Wednesday 27 July 2011

US debt ceiling posturing

Tis is a bad idea is it not, allowing politicians a grandstanding opportunity every few years to wail about their own pork-barrel policies.

Also annoying is the run up in the US to a deal, with all the toing and froing leading up to a last minute deal. Is this really a better way then the dreadful EU positioning or are they as bad as each other?

9 comments:

Dick the Prick said...

I dunno, I kinda like it in a perverted way. Unlike Europe it shows that politicians have direct responsibility to those they represent and Democrat X or Republican Y has to put their name on the record as for or against. People will know how they voted and remember. Whereas in Europe it's all back room toilet trading with mad commies intent on pan continental hegemony.


May just be a function of time - maybe Europe will be the same in 50 years but I doubt it. Anyway, where's that darned nurse with my meds?

WV: fookesse - LaGarde slandered?

Bill Quango MP said...

Nothing else been on any channel on USA TV for the last 72 hours.
Except 1 episode of 'Everybody loves Raymond.'

Except me it seems.

Demetrius said...

What was that Sybil Fawlty said about the builder O'Reilly?

Anonymous said...

They are as bad each other in different ways, the republicans do not seem to be able to add up when proposing an alturnative plan (not very promising should they get into power), little regulation in financial markets when found out a slap on the wrist (or a relatively mild sentence in view of the damage done) the EU requirement to submit accounts on a national basis but don't or at least they erroneous, total disregard of cost for prestige projects (Germany seems to have been the beneficiary there). Both lots want to get their acts together until they do that the same thing will happen time and again

Sebastian Weetabix said...

Europe will indeed be very different in 50 years. For one thing it will be a lot less free. For another there will be Muslim majorities in our cities as the followers of the 7th century warlord are out-breeding us at the rate of 3 to 1.

Old BE said...

It's pretty ridiculous politics, however there is an underlying point that Obama has moved the deficit from being an annoyance to a potential catastrophe. This years deficit alone is worth a tenth of the whole national debt! The federal government will raise 40% of its expenditure through borrowing this year. The numbers are shocking.

What interests me is how the UK seems to have fooled the world into thinking that our bonds are now safe. HMG's borrowing rate has been falling quite nicely. Could the £ become a reserve currency again???

James Higham said...

Raise the debt ceiling and they're in deep faeces. The alternative is not good but it's better.

CityUnslicker said...

@be. I was shocked to see the graph of spending under Obama; we would have got a similar path under Balls.

Anonymous said...

I think you miss the point. If Obama understood the Constitution, he would realise that he can't just command Congress. He appears to think he can dictate. The American system was set up so that the President has to discuss with Congress, which controls the purse strings, and he cannot dictate.
It was clear from his tone - commanding the leaders of Congress to come to the White House - that he was totally ignorant of the relationship.
And he is the leader of the Western World? Oh sh*t.