The Republican leadership joins with Democrats to pass a debt limit extension.
The Republican leadership joins with Democrats to pass a debt limit extension.
Current Speaker of the House John Boehner pushed through a clean debt limit bill on Tuesday that gives the White House unlimited borrowing power for the next year. Only 28 Republicans – mostly allies of Boehner – voted for the bill while 199 Republicans opposed it.
To me, this extension is a disaster, as it appears to give Obama a blank check. The silver lining is that the Republican Party, minus its cowardly leaders, appears increasingly more unified behind stronger actions against spending. After the November election that trend should certainly continue.
If it doesn’t, bankruptcy is sure to follow.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The print edition can be purchased at Amazon or from any other book seller. If you want an autographed copy the price is $60 for the hardback and $45 for the paperback, plus $8 shipping for each. Go here for purchasing details. The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
The Republican leadership joins with Democrats to pass a debt limit extension.
Current Speaker of the House John Boehner pushed through a clean debt limit bill on Tuesday that gives the White House unlimited borrowing power for the next year. Only 28 Republicans – mostly allies of Boehner – voted for the bill while 199 Republicans opposed it.
To me, this extension is a disaster, as it appears to give Obama a blank check. The silver lining is that the Republican Party, minus its cowardly leaders, appears increasingly more unified behind stronger actions against spending. After the November election that trend should certainly continue.
If it doesn’t, bankruptcy is sure to follow.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The print edition can be purchased at Amazon or from any other book seller. If you want an autographed copy the price is $60 for the hardback and $45 for the paperback, plus $8 shipping for each. Go here for purchasing details. The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
I certainly agree an unlimited debt ceiling makes no sense.
It should be limited to what was agreed in the budget (plus 10% perhaps). [What goes on in the mind of Boehner(a very limited professional politician) is probably beyond comprehension.]
I would guess that the “Fed” and treasury dept use this opportunity to somehow(and quietly) increase borrowed “reserves” beyond budget requirements, and the Congress will pass “supplemental bills” to take advantage of this windfall.
It will be educational to see what the true added debt is one year from now. The passed budget requires ~1.1 trillion borrowing.
But, I must disagree that rank and file republicans really want to reduce government spending. Republicans voted for the sequester’d budget option, and it was working in actually limiting government spending; but now that it bites into pentagon contracter profits and jobs, never mind about that debt crisis rhetoric… this is the Republican style Keynsian “shovel ready” stimulus program, overwhelmingly approved by the rank and file. This reveals the true level of commitment of the current republican congress.
You (and I!) hope for a change after Nov., but a majority of voters in this country want a government guaranteed(or supplemented) free life–at someone elses expense, of course. Single mother births followed usually by welfare and disfunctional lifes; foodstamp disbursements; structural unemployment; the destruction of middle class business creation by onerous government and bureauocratic mandates, requirements and taxes; and the enormous public dept to pay for these expanding entitlements, are at historically high levels and increasing. It seems to be the inevitable end of most mature democracies. A country is only as great as its people, and we are not a great people or a great country anymore….and this will not change in november, regretably, regardless of the election outcomes.
As pertaining to my previous comment…
The following message was making the rounds of emails last year.
It may not be absolutely true, but it has much to commend:
“A democracy is always temporary in nature; it simply cannot exist as
a permanent form of government. A democracy will continue to exist
up until the time that voters discover that they can vote themselves
generous gifts from the public treasury. From that moment on, the
majority always votes for the candidates who promise the most benefits from
the public treasury, with the result that every democracy will finally
collapse over loose fiscal policy, (which is) always followed by a dictatorship.”
“The average age of the world’s greatest civilizations from the beginning of history, has been about 200 years. During those 200 years, these nations always progressed through the following sequence:
From bondage to spiritual faith; From spiritual faith to great courage; From courage to liberty; From liberty to abundance; From abundance to complacency; From complacency to apathy; from apathy to dependence; From dependence back into bondage.”
Hoping for Congressional leaders who will fight for reduction in federal spending and authority. Results from 2010 not an encouragement. I am sure the previous commentor is correct – that most people want a concierge form of government. What elected leader wants to fight to take the lollipop out of his constituent’s hands then return home only to be condemned rather than feited as the minor hero they all believe themselves to be?