Debt Deal Emerges
http://thedianerehmshow.org/shows/2011-08-02/debt-deal-emerges
It’s August 2nd, and lawmakers and the president have until midnight to raise the debt ceiling, or risk default. They’re on track to do so. The House passed the debt limit deal last night. The Senate votes this afternoon. The legislation will enact spending cuts immediately. And a bipartisan commission will consider tax reform and revenue adjustments over the long term. But just because the deal is on track doesn’t mean it’s popular. It faces opposition from both the left and the right, for different reasons. We hear reaction to the emerging debt deal and take a close-up look at its details.
Guests
Susan Page
Washington bureau chief for USA Today.
David Winston
republican strategist and president of the Winston Group, and CBS News consultant. Served as a strategic adviser to House and Senate Republican Leadership for the past 12 years.
Matt Kibbe
president and CEO of FreedomWorks and co-author with former House Majority Leader Dick Armey of the book, "Give Us Liberty: A Tea Party Manifesto."
Katrina vanden Heuvel
editor and publisher of The Nation, writes a weekly column for The Washington Post.
Comments
Please familiarize yourself with our Code of Conduct and Terms of Use before posting your comments.
Diane, I love your show. I am counting on you and your guess to provide us with the real truth... My first impression is the President has thrown us (the middle class) under the bus.... Again!
No need to change your diapers just yet j.t. you can't find the spending cuts with an electron microscope. much to do about nothing!
The adult in the room, the smartest guy in the room, no drama Obama, leading from behind. It seems clear to me that the presidency of Barrack Obama has cast a negative pall over the country that most will come to reject in 2012. No greater damage can be done to an economy than a guy who sucks out all the oxygen from a room and leaves those expecting leadership empty. A strong voice of optimism is needed and we can only hope it is not based on revenge and class warfare.
Hey Monte:
Your comment above is somewhat coherent, to the point, and thoughtful for a change.
Personally agree with very little of it, but Congrats anyway.
It seems to me that perhaps the biggest issues that makes our current Congress and overall Democracy so dysfunctional at present are:
1) Senate majority means absolutely nothing. Because of the profound overuse of the fillibuster in recent years nothing gets accomplished without 61 out of 100 votes. This means in effect even though “in minority” GOP has a majority in the senate. It means currently you need 10 Reps to vote with the Dems to pass anything or to even allow debate of an issue.
2) While in the House, so much gerry mandering has occurred over the years, we’re no longer talking about “representative government”. Because of the demographics of many of these districts, the outcome of high percent of these elections is foregone conclusion.
That’s how we can have a situation where 70% of Americans (and majority of people of both parties) believe the wealthiest among us should be asked to bear a greater percentage of the tax burden and yet their voice is not adequately represented.
And given this situation, it ‘s also not hard to understand why Obama is not able to “lead” and hold sway over congress as well as many Americans would seem to like.
The most important vote in the House was cast by Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords.
She represents the resolve of the United States of America to not only survive adversity but to soar above it.
WELCOME BACK CONGRESSWOMAN GIFFORDS.
But any possibility of representation of the People's interests and a fair economy ended just about the time Congresswoman Giffords was almost assassinateed! The loss of our credit rating means we must pay the financial overlords higher interest on the funds we must borrow to run our government mainly because they refuse to pay their fair share of taxes and fees. Now big Wall Street banks have upped the "taxes" they can collect.
Have you ever wondered how all western democracies can be in hock at the same time. It's a regime change. Here is a new government by financiers and their trade organizations, a near world government, extractive and unreasonable, more inhumane than Chinese authoritarianism.
How many right wing jackpot thinkers will jump on my conspiracy bandwagon? I predict few, because they worship wealth celebrities and believe as soon as they "get their outfit" they can "be a cowboy too."
This is a perfect political victory for the tee party, and I believe this was the strategy all along; to force the senate to vote on the last day possible. This way they can force their will and pass the cuts they want without any tax reform, or they force the senate to vote it down at the last hour and if the country goes into default it is the dems fault, which amounts to a political victory for the reps. Like it on not, you have to admit that this is shrewd politics and well played.
Of course, it is a pathetic statement on the political condition in this country that our so-called leaders are more interested in their own agendas, and the agendas of their corporate masters, than the well-being of the country.
What is to be "cut", eliminated, modified, this is what I want to know. I am sure there are programs that can and need to be changed or dropped , to save money.
But I also understand the reality of the possibility of reaching agreement on what those should be....and that the county will still be borrowing to pay for "obligations" the Congress hasn't taken the responsibility to pay for.
This responsibility is setting taxes to spending. I don't believe anyone enjoys paying taxes, even when in total agreement with all the actions of government ...and who agrees with all government action, programs, regulations, departments, etc...few would be found.
So in the end "any" spending by government needs to be paid for....and borrowing isn't paying. If you think any representative in Congress can responsibly say increases in taxes are not a necessity....who's fooling who?
