Rep., D-Huntington, criticized Republicans Saturday for walking away from talks with President Obama over the national debt ceiling.
Calling out "extremist Republicans in the House," Israel laid the current crisis at their doorstep.
“They are willing to take this economy to the brink in pursuit of their extreme agenda that supports corporate tax loopholes instead of middle class budgets,” the Democrat said.
He spoke out at an event on the benefits of a federal energy program at a home in Huntington Station.
Israel is chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.
If you have the cash, then you are fine, and you can take care of yourself for medical needs and for retirement. Lost your job, too bad. Got cancer, too bad. Have a permanently disabled child, too bad. Your child has a high fever, too bad. You worked for Enron, and your retirement "fund" was invested in Enron stock, and the company executives lied and cheated, and you lost everything, too bad. Suffer from hallucinations or crippling phobias, and can no longer work, too bad. You lived to be ninety years old, and have gone through all of your retirement savings, too bad. “Then they themselves also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not take care of You?’ 45“Then He will answer them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.’"
We need adjustments in our spending, just as we need adjustments in our revenue generation. Both the Simpson-Bowles Commission (formal title: The National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform), as well as the Domenici-Rivlin Task Force (formal title: Bipartisan Policy Center’s Debt Reduction Task Force) have made that clear to all whose eyes and ears and minds are open. These were both bipartisan groups, indeed the latter task force was formed by an organization whose principal founders were 2 very prominent Republicans (Sen Dole & Sen. Baker), and 2 very prominent Democrats (Sen. Daschle & Sen. Mitchell). But, step #1, without which we cascade down mercilessly, is to get the US Debt Limit re-set. Playing chicken with our future is no way to govern responsibly, and indeed would take us into uncharted waters. The US Congress, under every President in modern history, Republican or Democrat, has done the responsible thing, and authorized our national debt level to provide maneuvering room for our government. Once the genie of default is out of the bottle, it cannot be put back into the bottle as if nothing bad happened. We would be forever, and irretrievably, affected.
In some cases, I expect the studies to find that some categories of public sector employees are under-compensated, while others are in reasonable range, and yet others are significantly over-compensated. But, all of that has nothing to do with extending the debt limit! However, the borrowing costs for the federal government -- and by derivation, since that becomes the baseline, the borrowing costs for you, and me, and anyone buying a house, or a car, or using loans to pay for a child's college expenses -- will spike dramatically if this asinine Congress keeps playing games. That will then further depress an already-depressed housing market, and kill car sales, and send the economy from this severe recession into a second Great Depression. And, once S&P and Moody's cut the US from AAA/Aaa to AA/Aa2 or even AA-/Aa3 (I would expect at least a two grade move), it will take years to regain the top grade; the negative impact will last longer than the political career of some of those clowns playing brinksmanship.
The Republicans are high jacking the country, it's no longer about the people, it's all about special interest and protecting corporate America at any cost including the welfare of the people. It's really sad and rather frightening..but if we are to believe what they say...trickel down economics will insure the corporations see that we get our fair share...um hum
You are comparing apples to eggs. Yes, the spending has to decrease and the revenue generation has to increase; that was the tentative deal -- which we and the markets were waiting for late last week -- that Mr. Boehner walked out on, despite the fact that President Obama had even pissed off most of his party by agreeing to three times as much spending cuts as revenue increases. As to whether you, or anyone else posting, likes or dislikes Moody's and S&P, the reality is that their debt ratings do determine borrowing costs; they also determine how much of a particular class of debt may be held by pension funds, public and private, as well as by national treasuries (i.e., other nations who are cash rich and invest outside their borders, and such nations as China, and Japan, and the UK hold huge amounts of US debt.) That ratings limitation test could cause US debt to be dumped on the markets, further driving up interest rates. if the US does not reauthorize its debt requirements, and the ratings agencies cut US debt ratings, it will increase our national interest burden, and it will increase our personal interest burden, regardless of whether someone likes or dislikes Moody's. Reality sucks, doesn't it? However, it beats delusion, because the delusional can't (or choose not to) understand what is about to happen to the US, and to each of us personally.
That is absurd, and it won't calm the markets. We need an immediate long-term increase in the debt limit, and that must be followed up by serious negotiations for deficit reduction in accordance with both the Simpson-Bowles commission, as well as the Bipartisan Policy Center's Domenici-Rivlin Task Force. At least there are some responsible adults trying to educate those with their heads in the sand, or worse.
This "job killing" line from the radical right is simply male bovine manure. And, yes, I know that the Tea Party faction of the Republicans in the House does not want any revenue increases; but it's also true that the left wing faction of the Democrats in the House don't want any spending cuts. But, I'm not interested, and the super-majority of the American people are not interested, in the rantings and ravings of the lunatic fringe, whether from the right or from the left. We need a responsible response, from the vast political center of both the GOP and the Democrats, and that is precisely what the Bipartisan Policy Center's Domenici-Rivlin Task Force proposed. The Bipartisan Policy Center, by the way, was founded by four former Senate Majority Leaders, two Republicans (Bob Dole and Howard Baker), and two Democrats (Tom Daschle and George Mitchell). We need more adults like them, and fewer mindless children like Eric Cantor or Michelle Bachman; these irresponsible political extremists, and their ilk, are ready to destroy the future of the United States, just for their own highly partisan and radical ideological views.
Delsuion compounded by distortion, and an inability to separate fact from Fox fiction. What a recipe for American disaster. But, why should facts get in the way of your objective of destroying President Obama; maybe you can call him a pedophile and a terrorist and a witch and a puppy-killer and a satanist and...what else would you like to throw in? I have as much use for people like you as I do for those who called Bush a war criminal or a fascist or monarchist or....well, let's relegate both extremes to the cesspool of deficient thinking.
Delsuion compounded by distortion, and an inability to separate fact from Fox fiction. What a recipe for American disaster. But, why should facts get in the way of your objective of destroying President Obama; maybe you can call him a pedophile and a terrorist and a witch and a puppy-killer and a satanist and...what else would you like to throw in? I have as much use for people like you as I do for those who called Bush a war criminal or a fascist or monarchist or....well, let's relegate both extremes to the cesspool of deficient thinking.
Actually, I had the same sentiment about you from your post yesterday where you begin, "Create jobs doing what?". That line alone but re-read the rest of what you posted tells me how you just don't get it. We have the largest corporate tax rate in the world forcing jobs off shore. We need to cut those rates in half and that alone will create hundred of thousands of domestic jobs and tax revenues to the Treasury. In addition, Clinton reduced deficits and balanced a budget during a time of great growth created by the private sector. It was a time when everyone (many for the first time) were buying all the new technologies in computers, cell phones, software, fax machines, etc...as well as all the upstart dot.com companies which created huge tax revenues flowing to the government. I give Clinton credit for not spending those surplus revenues during his time when he moved his idealogy to the center.
Mayor Bloomberg hit the fiscal nail on the head when he said that tackling the federal deficit will require a combination of tax increases and spending cuts. Failure to enact both substantial spending cuts and revenue enhancements will first destroy the US debt rating, and that will immediately drive up consumer interest rates, kill the auto recovery, kill the housing market, kill even more jobs, and kill any possible recovery for the United States and its citizens.