve read enough posts on other blogs, to make confident that the “vote the bums out” 2012 sentiment is going to push things more the right.
I don’t see the Democrats being able to do anything to re-engage the liberals to counter the right-wing frenzy that’s coming in 2012.
Plus, even in good times, the Democrats aren’t comfortable in trying to play up to the liberal base. I don’t see the Democrats tacking left, in response to the last election, which will just frustrate the liberal base even more.
In short, we’re screwed.
catclub
There is an Arms control treaty that has been submitted to the Senate for ratification. Ratification takes a two thirds vote. Since it does not mean actual default on US treasury bonds to reject it, I predict it will be rejected.
It only means that there will be no more arms control treaties, and Jon Kyl still knows nothing about arms control treaties –
He thought that while we dither, our inspection teams stay in place with no arms control treaty in place.
I will also predict that there will be blackmail along the lines of including various poison pills in the debt re-authorization and daring Obama to veto. Also those poison pills will show up one day before default.
Just Some Fuckhead
@jacy:
773 days, or 555 business days.
JGabriel
@Catsy:
I’d say there’s a 50% chance of impeachment, but this is the other option: what Catsy says, plus daily accusations that whatever Obama is doing is an impeachable offense, with the excuse that the only reason Republicans aren’t taking action because they know it will never get through a majority Democratic Senate.
.
gene108
@JGabriel: No, I think it’d would’ve gotten us to really make Bush, Jr. as toxic as Hoover, whereby people would be more willing to look for an alternative to Bush & Co. and a real alternative to the past 30 years.
The Democrats successful ran against Bush & Co. in 2008. If things were worse, they could’ve ran even harder against him and the Republicans.
catclub
@Paris:
“Cantor claims we can’t end the tax holiday on the rich while we’re in a recession. The recession has been declared to be over so what is his position on ending the tax holiday if we’re no longer in a recession?”
I noticed that too.
gene108
@catclub: I think you are right.
Linda Featheringill
@Michael:
Ouch!
[Which does not mean that I disagree.]
Tony J
Except, judging by how the electorate responded to the last two years of Republicans going all-out to sabotage an economic recovery by voting Republican in order to punish the Democrats for not providing an economic recovery, that’s not what will happen.
What probably will happen is that the MSM will feed the electorate a steady diet of “Gridlock in Washington” and “Obama Investigations Intensify – What Is He Hiding?” storylines portraying Republican poo-flinging as the perfectly understandable and not-at-all out of the ordinary result of the Democrats refusing to compromise, then segue into Election Mode where a politically-uninterested but pissed off electorate will be told that the only alternative to another four years of gridlock and scandal is the election of a ‘moderate conservative’ who can bridge the gap between the two Parties. That person being whoever the Republicans nominate in 2011.
Shorter me: What makes you think the MSM is going to stop lying to the electorate about what Republicans are actually doing?
JGabriel
gene108:
Maybe, but that seem unlikely to me. The stock market crashed in 1929, and people lived with a depression economy for three years under Hoover.
No matter how bad the 2008 crash, America only lived it under Bush for four months, and with the consequences of it for two years under Obama.
So, if the economy had crashed earlier, say 2005, your scenario might hold. Crashing it harder in 2008 would have made a bigger mess for Democrats to clean up, but most voters would still associate it with Obama instead of Bush, because Obama still would have been president for the majority of the consequences.
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catclub
@jl:
“I guess, best thing to do is make sure you have an emergency fund that will help you make through next two years. I will remember to juice mine up over next couple of months. ”
Where ( actually into what commodity) does one put an emergency fund if the entire financial system shits itself?
Remember when a few money market funds broke the buck for what – a few hours or days? Now imagine that all money market funds ‘cannot honor redemptions on a timely basis’?
Do you think that might have some repercussions on simple bank accounts?
Now tell me about your emergency fund.
Just Some Fuckhead
@Dennis SGMM:
I can’t be the only one interested to find out how Obama’s pen1s compares to Clinton’s.
Michael
What I find interesting is that in a time when the staid corporations and the wealthy are awash in liquidity, there has been no hiring going on.
