[y66]

Quote

As the nation awaited news — any news! — about what would happen to the nation’s fiscal health, Dr. Ruth Westheimer, the sex therapist, volunteered on Twitter that lawmakers who could not compromise “probably aren’t good lovers.”

[blackshoe]

ROFL! Some people will do anything for attention.

[kenberg]

blackshoe, on 2012-December-29, 09:02, said:

ROFL! Some people will do anything for attention.

Becky continues to be astonished by what I learn from reading BBO threads.

[mike777]

kenberg, on 2012-December-29, 09:08, said:

Becky continues to be astonished by what I learn from reading BBO threads.

Ken we have 2 options:
1) doing nothing
2) doing what you want

If your option is better ok.

We cannot agree increase taxes..lower taxes
increase spending....decrease

you do the math



I understand you want others to do the math. You want others to lead.


ok ok this is unfair .......feel free to insert other...that is called politics

[kenberg]

mike777, on 2012-December-31, 02:00, said:

Ken we have 2 options:
1) doing nothing
2) doing what you want

I have never before been given such stunning power. You are saying that doing what Y66 wants, or what Blalckshoe wants, or perhaps what you want, is not even on the table? It's my way or nothing? Does Obama know this? Should we not call Boehner et all Congreesional leader? Should we just call them electees? Some sort of neutral term indicating we really do not expect much from them? They got elected, now they can putter around and if any crisis comes up they should either do nothing or call Ken Berg for the solution?

Quote

We cannot agree increase taxes..lower taxes
increase spending....decrease
you do the math

What math?

Quote

I understand you want others to do the math. You want others to lead.

ok ok this is unfair .......feel free to insert other...that is called politics

People run for the job of leading the country and then it is unfair to expect them to lead? Why is that? If really they, or you, want me to make all of the decisions they should have given me a call before setting up this stupid fiscal cliff. I'm pretty sure I had nothing good to say about the idea at the time they put it in place..The idea was that they would set something up that was so awful that even Congress would realize it could not be allowed to happen. I do not share this faith.

It's not like I have said nothing about the general principles. I am prepared to accept some adjustments in my medicare payments providing it is part of a workable plan where everyone accepts some responsibility for bringing the deficit under control. Medical expenses need to be brought down, but I want good medical care available. Since other places have good care at lesser cost, this does not seem like an unrealistic goal. But even if the costs are brought down, there will be costs. We are lucky enough to live at a time when medical care has made enormous advances, and these advances cost money. I expect to pay my share.

I really don't understand your post at all.

At a fundamental level, our elected representatives are an embarrassment to the country.

One of the lesser known quotes from the Pogo strip: "If I could only write I would write a nasty letter to the Mayor if he could only read".

[y66]

How Biden rode to the rescue from Wonkbook

Quote

”The late entry of Mr. Biden to the tax-and-spending talks that have consumed the capital over the last two months recalls his role in the debt crisis of 2011 and once again seems to have been critical toward cutting through the deadlock…As soon as the talks boiled down to Mr. Biden and Mr. McConnell, it became a relatively short path to a tentative agreement on taxes. The two talked late into the night on Sunday, with their last call coming around 12:45 a.m. Mr. Biden remained at the White House along with Mr. Obama until 2 a.m. before returning to the vice presidential residence for a little sleep. Mr. Biden and Mr. McConnell were back on the phone at 6:30 a.m. on Monday, and by the afternoon Mr. Obama and Mr. McConnell were both reporting a near-deal.” Peter Baker in The New York Times.

”In the end, it came down to two 70-year-old men, talking on the phone. They are not the most powerful men in Washington: Each, in his own way, is a second fiddle. Joseph R. Biden Jr. is vice president. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is the Senate minority leader, in charge only of the senators who are not in charge. But these two men — rivals, colleagues and wary friends for almost 28 years — were the ones who finally struck a deal to end the ‘fiscal cliff’ crisis. The New Year’s Eve agreement between Biden and McConnell provided a glimpse at the ways that personality quirks and one-to-one relationships can still change the course of Washington politics.” David A. Fahrenthold and Ed O’Keefe in The Washington Post.

[hrothgar]

y66, on 2013-January-02, 07:46, said:

How Biden rode to the rescue from Wonkbook

I ain't counting any chickens until the House has spoken...
Still plenty of ways they can screw things up.

[hrothgar]

hrothgar, on 2013-January-02, 08:04, said:

I ain't counting any chickens until the House has spoken...
Still plenty of ways they can screw things up.

And looks as if we have a deal!

[kenberg]

I am still too aggravated to applaud or even to give polite thanks, but we will see how it shakes out. If it means that there are sufficiently many people in Washington who think that it is more important to get something done rather than crash the economy this could be good. One never knows, does one.

[chasetb]

I have a feeling the economy will still come crashing to the ground, since Joe Biden had something to do with this. Mind you, I doubt anyone else in Washington could do better, but why did it even have to come down to this???

I say we all should vote out every incumbent, and then we'll actually have a decent working national gov't!

[Phil]

hrothgar, on 2013-January-02, 08:04, said:

I ain't counting any chickens until the House has spoken...
Still plenty of ways they can screw things up.

Looks like the jockeying for poll position in '16 has already begun.

I guess one fist pump wasn't sufficient.

[Bbradley62]

So, for the next four years, Obama should stay out of the way and simply sign or veto bills that come to his desk; he should not be involved in the sausage-making.

[will2012]

Passing this without increasing the debt limit was insane. It means that we are right back in another crisis.

[Cthulhu D]

chasetb, on 2013-January-02, 12:20, said:

I have a feeling the economy will still come crashing to the ground, since Joe Biden had something to do with this. Mind you, I doubt anyone else in Washington could do better, but why did it even have to come down to this???

I say we all should vote out every incumbent, and then we'll actually have a decent working national gov't!

It wouldn't matter - gerrymandering in the lower house ensures that all the seats are safe. You need to change your electoral system that isn't extracted from the darkest depths of Northen Ireland if you want things to change.

It's quite simple to fix the US electoral system, but the changes required (abolish gerrymandered districts, institution instant runoff, preferential or proportional representation in the upper and lower houses, then optionally add compulsory voting) are unappetizing to the entrenched political elites.

[blackshoe]

I always liked one of Hayek's ideas: the lower House has no age restrictions. The job of this House is to legislate - to make laws. The upper House has a minimum age of 45, and in order to run, a candidate has to get a petition signed by 5000 people who are willing to take oath that they know him well and are welling to have him serve. The job of the upper House is to cancel bad laws made by the lower House. "No, sorry, you can't make that law. Try again." As an ideal, it's at least interesting. In practice, it would be subject to the same corruption we already have.