The Incredible Folding President from The Final Edition on Vimeo.
The debt ceiling has been signed by President Obama. I think that the whole debt ceiling debate has been scripted. As in pro wrestling, mostly fake with a little room to ad lib. Certainly, President Obama has been in on the game. When the Obama administration created their 2011 budget, no one realized that it would go over the debt ceiling? When the Obama administration had their secret negotiations with Republicans as the lame duck session was coming to a close, no one saw the debt ceiling issue coming? These people are much smarter than I am and no one saw the debt ceiling issue coming? Come on!
Obama is quoted as saying something like, "I assumed that the Republicans would act rationally." Yes, he's said that before. See this: Obama, Tea Parties, and the Battle for Our Brains. And finally, assuming that the first two oversights were merely honest "mistakes", when the Obama administration saw the debt ceiling issue looming ahead, they could have started securing programs like Social Security, Medicare, Unemployment Insurance, food stamps, low-level government employees and our troops. You know, things that are important to Democrats. The Republicans would have been begging to raise the debt ceiling. Certainly, people who may be living from check to check should have continued to get their checks. The government who "borrowed" the excess funds from the entitlement programs and gave the funds "special treasuries" in return. Consequently, the entitlement programs get paid first - that's why they're called entitlement programs. That's why the entitlement programs are part of the mandatory budget. Our government basically put the mandatory budget in play along with the discretionary budget.
That this whole debate is contrived is the only scenario that makes sense at all. Sure Obama talked a tough game with some cuts and some revenue generation. Not even tax increases but closing loopholes. In the end he 'compromised' with just getting the debt ceiling raised. I don't think it's a case that the emperor has no clothes, no teeth and no balls. I think it's a case of a wolf in sheep's clothing. His campaign contributors who gave him almost $750 million dollars do want something back for their money.
The 'Main Stream Media' claims that this is the best deal Obama could get. Umm, yeah. Aren't they corporations (usually held by even larger corporations) selling commercial space to other corporations? Give me a break!
Matt Taibbi of The RollingStone in Debt Ceiling Deal: The Democrats Take a Dive says:
...they {the Democrats} do not represent any actual voters. I know I've said this before, but they are not a progressive political party, not even secretly, deep inside. They just play one on television.Glenn Greenwald of Salon thinks Obama is getting exactly what he wants: The myth of Obama's "blunders" and "weakness" and Paul Krugman rightly calls the debt deal a disaster - exactly what we shouldn't be doing: Macroeconomic Folly.
I'm not the only one who thinks that the debate has been manufactured. See for example: The Debt Ceiling Debate--A “Charade,” says Paul Volcker; Trumped-Up Political Drama, Never an Economic Crisis, Another Fake Debate: Raising the Debt Ceiling, The Debt Ceiling Debate is just Pro Wrestling, National debt ceiling debate recalls Lansing struggles.
Time to protest? See: John Conyers Calls for Protest Against the Debt Deal.
Obama's 2012 Campaign Headquarters from The Final Edition on Vimeo.