How many here think that those who have enough resources where there’s nothing to lose and the most to gain have been intentionally ratfucking the economy just so they can put one of their own into power again?
jl
@catclub: that was an attempt at snark, unless you count my collection of non hybrid seeds I bought from the guy on Beck’s show.
Tom Levenson
@aimai: This.
JGabriel
@Michael:
I believe in the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy as much as the next sociaIist, but that theory doesn’t really hold water.
The corporations aren’t hiring because there isn’t a growing market for their goods. If there were, they would hire — politics be damned. They are much more interested in making money than ideology.
Of course, the reason the market isn’t growing is ultimately due to the corporate love for deregulation. Lower regulation means lower costs.
At a micro level, where corporations compete, they get to keep more of the profit when there is no regulation of wages, benefits, worker and product safety, etc. And they refuse to see, or acknowledge, that at a macro level, when everyone below the top 5% is making less, they’re starving their own markets.
So the fact that they aren’t hiring is not due to the VRWC; it’s due to ideological short-sightedness creating a collapse in business opportunities because of macro-economic consequences to their micro-economic world-view.
And since the corporate masters are still way more comfortable than the next guy — there[s a recession after all — they have no incentive to change their world-view. There is no change in their relative status, they’re just not making as much money and can’t see, or won’t admit, that it’s their own damn fault.
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catclub
@JGabriel:
The Ford Motor model of paying employees enough to become customers was clearly a failure. The real solution is to have employees at starvation wages building yachts.
jl: got me on the snark.
Linda Featheringill
@Michael:
I don’t know but that does drift across my consciousness from time to time.
Bill Arnold
@JGabriel:
I’ve tried pretty generously and hard, and still find Mitch McConnell’s “one term president” comments to be a very stretched interpretation his Senate oath of office.
He appears to saying that it OK to do everything in his power to prevent the reelection of the president, that even if this involves damaging the country in the short term, the damage will be repaired by a subsequent one-party (&Republican) government. Are their other interpretations that are more reasonable?
Cermet
@mclaren: Get pass the Senate? First, the issue is the House and there is zero chance any number of democrats would join in – they need 2/3’s the House to even start so that line is DOA
cleek
i think we’re see an official House Resolution apologizing to BP, now that Mr Sorry is head of the House Energy Committee.
Ross Hershberger
@cleek:
And maybe a nice tax cut would soothe their wounded fee-fees.
I can’t believe that jacka$$ is going to head the Energy Committee. It’s getting more like a bad movie every day.
Catsy
@gene108:
Uh, what? You and I have a very different memory of the 90’s. I recall the GOP losing seats in the House in 1998 (but retaining a narrow majority), in no small part due to the unpopular government shutdown and the fact that the Republicans tried to make the elections a referendum on Clinton’s morality and fitness for office. That was a failing strategy: the vast majority of voters opposed Clinton’s impeachment and resented the GOP’s muckraking, a fact borne out both by polls and by the results of the next two Congressional elections.
In 2000, after two more years of doubling down on this act, the GOP lost even more seats in both the House and the Senate. Hell, they lost the election for the presidency too, the subsequent actions of the SCOTUS notwithstanding.
This is simply untrue. “WTF does this have to do with him being President” was exactly the response of the average American. The vast majority of voters–in pretty much ever poll ever taken on the subject–opposed the impeachment and thought the GOP’s antics were a waste of time. And as I pointed out above, they paid a political price for it in the two elections that followed, elections in which they consistently lost seats.
Please support this bizarre assertion that the unhinged attacks on President Clinton “worked well” for the GOP. It was a disaster for them in every way other than the degree to which they were able to hinder him from getting anything done by creating a wall of noise.
JohnR
@Maude:
So what? Since everybody* knows that it will be Obama’s fault, who cares what he says?
Consequences? That won’t be our problem! The American People will demand a Strong Leader to Restore Order if/when things go belly-up. Guess what party that Leader will come from!
(*) that listens to, watches, or reads the news
We’re not simply shuffling towards fascism, we’re boldly marching around the corner, arms already up.
JGabriel
@Bill Arnold:
That McConnell is a power-hungry asshole who wants single-party (Republican) dictatorship (for the good of the country!) instead of a two-party democracy?
Oh, wait, that’s the same thing.
.
Bill Arnold
@Cermet:
Impeachment is by simple majority in the House. At least according to wikipedia