The Debt Ceiling "crisis" demonstrates Republican perfidy

President Biden got through the Terrorist Republican hostage debt ceiling attack and secured a very good government funding bill for the next two fiscal years.

Oh, was the Corporate Media thwarted again.  They were licking their chops at running their favorite story; Both Sides Do It... but the Democrats are Worse!, instead Joe Biden did it again!  He played a nice hand of Poker and didn't give the Corporate Media what they so desperately yearn for, statements from the Democratic President which they and their Republican co-conspirators can use to Deny Reality. 

Then, as the fragile vote in the Fascist controlled House and Sinema Manchin controlled Senate came up, Joe Biden took a pratfall to distract the Rightwing zombie internet. Classic and effective. 

If the Hostage situation of the Debt Ceiling Crisis had became a full-blown default while crashing the US Economy, then the Corporate Media would have run with what a shocking lack of leadership this was by the President.  If President Biden had played the too cute game of 14th Amendment saying we pay debts and ignored the Republican Terrorists then the Corporate Media would have run with President Biden has caused a Constitutional Crisis Certainly, the Republican House would have gotten some blame but, they would have been excused by "Journalists" because everyone knows The Republicans are crazy, have no interest in governing, and exist to throw tantrums on TV while flinging shit everywhere.

"Hell no. Not a chance,"  Republican Congressman Garret Graves tells reporters He that will not work shall not eat.  There is nothing meaner nor less charitable than a Republican christian.

The Big Open Secret, the unspoken reality plaguing American politics is Republicans are the Party of destruction and making government unworkable, untenable, and unresponsive to regular Americans.  This encapsulates their entire ideology; by simply making government functions accessible to only a certain class of people they ensure that conservatives immediately dismiss any Governmental action no matter how anodyne as "Socialism".

Look... "Politics" is an unfair game.  Democratic leaders, especially Presidents and Speakers, are expected to be the adults while Republicans get too say all manner of psychotic, vile, hateful, batshit crazy things which elicit not but a chuckle from the irresponsible American press corps.  This is nothing new; Michele Bachmann and Steve King were allowed to be bigoted, mean and hateful while President Obama had the extra burden of not being the scary black man.  Major Traitor Greene and Jim Jordan get too say all manner of evidence free lies and racist conspiracies and allege all manner of crimes against President Biden and his family. 

The Corporate Media is paid to pretend Republicans argue in good faith and Republican proposals are an honest reflection of limited government and that Republicans truly believe their plans are the right path for the Nation.

Fundamentally, a functioning US government is a detriment to the Republicans.  Or to be more precise Republicans want a government which works for Harlan Crow and drowns everyone else in a bathtub.

This is one of the main salients in the slow moving Coup Republicans launched 50 years ago.  This is what the Powell Memo laid out as Conservatives sought to remake the Democratic Republic into a Neo-Confederate Corporate controlled Wage Slave Nation-State.  Republicans want a Nation that pretends to be free, pretends to offer Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness but is, in fact, a Fascist One Party Apartheid Country.

Republicans hate you.  Republicans want you to suffer and, if necessary, die.  We, the people see this clearly with Republican gun policy.  We, the people see this clearly with the fanatical opposition to "Obamacare".  We, the people see this clearly with the tyrannical push to ban all care for anyone who identifies as Queer.  We, the people see this clearly with the Republican devotion to undermining safety regulations on trains for instance or with the removal and neutering of environmental protections.  We, the people see this clearly especially with the push to restrict women's reproductive rights and choices.

Uundermining the government being an "outsider" denigrating "career politicicans" has been a winning elecotral strategy for over 40 years now.  This is the natural evolution of Republicans rhetoric as it descends from Ronnie Raygun's infamous 9 words, I'm from the government and I'm here to help. 

Of course Republicans wanted the debt ceiling to crash the economy. Of fucking course Republicans will gladly grind Government to a halt. Of fucking course Republicans will undermine the United States.  Doing so plays into their rhetoric.  Blame Joe Biden.  Blame Joe Biden.  Blame Joe Biden.  Just listen... I'm sure you can hear cavewoman Major Traitor Greene's terrible southern accent a-blamin' and a-impeachin' Joe Biden over debt default.

Republicans were gleeful at the prospect of Americanfailure.  They are openly bragging about this, Rape-publican Matt Gaetz said:

“I think my conservative colleagues for the most part support Limit, Save, Grow, & they don’t feel like we should negotiate with our hostage.”

Oh, you say Trump and his family were engaged in a criminal conspiracy and robbed the Nation well Gym Jordan, Pudge Comer, Major Traitor Greene say its the Biden Crime Family! And Eli Crane proved the Chinese paid Joe Biden millions of dollars to allow Chinese spy balloons fly over the Homeland!