Of course there is another way of describing this booty slicing. There are the specualtors in metals (gold bugs- conservative) and their are the speculators in bonds (paper bugs-liberal) and this uncertainty is a way of sawing the balance of investment back and forth so that enormous lucrative predictive bets and hedges will pay off. Of course these transactions will never be taxed as long as the people remain clueless. Trades are occurring at the speed of light by computer proxy so taxing would be a good way to slow exhuberence and reap a return. So thanks to investor proxies in Congress and the White House an excellent balance has been achieved where both the gold bugs and the paper bugs can feast on the carcass of American working people.
bpurn Chville VA wrote
"So in the end "any" spending by government needs to be paid for....and borrowing isn't paying. If you think any representative in Congress can responsibly say increases in taxes are not a necessity....who's fooling who?
Not when we have wasted Trillions on these social programs and have more poverty now than before they started. In other words we have nothing to show for the amount we have spent. Of course the Dem/Libs will mention how some of these programs have help the poor,etc. But they could of been done a lot cheaper by the non profits.
Government creates the most waste that we the "Paying Taxpayer" are responsible for. .
The tax system is out of whack because the wealthy have bought a congress and judicial system and lobbyists to keep it that way. However we are not acknowledging the real root of the problem. That is that the same wealthy business interests that have bought our government are systematically selling our economy off for their own profit. The manufacturing sector has been moved to China. Much of the rest has been outsourced to India or insourced to Mexico in the form of illegal alien labor.
Literally millions of good wage taxpayer jobs have been lost. Those same people are now draining the safety net. Until we recognize this fact we are doomed. A tea party nut from Memphis was on CNN critizing Americans because big businesses like GE could make more money by moving its operations to China as if there is something wrong with Americans because we can't afford to live on a chinese wage.
We must demand that if you want to profit from the American market you must employ Americans. Either that you must replace the lost taxes those Americans used to pay in the form of taxes on your imports.
meangreen you are so right about Government waste!
But let's not just villify the poor. How about
Tax breaks for Big Oil - the most profitable companies in the history of the world?
Full price prescription drugs for Medicare and Medicade?
Spending for weapons programs even the military doesn't want?
Nearly Free Fed loans and bailouts for Wall Street?
15% tax rates for billionaire hedge fund managers?
Unchecked cost overruns for Halliburton and other contractors?
Bribes and fraud in Iraq and Afghanistan?
But, who cares? As long as we keep that person from buying a shrimp cocktail with his food stamps??
Yet again, the democrats cave to the Tea Party Bullies rather than stand up for what the majority (70%) of Americans ask for (cited in many polls): greater taxes on the wealthy. If you review the solutions proposed by Public Citizen and by the Progressive Caucus you will see many viable solutions that could dramatically move us forward. Check it out.
Monique
"Yet again, the democrats cave to the Tea Party Bullies "
Tea Party Bullies? You should be THANKING the Tea Party and praying for them every night. WIthout them, we would have continued down the road to ruin with no check at all! Bush and Obama and their respective Congresses are spendthrifts every one! We simply could not keep borrowing and spending. Democrats talk talk talk about "getting our fiscal house in order" but they didn't produce a budget in two years!!! How do you get your fiscal house in order with no budget! Obama talks about jobs jobs jobs, but doesn't do a thing about it but talk. He talked about "pivoting to jobs" so much he's gotta be dizzy from it.
Serenity now!!!
Paul Krugman and Robert Reich and I agree. The U.S. does not have a debt problem, we have a jobs problem. The defenders of wealth and their power have been very successful at misleading too many of the voting public to believe. Belief is not always truth. But believe at your peril. What goes around, comes around. The ignored and forgotten will not allow permanent ignoring and forgetting. Get your history books out.
Think about the costs in innocent blood, loss of homes and livelihood, loss of the human rights to the necessities of life, and the rejection of dignity. Perhaps we will experience terrorism first hand. Put yourself in their shoes. Your gun will be of little value.
THINK, listen and learn. Competing for life, ultimately has no winners. Where do you place the starting line? Wealth and influence cannot be willed or endowed. The race for life is competitive. It's your rules, live by them. Compete!
monte don't you recall obama meeting with members of congress on a daily basis trying to fix this mess? ultimately boehner pulled out because the fact is that tea party republicans will agree to nothing obama agrees too. this is not about the deficit or taxes. this is about racist, right wingnuts who will do anything even tank the economy and the nation to ensure that 1) Obama can not govern while in office, and 2) Obama can not get reelected when the country is in such dire straits. Frankly I think Obama out of love for the country should decline to run for reelection and let the republicans show how their no tax for job creators will fix everything like it did under George Bush.
As an observer from north of the border who has watched with distress as America has torn itself apart over the debt ceiling for no reason but partisan advantage, I do hope that Diane Rehm will avoid talking about "winners" and "losers" in the debate today. Such talk only further advances the cause of those who would seem to be happy to witness America's further decline in the world.
As Obama has said often, he is the President of ALL the United States of America and the only person charged with representing the American people as a whole, not just those who voted for him, but also those who didn't.
The tea party members were elected by a relative handful of voters in far flung districts. Their opinions should not be held to be truly representative of what Americans as a whole feel about America's debt and how to eliminate it.
ozkar your post is good.
