WOW! Yahoo News: "America's credit rating-intentionally sabotaged by Congressional Republicans"

[kpete]

..............

But that doesn't mean we should ignore S&P's Friday evening shot across the bow. In downgrading the U.S.'s credit rating, S&P points out what has long been obvious: Washington's inability to come to an agreement on how to close the large fiscal gaps that have emerged since the recession began is troubling. Recent events have sapped the agency's confidence that the government can and will do what is necessary to align revenues with spending commitments. And it's difficult to escape the conclusion that America's credit rating was intentionally sabotaged by Congressional Republicans.

..............

But Congressional Republicans deserve much more of the blame. For this calamity was entirely man-made -- even intentional. The contemporary Republican Party is fixated on taxes. It possesses an iron-clad belief that the existing tax rates should never go up, that loopholes shouldn't be closed unless they're offset by other tax reductions, that the fact that hedge fund managers pay lower tax rates than school teachers makes complete sense, that a reversion to the tax rates of the prosperous 1990's or 1980's would be unacceptable.

MORE:
http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/daniel-gross/u-credit-rating-victim-gop-sabotage-021622372.html

[lonestarnot]

1. K & fucking R!

[Viking12]

2. Nice to see a few truth tellers out there.

[FreakinDJ]

3. Love the top comment

[Aerows]

10. It's worth copy and pasting :)

The government today, announced that it's changing it's emblem from a Bald Eagle to a CONDOM, because it more accurately reflects the government 's political stance. A condom allows for inflation, halts production, destroys the next generation, protects a bunch of dicks and gives you a sense of security while you're being screwed. It just doesn't get more accurate than that!

[CleanGreenFuture]

15. I was about to paste that in here, lol.

[southmost]

17. love that quote

it's triple AAA snark

[Lochloosa]

59. How do you like my new sig line?

[izquierdista]

4. More ammo

Robert Pollin: Interest payments on US debt well below average, there is time to deal with long-term debt

http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=7106

[Laf.La.Dem.]

5. WOW - Yahoo for Yahoo

:toast:

[SweepPicker]

9. Please post this on Facebook

and anywhere else people can see it!! This needs to go viral!

[FreakinDJ]

11. done

[alfredo]

49. Done

[flamingdem]

6. Yes, S+P have the same goals as the repukes, getting rid of Obama for starters nt

[tanyev]

7. Whoomp! There it is.

[tallahasseedem]

8. No way!

My Republican friend swears by Yahoo Finance, maybe this will finally wake his ass up!

Good job Yahoo!

[gristy]

12. They changed the headline.

Now it reads "Is the U.S. Credit Rating a Victim of GOP Sabotage?"

[otohara]

76. Interesting

very interesting....:wtf:

good catch

[Poll_Blind]

13. I like where this is going!

:evilgrin:

PB

[kentuck]

14. K & R !

Keep it at the top. This is important info.

[southmost]

16. amazing its being reported in yahoo of all places

[ProgressiveEconomist]

33. Isn't this just a blog post? There's no "news.yahoo.com" URL.

Look closely at the URL in the OP:

http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/daniel-gross/u-credit-rating-victim-gop-sabotage-021622372.html .

[Pacifist Patriot]

75. Check out this description of who the blogger is.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/contributors/daniel-gross.html

[EC]

18. But look at the stupid comments

They don't seem to understand that this was deliberate, by the repubs. They just go on and on about cuts - instead of revenue or even jobs which we need to SPEND money on to stimulate a slow economy...that's how you create revenue...

They are still using the family budget as a model...but no mention of consolidation loans to ease the budget or another money source, ie another job, which is usually the first thing normal people will do before they start cutting necessities. They also don't seem to get why we spend on social programs or foreign aid. It all falls under the general safety of U.S. citizens.

[Enthusiast]

26. It falls under the 'general welfare'. nt

[EC]

36. It also prevents violence

by providing for education. I saw the difference in street violence when Clinton took office and made more pell grants available...so I contend that it provides for the general safety of the people also.

[Beartracks]

44. Absolutely correct.

Why pay taxes for public schools when your kids don't go to public schools? Because it makes for a better-educated society, which will cost YOU less in crime control and taxes.

Why pay taxes for food stamps? Because it will cost YOU less as it keeps kids and families from starving their way to the ER and raising health costs and YOUR insurance rates.

And on, and on, and on. Each social program benefits recipients directly but they benefit YOU indirectly, across the board.

Come on, people (i.e. conservatives) -- spending money on social programs that you don't use is still an investment in your OWN safety, welfare, and economic well-being.

===================================

[Enthusiast]

68. Come on now,

you are suggesting that conservatives be reasonable.

[Beartracks]

81. Sorry, I was in fantasy-land for a moment.

:banghead:

==========================

[AlbertCat]

77. spending money on social programs that you don't use ....

NEVER!


But go ahead and spend my money giving BP and Boeing 10 times more welfare than any unwed mother... That's OK!

[Beartracks]

80. Reminds me of this:

===================

[Enthusiast]

69. You are right, of course. nt

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

40. It's Yahoo comments

Won't be long before someone's yelling communist, socialist, nazi and then the other n-word about Obama. It's the voice of the LCD.

[Jester Messiah]

56. Yahoo commenters make the freepers look restrained by comparison.

It's like one gigantic trailer park.

[stubtoe]

19. Expect our corporate and financial overlords to kill off the Tea Party asap.

Sometimes it just doesn't pay to get in bed with any old political sluts that come along, just to "win" elections.

[L0oniX]

20. S&P gave AAA ratings to worthless sub-prime mortgages 4 years ago.

Since then basically their ratings value is about as valid as Fox news. Since then the AAA rating for the US has been 100% bullshit.

