Who’s REALLY Responsible For U.S. DEBT DOWNGRADE?

[Segami]

:smoke:

Get ready for the back-peddling and mis-quote repuke excuses.



"..Now that Standard & Poors has confirmed that the chorus of default doubters in the GOP was part of what spooked them into downgrading the U.S. credit rating, Republicans will do all they can to pretend that they never questioned the risk of missing payment obligations, or allowing borrowing authority to lapse. But they sure did! Here's a long, partial timeline of influential Republicans either vouchsafing default, or downplaying the consequences of passing the August 2 deadline without raising the debt limit.


Here is the list :


Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI), May 17, 2011: "You want to make sure that the bondholder has confidence that the government's going to be able to pay them.... That's what I'm hearing from most people, which is if a bondholder misses a payment for a day or two or three or four what is more important that you're putting the government in a materially better position to be able to pay their bonds later on."



Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA), May 18, 2011: "What I think is that the markets are looking to see credible progress on changing the fiscal trajectory in Washington. The markets are not fooled by some date imposed to say that that is the trigger for the collapse. I think the markets are looking to see that there is real reform."



Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), May 19, 2011: "The government is not to be trusted with more of your money, so I will refuse to allow them to borrow more. Now is it a good idea to default? No! But this is a false claim being promoted by big-government advocates. We can simply spend what we take in!"



Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC), June 24, 2011 on administration warnings of "catastrophic consequences" of not raising debt limit: "I don't believe them, it's not true."



Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA), May 18, 2011: "This problem is so urgent that there is -- an alternative school of thought has emerged recently," Toomey said. "The most high-profile advocate for this was Stanley Druckenmiller ... one of the world's most successful hedge-fund managers, extraordinarily wealthy from his knowledge of the markets, a big money manager now, and a big holder of Treasury securities -- and he has said that he would actually accept even a delay in interest payments on the Treasuries that he holds. And he would prefer that if it meant that the Congress would right this ship."



Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT), July 13, 2011: "To get a balanced budget amendment in this environment...we'd have to make the serious, credible, earnest threat that if you want to raise and you want to have any Republicans voting for raising it, you're going to have to assist us: You give us 20 votes to adopt the balanced budget amendment in the Senate and we'll make sure you get the votes you need to raise the debt limit."



Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN), June 26, 2011: "It isn't true that the government would default on its debt," Bachmann told CBS' Bob Schieffer. "Because, very simply, the Treasury Secretary can pay the interest on the debt first, and then, from there, we have to just prioritize our spending....I have no intention of voting to raise the debt ceiling."






list cont'


http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/08/whos-really-responsible-for-us-debt-downgrade.php?ref=fpblg



.

[BNJMN]

1. “Those who can make you believe absurdities are having a great time.”

~ Voltaire
http://uncyclopedia.wikia.com/wiki/HowTo:Make_People_Believe_Absurdities

But seriously, does it even matter anymore?
1/2 of America has it's head so far up it's own a-hole, it'd take the jaws of life to get it out. Personally, I lay the majority of the blame at the Internet's feet. But whatever, where's the remote?

[Mnemosyne]

2. The Internet is like having a vast library, those who choose to waste such opportunity on crap

will suffer the consequences of their willful ignorance someday in the very near future.

Why are you here? I assume to educate yourself, no?

Now television is an entirely different matter...

Welcome to Du.

[Ruby the Liberal]

3. Gang of 12 Toomey is quoting a hedge fund manager as his rationale?

A 15% cap gains paying hedge fund manager who gets the added benefit of interest carryover?

This is where Toomey the freshman Senator is ADMITTING he is getting guidence from on this?

Toomey, who voted down the bill, and McTurtle thinks he is reasonable enough to sit on a 'compromise' committee?

I don't know whether to laugh or cry.

[ThoughtCriminal]

4. Just ask the people who did the downgrade

S&P senior director Joydeep Mukherji said the stability and effectiveness of American political institutions were undermined by the fact that “people in the political arena were even talking about a potential default,” Mukherji said.

“That a country even has such voices, albeit a minority, is something notable,” he added. “This kind of rhetoric is not common amongst AAA sovereigns.”

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0811/61147.html

--------

When the GOP decided that using the debt ceiling as blackmail was a useful political tool, the ability of the U.S. to pay it's bills no longer mattered. As long as they hold significant political power and show a willingness to engage in this kind on brinkmanship, confidence in the U.S. will not be restored.

[butterfly77]

5. Kicked&Recommended!