The deeper problem in this country is the division between liberal, prosperous states and South which resembles more a third world country. When you are politician from South your sources of funding are limited and you are an easy prey for some oligarch using you for their own purpose. The irony is that southern states are supported by taxpayers of states they detest.
The deeper crisis is constitutional. We were set up as an oligarchy which worked fine when population was less than 3 million and states were agrarian and pretty balanced.
We reached a point when 41 senators, representing 17% of population were able to block majority.
We should take a close look at the fact that we are not a democratic system, which is based on one man one vote system (this does not apply in the Senate and electoral college. We also worship our constitution as if it was a word of god, yet it is a deeply flawed document, needing continuos reinterpretation by Supreme Court. The supreme court as it is today is corrupt, with at least one member blatantly in conflict of interest.
We have to look critically at our political system and try to reform it. What we have now is just a constitutional crisis and flooding it with money won't help.
Ozkar is a Protectionist, and that's a good thing if you want to eat, heat your home in winter and get an education. Pair ozar's requirement for using American labor to make a profit in America with the revenue stream from tariffs as before the days of income tax and we are moving toward a rational solution. Because capital alacrity (velocity of money) is so high among financiers this is a good place to start taxing heavily. A second strategic tax could be on appreciation of land value. The wealthy don't buy land just to look at it. It all depends upon whether the sovereignty of the USA is to be maintained or whether the IMF and World Bank are to write our laws. Anyway, who wants to live in a debtors' prison? This Bastille must come down.
Hear that Mr. Politician,"Tear down this debtors' prison and end wage slavery."
Right now the Israeli electorate is being muzzled in the streets by Big Media. They are saying the same things as ozkar. I'm sure SPRING will soon return to the USA and democracy will bud.
How can the House be allowed to go on a one month vacation without resolving the FAA issue, while Republicans refuse to raise taxes on the wealthy the have no problem shorting the government a great deal of money and putting so many people out of work. This is their idea of being responsible?????
"this is about racist, right wingnuts who will do anything even tank the economy and the nation to ensure that 1) Obama can not govern while in office, and 2) Obama can not get reelected when the country is in such dire straits."
ozkar - "racism" the last bastion of the liberal when he doesn't get what he wants. Even the administration isn't saying that any more. You need to catch up with the times.
"As Obama has said often, he is the President of ALL the United States of America and the only person charged with representing the American people as a whole, not just those who voted for him, but also those who didn't."
Then why does he call some of them "terrorists"?
The problem with globalization is we fought for it when we were a manufacturing giant. We got it when we destroyed our manufacturing.
Interesting model is Germany. With 81 million population they almost match us in exports. Have high salaries and greg benefits. They income distribution is very even and they require unions to sit on their board of directors. a German company are expected to continuously educated they work force, regardless of job position.
ecgberht- because they refuse to play by fair rules and as they stated, their job is to destroy his presidency.
"sane wrote:
ozkar your post is good.
The deeper problem in this country is the division between liberal, prosperous states and South which resembles more a third world country. When you are politician from South your sources of funding are limited and you are an easy prey for some oligarch using you for their own purpose"
Insane:
I like to know where you got your numbers. Today, Today, that half-pint little Blue state of RI, one of there municipalities declared bankruptcy because it could not pay it pensions to retirees.
The liberal prosperous states, may have been at one time but not today as seen by the problems of RI. Not only that look at job growth in liberal states. Out of memory Conn. is number 47th. California is 50th in starting a business. Look at all the high income people that are leaving these Liberal prosperous states, going to NH, Florida, or Texas. Talk about loss of revenue. For every dollar that Texas gives to the Feds, the state receives 77 cents back.
Yes Missi and Louisana are poor states, most of there state income derives from oil revenues but now with all the regulations coming down from DC, it going to be harder for their tax base
Commission = Death Panel.
Diane - Please ask your guests to refrain from using the revenue euphemism rather the appropriate tax increase term. It is blatant subterfuge to confuse the American people.
After hearing Boehner say he would only pick members for the "Super Congress" that would never compromise, I say
have the Democratic leadership pick the Republican members and Republicans pick the Democrats.
Maybe then we could get some cooperation and compromise instead of this awful and damaging stalemate.
Ârmy as far as I know is a convicted criminal A co-author of a book with him has no business being on this panel
This is a phyrric victory for the Republicans. They have n their midst a group of people who have no interest in the democratic process or in the problems of voters. Their messianic view that the problem is debt rather than jobs will ultimatley implode.
Obma has apparently decided that he can do better in 2012 by becoming a centralist Republican than on trying to pursuade people who are now tea-party voters that bjuilding the ecnomy is the real job.
In other words, our political process is disfunctional. Please push members of your panel to reflect on the shambles which have been left after this distasteful show of political irresponsibility by all parties.
Everyone keeps referring to "the adults the room." Who else was in there? Seems so trivial and insulting to teens!
Other incendiary words that keep the partisan divide alive:
Surrender
Battle
War
Jihad
Fight