Flood the Zone with shit because eventually Normie society will get tired of the Rightwing outrage throw their hands up and say fine you run the government.

Sowing discord, undercutting faith in US institutions,  hamstringing the administrative bureaucracy, slashing meager government assistance all serve to Republican agenda, of returning the US to its idyllic roots; a genocidal slave state in which women, minorities, and others lived at the whims white male Christian patriarchs.

Well known thief Bruce Rauner tries to steal a $400 million from Teacher's Pensions

Governor Bruce Rauner made an attempt to swindle a $400 million from the TRS pension system. Currently, the TRS is funded by member contributions, investment dividends, and state controbutions. If investment returns don't perform up to expecrations the State of Illinois has to make up the difference by law. Accutarial scientists have advised revising the rate of return downward from 7.5% to 7%. The TRS board was set to accept the accutarial change, which according to the Chicago Tribune would mean;

If the board voted for the 7 percent figure, state government would be on the hook to make up the difference, estimated to cost an extra $400 million to $500 million a year, an expense that would come due starting in July. The governor and lawmakers would have to find that extra money, worsening a state budget that's already in free fall amid a budget impasse that's lasted more than a year. 

If the board voted for the 7.5 percent figure, the state would not have had to pay all of that extra money right away. But if investments failed to hit the benchmark, the shortfall would have been tacked on to the pension fund's $65 billion debt. Taxpayers would be hit either way; the question was whether it would be in the short term or long term.

So, Rauner's "solution" was to request the TRS board delay. Just like every other Illinois Governor,  Rauner wanted to kick the can down the road. Because delay long enough and when the bill comes due, Rauner knows he won't be in office and it'll be someone else's problem.

It's ironic and sick to see Rauner mess around with the TRS pensions. Rauner's fortune, he once I'm refered to himself as the 1% of the 1%, came from clipping money from the TRS pension system. Rauner's hedge fund GTCR "managed" the TRS pension for two decades. Consequently, he managed to amass billions of dollars by taking some of the pension money for himself, while the pension itself has been "nickeled and dimed" and has been pushed into debt.

Of course, Bruce Rauner doesn't care. Rauner got rich off of other people's labor. Rauner is a Rentier, he doesn't make money from producing anything, or from refining an existing product, or from inventing a new device, or from discovering something. No, Rauner's money comes from charging rent, extracting fees, and siphoning off of other people's money. 

Republicans Use Debt as a Weapon (Updated)

"We are enslaving future generations, our children and grandchildren to debt that we are irresponsibly putting on their credit card," Arkansas State Senator Terry Rice said, arguing that accepting federal funding as part of the expansion would add to the national debt.

Update:
Time Magazine has dutifully put out the right-wing Fear the Debt by claiming every American owes $43,000. Over at Lawyers, Guns, and Money the correctly identifies why Time has done this, in the post The Real Motivation of the Pain Caucus

Time Magazine made the smart decision to put its dumb cover story about the national debt behind a paywall. The premise — the national debt is like household debt and should be considered as if it’s apportioned equally to every U.S. resident — is stupid on its face. But Matt O’Brien has read the thing because nobody else will, and it’s even worse than its premise. When you’re considering a flat tax, it’s not because you care about the national debt, it’s because you think wealth needs to be massively redistributed upwards, with the debt as the tissue-thin pretext.

From time to time Republicans trot out Fix The Debt but, like the 3-card Monte Dealers they are, Republicans never worry about debt when they are in charge of Government. Debt is a shell game Republicons use to distract their duped drones in order to continue their plans of slashing the social safety net and transferring Trillions of Dollars of future Americans Wealth upwards to their Plutocratic Masters.

This is not a new weapon but, like all the Moldy Chestnuts/ Zombie Lies the Republicons promulgate, a new batch of vicious conservatives emerges to pick up the torch to burn the Social Contract.

Back in 2010 as President Obama submitted his plan to help the country escape the Republicon Recession of 2007, the House GOP got together and trotted out the same old sky is falling, Fix The Debt chicanery,

These unsustainable debt and deficit burdens were not imposed upon us by some outside force, they are created by the choice to grow the federal government and spend at unprecedented levels.
Reflecting on his own coming of age in a time of economic turmoil, Ronald Reagan said, “To be young in my generation was to feel that your future had been mortgaged out from under you, and that's a tragic mistake we must never allow our leaders to make again.”
Today, our leaders are again making the tragic choice to mortgage our children’s future.  But there is an alternative, and over the next two days we will share with you how controlling spending, reforming our social safety net programs and lifting the crushing burden of debt will spur job creation and put us back on a sustainable fiscal and economic path.

