In light of the continued stalemate, President Obama held additional talks with Democratic leaders on Sunday at the White House; while Speaker Boehner held phone updates with his Republican colleagues.
Failure to reach an agreement by 4:00 pm on Sunday July 24 meant that the goal to pass a debt ceiling increase prior to the short-term deadline that was to occur before the opening of Asian markets was not possible. The purpose of the Sunday deadline had been to assure investors in Eastern Asia that the United States still represents a viable and trustworthy country with
which to do business. Asian financial markets opened at the 4:00 pm deadline with the US still struggling to solve the debt dilemma standoff.
Although President Obama addressed the nation during prime time on Monday, July 25, he did not offer any new information that would solve or resolve the debt ceiling debate. He did, however, ask Americans to contact their congressional leaders in order to voice their opinions. Less than an hour later, congressional websites began to crash from the abundance of Americans taking the President's suggestion seriously.
[On Tuesday, Tea Party founder Judson Phillips tried to give credit for encouraging American citizens to contact their representatives to far right Republicans. He did so on national television during an interview with Chris Matthews on MSNBC. If a leader of the Tea Party will spill such blatant in your face lies - as if Americans did not hear President Obama say contact your representatives - there is no wonder as to why his followers lie so much!]
[Also mentionable here is that when NBC reported congressional sites were down, they deliberately said the sites crashed after the President AND Boehners speeches; and NEVER mentioned the fact that President Obama called on Americans to contact their representives before ending his public address! This means by which NBC chose to mislead the public is as good as a lie... So SHAME ON YOU NBC!]
[Also mentionable here is that when NBC reported congressional sites were down, they deliberately said the sites crashed after the President AND Boehners speeches; and NEVER mentioned the fact that President Obama called on Americans to contact their representives before ending his public address! This means by which NBC chose to mislead the public is as good as a lie... So SHAME ON YOU NBC!]
Meanwhile, Speaker Boehner provided a rebuttal to President Obama's prime time address in which he claimed, once again, that the American People did not want taxes to be raised. What he failed to say, however, was that the only taxes on the table were those of the rich and the mighty, not taxes for the poor... not taxes for the middle class...
During his rebuttal, Boehner stood in a setting that [appeared to have] more flags than the President had during his address. In addition, the camera man zoomed in closely to Boehner's face in order to make him look like a bigger fighter... Maybe he is... Only problem... He's fighting for the big guys that put money in his pockets and food on his table.... and yet... he does nothing for the little guys who vote for him...
My Take: As of now (July 26) we are positioned to give to the Republicans what they want... Again! without getting anything for the Democrats! Again! Why? Because if President Obama signs either Speaker Boehner's or Senator Reid's plan, he will not get what he has been asking for; which is higher tax rates for the wealthy. Neither Reid's nor Boehner's plan includes higher tax rates for these well off individuals and corporations. On the flip side, however, both plans, include spending cuts that ultimately will affect the poor as well as the middle class. This means neither plans are representative of a "Balanced Approach" for solving our deficit problems. A balanced approach is the type of bill President Obama repeatedly said he was expecting. A bill with compromises - not a one-sided bill that favored the Republican Tea Party and their wealthy friends!
What does this mean? In my humble or not so humble opinion, if either one of these plans makes it to President Obama's desk, he should veto it! If it is legal to do so... USE THE 14TH AMENDMENT!! and let's GET BACK to CREATING JOBS!! Deficit discussions had no place in the debt ceiling issue in the first place. Deficits are for budgeting... Debt ceilings are for paying bills the United States has already accrued! Paying bills are for preventing defaults!
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