Deficits really don't matter. The stock market is tanking, but Treasury bonds are selling great. Our credit is so good that a 10 year bond pays only 2.4% interest per year. So much for S&P's downgrade - as if those stool pigeons had any credibility, anyway. Remember, they're the people who brought us the GFC in the first place.
But the real point here is that Republicans, who claim to worship the Free Market, are ignoring the very clear statement the market is making. Businesses, with all their tax breaks and de-regulations, are a poor bet; America debt is a good bet. This is the classic example of not having a debt problem. Yet Republicans will go on beating the the deficit drum until the instant they take the White House. No surprise there; but why are Americans still listening to these people?
I cannot fathom why the Republican party still has such a strong voice. It makes me want to pull my hair out and I literally have to give myself anger management break days from any media. It has come to a point where a Democratic president is essentially being pegged as ineffectual and weak simply by refusing to allow the American government to default and send our country and the entire world into some unknown depression. WTF? Shouldn't Obama be applauded for his willingness to compromise on his values for the good of the people he was hired to serve? Why is it the "liberal" media reinforces an image of him as weak, when this whole debate could easily be seen as a moral victory, as Mike pointed out in another one of his posts.
ReplyDeleteThe Republican party is devoid of any evidence based governance, yet they get equal voice. Can you imagine if corporations were run the way the Republicans run their share of government. Capitalism would be dead in the water. A business cannot ignore the facts of the market and its customers and still be successful (Just compare the American car industry to the Japanese car industry) yet the GOP does this on a daily basis and they are awarded for it politically. The recent S&P downgrade is being called, by the GOP, Obama's downgrade, when it is clearly a downgrade of political instability. Obama never said, hey guys, let's let the American economy default on its debt if we can't get the GOP to meet our demands. the GOP, on the other hand, did say that, not with some clandestine political maneuvering or anything, they said it bluntly for all to see. Next thing you know, the S&P downgrades our credit rating stating they can not be sure the American political system can be trusted to pay it's debt's, and the GOP is given equal airtime by the media to say it is Obama's fault. Do facts matter so little.
Why are American's still listening to these people? I have no idea, but I am pretty sure the Media has something to do with it. For example, the same week that we were having the budget debacle, Obama struck a deal with the big 3 American auto makers to get them to agree to produce cars with greatly increased gas mileage standards (something in the range of 55 MPG by 2025). Where was the "liberal media" on that one. Oh that's right, they were giving the Tea Party their due air time and attempting to make them look like fiscal heroes. The media has far too strong a power over public opinion! ARRRGGGGGHHHH