Invoking the rotted corpse of Zombie Reagan and his Voodoo Economics is a given but, always worth laughing at, since Ronnie Raygun and Daddy Bush ran up $4 Trillion dollars of National Debt in the 1980's, which famously hamstrung President Bill Clinton, and along with the 1994 Republicon Contract on America gave us the worst elements of the Clinton Economy; i.e. The Budget Surplus.

When the Republicons stole the 2000 election, they made their first order to run the deficits back up, steal the Surplus, and pile more Debt upon the American People. Shadow President Dick Cheney in 2002 observed, "Reagan proved deficits don't matter."

Of course, by 2010, Jeb??? Henserling and Paul90X Ryan conveniently left out wherein they and the Republicon Party ran up Trillions in Debt with their foolish and callous taxcut-and-spending and military adventurism. Most dramatically illustrated by the 5 Trillion dollars of debt the Republicons added to National Deficit with their criminal misadventure in Iraq, the open-ended burden treating our wounded Veterans and their families will cost in the next 25-50 years under the dunder-headed leadership of W(orst POTUS in History) and the evil, criminal agenda of War Criminal Shadow President Cheney.

But, Republicons never take responsibility for their actions, they Just Do and let future generations sort out the mess. "We're an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality," - Karl Rove.

Thus, when Republicons are in power massive deficit spending is undertaken usually focused on the military and overseas adventurism, but when the Democratic Party is elected to the Congress or Presidency Fixing the Debt! and slashing Spending for the Social Safety Net becomes the only thing a responsible government can do. 

It derailed President Obama during his struggle with the Domestic Terrorists in the Republicon Party. The vicious use of Fix the Debt! to crush the American People was vividly illustrated by Paul90X Ryan's Path to Penury budget during the 2012 election, correctly called Ludicrous and Cruel by Paul Krugman. Of course, as with every action by the Republicon Party the Fix the Debt rhetoric serves their overarching agenda of stealing Social Security, defunding Medicare, and transferring wealth up their Plutocratic Owners, the 1%. It's the raison d'etre for the modern Republicans.

Much of this is predicated upon the fact that the holders of debt are always incredibly wealthy members of the 1%. "Some people call you the elites... I call you my base," - W(orst) addressing his Moneyed Masters.

As such, according to Republican Orthodoxy, Debt Holders must be made whole before the business of government can continue. If this means using the IMF to extract blood money from impoverished Nations to Vulture Capitalists who buy up their debt on the global market, fine. If it means bailing out Casino Hedge Fund Managers who made bad bet upon bad bet in the rigged housing market, building up towers upon foundations of shit until the whole edifice collapsed then so be it.

The Rich need always to be made whole and the Republicons stalk and slice up the Poor and Working Class in order to accomplish it. This is what the Republicons always do when they assume office. Ronnie Raygun's massive deficit spending, W(orst)'s blundering and destabilizing of the Middle East, and his scheme to swindle Social Security right before the Republican Recession of 2007 are designed to build up massive levels of Debt which the Republicans fully intend to extract from the American People.

Student Debt Slavery No Bankers Left Behind

The federal Loan Rate for approximately 7 million Students doubled on Monday. Federal law has set the rate for new subsidized Stafford loans at 6.8 percent, up from 3.4 percent.

We are living in an Ultra-Reactionary Time when the Ruling Class doesn't just want to reassert the Dominance of Neo-Feudal Capitalism but crush the hopes of the Working Class and Middle Class.

So of course Congress didn't do anything about the Student Loan Rate. With a few exceptions Senators Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders being the two loudest proponents, the Ultra- Reactionary Republican Party and the Pro-Business Democratic Party are enforcing the Neo-Liberal Economic Strategy in an attempt to grind the Middle Class out of existence and return the 99% to the Status of Wage Slavery; Cogs in the Gears of Industry and Massive Debt for a career in the Petty Bourgeoisie.

Of course, it shows the utter hyporcisy of the Free Marketers. The Stafford Loan rate isn't determined by "The Market" but by fiat from the Congress. So, it's just another way in which Capitalism is a rigged game, for the Banking Institutions get their federal loan rate set by the Federal Reserve. It's currently set at 0.75% for Big Predatory Banks.

The Paul Ryan and Republican Budget is a Trojan Horse by a Flaccid Party

“Yes, I’ve found a flaw. I don’t know how significant or permanent it is. But I’ve been very distressed by that fact,” conceeded by former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan.

