U.S. debt: let's do it the GOP way

the bullfrogs on the right wanna play chicken with the US debt limit... up until now -- which is to say, while they were in charge of the government -- they've been more than happy to spend their way to fiscal oblivion, piling on debt to the national credit card. now that the negro is in charge, they've had a sudden change of heart:

Two top Republicans said Sunday they oppose raising the nation's debt ceiling without major moves to slash the federal deficit, a stance that suggests the GOP may be heading toward a high-stakes showdown with Democrats as the deadline for congressional action nears.Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said on NBC's 'Meet the Press' that he is prepared to keep the ceiling in place 'unless we do something really significant about debt and deficit.''

Former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, a Republican candidate for president, also challenged the Obama administration's contention that failure to lift the debt limit would trigger an unprecedented default.
The U.S. has until Aug. 2 to raise the $14.3 trillion debt ceiling, according to Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner.

isn't that a hell of a note! we waged 2 unfunded wars, enacted giant tax cuts that primarily benefitted the wealthy, and then were more than generous in bailing out the banks that parlayed ridiculously low interest rates into a variety of casino capitalism never seen before.

now they GOPpers are having a spasm of remorse -- a bit like a reformed smoker making those who still indulge miserable with displays of newfound virtue.

well, not buying it.

especially when you look at the "serious" proposals of the paul ryan budget "proposal," which is as DOA as any budget that ever arrived on capitol hill. maybe already in rigor mortis, in fact. this is a stinker of a proposal that extends the spend and pretend antics of the republican congress -- except that it only covers their wealthy benefactors.

any program that has even a hint of targeting the public good is destined to the fiscal rectitude of these prodigal sons of bitches. eliminate medicare, but cut taxes for the highest brackets from 35  to 25 percent. that's ideology, bitches! the proof that this is nothing but a distraction and a diversion is the fact that for all the pain it causes, it makes gains against debt and deficits only speculatively, and in the distant future. and even then, it doesn't do what it pretends -- which is leave the US with a balanced budget.

obviously, something must be done. the debt and deficits are a cancer on the republic, but in the final analysis they are the work of bankers and the FED, which make easy money available to suckers at every level, to suck them into a relentless treadmill of debt.

when there's a serious will to cut deficit spending, we'll see it reflected in serious proposals to take the wind out of the national security state, military industrial complex, the prison industrial complex, the medical pharma insurance complex and various and sundry sweetheart deals and subsidies to supposed free-market capitalist entities.

then, one can seriously ask the citizenry to sacrifice, the submit to austerity, because they'll understand that they aren't suffering from the hangover after the oligarchy's orgy...