The debt ceiling blackmail/extortion/hostage situation from the Retard Right is a perfect example. From Katrina vanden Heuvel:
In short, we would be thrown back deep into economic turmoil — only this time with even fewer tools to crawl our way out.
In theory, this is unthinkable, and it will be remedied by reasonable political parties making reasonable concessions across the negotiating table. But Republicans have been negotiating in bad faith, unwilling to compromise even an inch on their extremist and absolutist positions. Some are no longer willing to come to the table at all.
With that backdrop, President Obama may find that there is only one course left to avoid a global economic calamity: Invoke Section 4 of the 14th Amendment, which says that “the validity of the public debt of the United States … shall not be questioned.” This constitutional option is one that the president alone may exercise.
Here's the, you should pardon the pun, money shot from the 14th Amendment. I find it ironical that this was put in to protect the Treasury from the South:
Section 4. The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned. But neither the United States nor any State shall assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or any claim for the loss or emancipation of any slave; but all such debts, obligations and claims shall be held illegal and void.
A little further explanation:
Section 4 confirmed the legitimacy of all United States public debt legislated by the Congress. It also confirmed that neither the United States nor any state would pay for the loss of slaves or debts that had been incurred by the Confederacy. For example, several English and French banks had lent money to the South during the war.[47] In Perry v. United States (1935), the Supreme Court ruled that under Section 4 voiding a United States government bond "went beyond the congressional power".
I think the Prez oughta do what Ms. vanden Heuvel suggests, both to mitigate this before it actually becomes a problem and before Congress comes to its senses and does it, which it will, and basically tell the Repugs this is no longer in their purview and we can do it very nicely without them, thank you very much, and to tell them they just had one of their powers taken away for being childish ideological assholes and they can shove it up their ass.
Unrelated note: I'm tired of playing "Where's Waldo?" with "http://WW2blogshit.bs". There were 5 of them in this post. What's up with that anyway?
Howdy, boys. Back from a 4.5 day stint in Sin City. If it weren't for coolers and bad beats, I'd be way ahead instead of just having a $100 lead to show for about forty hours of poker.
ReplyDeleteIf teabaggers actually knew what the Constitution said, they'd kick that bonehead Michelle Bachmann in her yanni and run the Republicans out of the country. But the fact is that they get all their info from Murdoch's hired liars.
A hunnert bucks for forty hours. That's what the Repugs would like everybody to make for their labor, less if they could.
ReplyDeleteOh, it was bad. I got my money in good time and again and got sucked out on by donks. Took a 36 hour stretch of so many coolers I can't even remember them all. I got my lead back 24 hours later, then took another string of so-so and bad luck to leave me where I am. I played some freaking excellent poker, too. Had a young pro on my right at Bally's one night during the good stretch and once he realized he had someone who was up to speed on his left, we drained the table together. I only played an hour the and made $300 on top of my $100 buy in. He made about $300 during the same hour. We just stayed out of each others way and made everyone else pay. If he raised a pot, I folded. If I raised a pot, he folded. It was so much fun, if I weren't baked at that time of night I'd have stayed there till it was just him and me and played him heads up for his stack.
ReplyDeleteHey, Froggy; so what was it like when you came home to the "Closed, please call again later" sign on your state? Da fuck goes on up there?
ReplyDeleteThey shut down the day before we left. It doesn't seem very different, but then I got back Wednesday night and I work from home, so I haven't gone out much. It's been a week now and the only direct affect on me is that the place where I play cards is closed because it's at a race track and the state racing commission is, well, out of commission. A lot of people I know at the track are out of work now, so it affects them very directly.
ReplyDeleteI have been writing to my Republican handjob representative since it looked like shutting down. I send him an email every day telling him that I hold him responsible for this and that I talk to my neighbors (and I do) and tell them that he is responsible for even more people being out of work (and he is). He wrote back once and hasn't responded since then.
It's hard for them to respond when they're hiding from their pissed-off constituents under the bed.
ReplyDeleteI owe, I owe, to debters prison I go. We can't manage our money AT ALL! Just keep borrowing from China...
ReplyDelete