Paul Ryan's budget has been accurately described as "Social Darwinism". Although I hate the term because the magnificent, venerable and kind Charles Darwin never proscribed any of the political doctrines labeled today as "Social Darwinism" anymore than Jesus proclaimed the Spanish Inquisition during the Sermon on the Mount.

"If it prevents a Debt Crisis..." Congressman Paul Ryan began when asked by the loving Corporate Media about his Path to Penury. However, Ryan's Budget doesn't address the Debt but immediately goes to cut taxes on the 1% and Corporations. And how do "we" pay for the estimated $4.6 Trillion in Tax Cuts for the Super Wealthy? Why by eliminating any Government function which aids or helps the poor, sick and old.

- In order, to pay for lowering the tax rates to 10% and 25%, those making less than $100,000 will pay a higher effective rate than they do today. While the "average" millionaire will see a tax cut of roughly $150,000 plus.

- According to the CBO, 17 million people who gained Medicaid and CHIP coverage, thanks to Obamacare, would lose that coverage as a result of Ryan Plan of repealing the Affordable Care Act.

- It cuts a total of $1.7 trillion from Medicaid over the next decade, and according to CBO, is on track to cut the program by 75% by 2050.

- Reduces Pell Grants by more than $1,000 for 9.6 million students in 2014 and could eliminate Pell Grants for over one million students over the next decade.

- Kicks 60,000 low-income children out of the Head Start program in 2013 and 200,000 low-income children out of the program each year over the next decade.

- Cuts funding for Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.

- Cuts the WIC program, Special Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program for Women, Infants, and Children, Each year over the next decade, the cuts would kick 1.8 million women, infants, and children off the WIC program.

[More information can be found at: A Choice of Two Futures: A Look at How the Republican Budget Ends Medicare, Destroys Jobs, Benefits the Wealthy]

"You know that budget was a joke, doesn’t balance the budget for years,” Republican Congressman and Senate candidate Connie Mack stated of the Ryan budget plan during a weekend Orlando Tea Party forum. Mack, who missed the vote in Washington last week while he was fundraising in Florida for a Senate run, later said through a spokesman that he would have voted for it anyway.

But, Mack is correct that the Ryan is a joke because any plan which doesn't address and slash the outrageous Military spending is doomed to fail or a dishonest doublespeak sham. And no Republican Budget would be complete without Orwellian Language. A section is titled "Repairing the Social Safety Net", by which Ryan and his 1% Masters mean the Safety Net's destruction because destroying Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid "repairs" them for the 1%.

As James Surowiecki notes in The New Yorker,

The Budget is, as many have said, an act of political theatre, a way for Republicans to demonstrate what they stand for.

And what do the Republicans stand for? Wars and the very, very Rich.

It's obvious Paul Ryan and the Republicans are going to be promoting these Reverse Robin Hood plans every year. Back in 2011, Paul Ryan's Deathcare passed in the U.S. House because 235 of 240 Republicans voted for it. 40 of 45 Republican Senators voted for the Paul Ryan Deathcare Budget, Rand Paul voted in opposition but only because the Ryan spending cuts did not go far enough. Fortunately, it was defeated.

The Government isn't bankrupt and isn't bankrupting you. But, a Government enthralled to the 1% is already morally bankrupt and will seek to drive you into wage slavery at their Plutocratic Masters. And the rapacious never satisfied Wall Street, Banking Conglomertates, Oil Industries and DoD Contractors are the biggest receivers of U.S. Government monies. By Far. We're talking 10 Trillion Dollars over the last decade at least. There is your deficit and your debt. Languishing in the bank accounts of Warmongers having been sifted through the deserts of Iraq, HOA and Afghanistan.

What the Ryan Budget stands for, and what 99% of the Republicans in the U.S. government will vote for, is a shackled Government bonded to do the work of the Thieves, Vultures and Murderers of Wall Street. Once the Republicans have the Government shackled those shackles will be fastened onto you, too.

Related:
The Resurrection and Immaculate Deception of Paul Ryan by PERRspectives.

Call it Ryan's Book of Non-Revelations. And the result is a fiscal Armageddon. Of course, by now Paul Ryan's economic apostasy is Republican orthodoxy. The only surprise is that it took so long: in the world according to the GOP (if no one else), tax cuts magically pay for themselves and enable so-called "job creators." Three years after he first brought them The Good News, the GOP faithful have embraced Paul Ryan's cruel vision, if not the meek and the least of these.

Ryan, Obama, and Deficits by Paul Krugman.

The Closer: The Ryan proposal would lead to bigger, repeat bigger, deficits than the Obama proposal.