Today, for the first time in America's history, the nation's credit rating was downgraded from AAA to AA+. A slap in the nose to be sure, but what's more troubling is how and WHY this all came to pass.
The past few weeks have seen a series of firsts. This is the first time in our history that the debt ceiling had some great difficulty getting raised, and all because of partisan politics! The Republicans talked about not allowing increased spending no matter what. They wear their "fiscal conservative" label like a badge of honor, and have tried to look at times like martyrs, at times like crusaders, and at times like revolutionaries. "We are going to do what is in the best interests of the AMERICAN PEOPLE!!!" they screamed. "No more raising the debt ceiling unless and until the budget is BALANCED!", they said. "No more kicking the can down the road!", they said. "We won't allow this debt to be passed on to our children!", they said.
And yet, I noticed in the media's research and reporting on this that the debt ceiling was raised 18 times during the Reagan administration. George H.W. Bush raised it 7 more times in his four years in office. Was anyone talking about kicking the can and not passing the debt to the children when I was a kid? Nope. George W. Bush passed those convenient little tax cuts for the rich and big corporations (those loopholes aren't closed yet), and even with more money in their pocket than the government has, they still haven't hired people. NO, it's NOT just Obama's fault alone. The rich want to get richer, and disregard what the middle class and those in poverty want and need. If taxes get raised on them, they'll take it out on those "beneath" them by passing on the costs in the form of higher retail prices, or they'll exact their revenge by "cutting costs" in the form of layoffs. Then they can get their Republican stooges to pound the mantra that raising taxes "kills jobs". Millions and millions of people in the world starving to death, struggling to make ends meet, and our conservative friends doggedly hold the line to help a handful of people stay rich. That's SHAMEFUL.
And then there's the Tea Party, who's adamant refusal to support ANY deal which allowed for raising taxes NO MATTER WHAT only exacerbated this mess and led to the outcome we saw today. If the government defaulted, great, they said. Perhaps that would be the catalyst we needed to "take our country back" (read: get rid of the Black President). Their stubborness and intransigence have only helped to cause America to be publicly humiliated in front of the WHOLE WORLD.
Thanks a lot for that. Seriously.
The truth of the matter is that what is now evident to the rest of the world has been playing out in homes, apartments, trailers, and kitchen tables for YEARS. Millions of Americans have poor credit, can't find jobs, can't pay their bills, and don't know how they will balance their own budgets. And most of these same Americans know that in order to even have a CHANCE to get back on their feet, they NEED MORE MONEY. Their revenue has to increase somehow before they can begin to break even. So they take second (and third) jobs and cut back on their spending, and soon, with a little discipline, they come out of debt and break even. See the pattern? They increase their revenue, AND cut their spending. They do BOTH. A BALANCED APPROACH.
But in Washington, our Republican friends seem to think you can get by by doing ONE without the other. But even their OWN fiscal analysts know that in order to REALLY balance the budget, there will have to be SOME revenue increases. Don't want to raise taxes? Fine. Close the loopholes which allow big corporations here in America (GE) to escape their obligation to pay taxes, or pay them at a GREATLY reduced rate. NO? Don't want to do that? Then HOW, exactly, do we get this budget balanced by ONLY cutting spending? Sorry, there is NO way that can be done.
So now, we have a lower credit rating. With that, interest rates on EVERYBODY will go up. Now EVERYBODY will have higher taxes to pay. It will be harder for EVERYBODY to get a loan. Thanks to our Republican friends, and especially those of the Tea Party stripe, now we have a mess that EVERYBODY has to deal with. We're not kicking the can down the road. The elephants have kicked that can upside EVERYBODY'S HEAD.
How's that tea tasting?
Are you happy now?
