Blame the Tea Party and the House GOP

Waving bye-bye to your 401 (k) or other nest egg, Junior’s college fund, next year’s beach vacation, the new-used car you planned to buy, Grammy’s rainy day cash, daughter Debbie’s braces, or next week’s groceries?

So, why are the Obama people chastising Standard and Poor’s for doing its job? Few think the rating agency screwed up in its assessment. S&P was hinting for weeks that the downgrade was coming, if Washington failed clean up its budget and spending act.

So, Congress kicked the can down the road and S&P acted.

The Congress, mainly the House GOP ignored the warning. Hundreds of billions of net worth now have been wiped out in a 10% stock market drop, which could go higher, and folks want to blame S&P for doing what it didn’t do in 2008 and got whipped for that failure?

The barn door is wide open, that horse is gone, and the wrong people are being pilloried.

The reverberations of the S&P write-down of the US long term debt rating--and the resulting rate increases and losses that already have surged through our national savings--are the work of the congressional Tea Party members and the their enabling colleagues in the House GOP.

Where is the sharp tongued and House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) defending those actions; how about the Teasies leaders, or presidential candidate Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.)?

Seven times Democrats gave George W. Bush debt limit increases without undue drama, embarrassing him, or hurting the nation. But the first time Barack Obama sought a debt limit increase, the newly elected congressional TP crazies—“our way or the highway”-- did him in, aided by their conservative, experienced Republican House brethren who should have known better.

Once again, the American people get screwed by backward looking zealots, who likely still don’t accept or understood the damage they caused us or how to fix it (which doesn’t get fixed easily).

Hopefully, Speaker John Boehner has learned a very humbling lesson--albeit a truly expensive one--which underscores that he cannot let his wing nuts drive GOP public policy.

And those non-TP members--who cowered from their new colleagues’ ranting and went along for the legislative ride--can’t escape blame.

It was fun when the gang joined to jack up the White House and get all of that local media time, but their now less-comfortable--off and poorer constituents should grill them about their actions and what their legislative plans are when they return to Congress after Labor Day.

“Do you plan to continue to hurt us economically and financially by following the Tea Party’s destructive ongoing agenda, since you contributed to the political dysfunction which gave S&P grounds for their actions?”

Opposing excessive or wasteful federal spending is one thing, but bringing down a structure’s financial walls in ignorance and frustration is totally another.

Last week, there was more worrying the markets before S&P’s actions, although their new rating was an unprecedented move—like southern Europe's economic problems, ongoing US deficit spending, two expensive American wars, and US political fratricide—but the TP’s added major pain of the downgrade didn’t need to happen. Not when, as noted Democrats never denied George W. Bush a debt increase notwithstanding that President Bush gave the Congress plenty of reasons to despise his deficit laden and wrong headed policy choices (see Iraq war).

Earlier this week, I wrote that maybe this crash and the unfortunately resulting damage may wake up voting Americans to the need for the Select Deficit Committee to quickly put together for congressional passage a $4 Trillion savings and taxes package that could right this big American economic ship.

How many people did you speak to on this weekend or on Monday and Tuesday who are pissed. I spoke to a heck of a lot, many of whom who are Republicans (I live in a bad neighborhood!) and they were livid.

I hope they direct their anger at those truly responsible and also help to neutralize the Tea Party elements both in the Congress and around the nation, because there's no telling what other damage the Teasies can produce if given the means as the House GOP gave them on the debt limit and budget talks.

Every political commentator with guts should expose the Tea Party cabal and their accomplices for their stupid actions and make it near impossible for them to do any additional damage to our nation.

They will have their advocates but I still think there are more rational people in the nation, who—combined with their general concern over ineffective national government—will “go medieval” on the Teasies when the latter begin again to act up.


Maloni, 8-8-2011