[sixmile]

21. All true. Now what are you going to do about it?

It's a rigged game.

Bill Maher was right. We need a far left party as crazy as the teabaggers - the Donner Party.

[L0oniX]

22. The first question I have is which hedge fund managers stand to profit.

[nadinbrzezinski]

23. We have entered a strange land indeed

when YAHOO writers things like this... WOW

[malaise]

24. Kick back to the top n/t

[KT2000]

25. Mitch McConnell

has made it the goal of repubs to destroy Obama above all else. He has said it many times. This was about satisfying the ultra-rightwing on taxes, yes, but also making sure Obama was president when the whole thing fell apart.

[louslobbs]

27. K&R!

Lou

[dorksied]

28. Kicked, Rec'd, and posted on my FB!

[matt819]

29. Follow the money

Yes, this calamity was man-made. Yes, it was intentional.

Here's the key question - or at least one of them. Was it criminal? How many of those Republicans gained financially by voting the way they did? Surely the RW billionaires did. But billionaires will gain financially whatever it takes, and whatever their political stripe. Hell, the billionaires can keep all their money in a 1% checking account and still come out with and additional $10 million a year without blinking. But the political players - the ones who made it happen - what was the impact on their bank accounts? Was this nothing more, or less, than a massive con?

[proud2BlibKansan]

30. But that's not the title of the article

It is : Is the U.S. Credit Rating a Victim of GOP Sabotage?

[stockholmer]

78. yes, and this is NOT Yahoo News, it is an opinion blog by Daniel Gross

[Tennessee Gal]

31. Great. k & r

[proud patriot]

32. Hot Damn .. let's see if television new will run with this

[Kahuna]

34. Reading the comments on that piece is like reading what was being

said by the tea-partiers in 2010. Americans haven't learned a damned thing from that debacle.

[earcandle]

35. This is a rich man's problem, not mine.

[Plucketeer]

37. K & R

I DO think this was planned by the Rethugs. Crash it - crash it all. The elections loom. :scared:

[cyberpj]

38. And now the rich will make even more money as interest rates rise due to the downgrade.

I haven't seen anything on that as part of the plan yet. But you can sure as hell bet it is.

[julian09]

41. If interest rates go up maybe banks will lend again.

I always thought that is what they were waiting for.:think:

[Lifelong Protester]

39. I called it last night!

On FB, I asked, "Can you spell 'cahoots'?"

[KansDem]

42. It's about fucking time!!!

Shout it out...the truth needs to be known near and far! :woohoo:

Fuck you, Republicans!!! Fuck you and the TeaBaggers you rode in on!!!

Go going, Yahoo!!! :applause:

[hifiguy]

43. Destroy the country

and sell it to the banksters.

It's the Repuke way and master plan. Then they move to Dubai where and enjoy their slave labor until the US has been returned to slavery. :grr:

[MadMaddie]

45. They signed the Norquist pledge and that is what we should

use to destroy them.

[RayStar]

63. I agree

The repubs appear to be so fearful of this man. He is like the pied piper.

[RayStar]

64. I agree

Grover is like the pied piper. The republicans are afraid of him.

[Change Happens]

46. Praise GOD!

[titaniumsalute]

47. Kick kick kick

[MH1]

48. National Journal, too, albeit softer

http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2011/08/06/289926/national-journal-standard-and-poors-republican/

http://www.nationaljournal.com/economy/why-s-p-s-downgrade-is-no-joke-20110806

But it’s hard to read the S&P analysis as anything other than a blast at Republicans. In denouncing the threat of default as a “bargaining chip,” the agency was saying that the GOP strategy had shaken its confidence. Though S&P didn’t mention it, the agency must have been unnerved by the number of Republicans who insisted that it would be fine to blow through the debt ceiling and provoke a default.

As many other analysts have noted, the deficit-reduction deal wouldn’t stop debt from climbing faster than the nation’s GDP over the next decade. It warned that the government’s publicly-held debt would climb from 74 percent of GDP at the end of this year to 79 percent by the end of 2011.

But one reason S&P said it had become more gloomy was that it had revised its assumptions about the most likely course of fiscal policy. In previous projections, it said, its “base case scenario” had assumed that Bush tax cuts for the wealthy would expire at the end of 2012, while tax cuts for families earning less than $250,000 a year would be extended. That, it said, would have reduced deficits about $950 billion over ten years.

But the new S&P base case assumes that Congress extends all the Bush tax cuts. “We have changed our assumption on this because the majority of Republicans in Congress continue to resist any measure that would raise revenues, a position we believe Congress reinforced by passing the act,” S&P said.

[Vanje]

50. Whoa! (I mean K&R!)

[AllyCat]

51. Wow. I wonder how many people at Yahoo will be jobless tomorrow.

[LetTimmySmoke]

52. K&R

Boehner got 98% of what he wanted - a stock market crash and a credit downgrade.

[mimi85]

53. Yahoo comments

suck on pretty much story they post. Idiots.

[PatrynXX]

54. coming from yahoo thats kinda a big wow

as Yahoo News tends to run AP and runs itself like Fox News.


Goes the long road about the civil war between Fiscal Conservatives and Social Conservatives. the latter are having too much fun. Dems used to pay the bills but for some reason now totally afraid of taxes. which comes with the Irony of having Republicans suggest the poor should have their taxes raised. No matter how much spending you cut. Without revenue you'll never pay off the debt.

[DiverDave]

55. Laws have been broken

I wonder if the spineless bastards will prosecute?

I'm not holding my breath.

[Why Syzygy]

57. There is sweet irony

in this scenario. The Greedy Corporatists refuse to share the load. So now all their US investments and holdings have been downgraded.
They have a credit rating too! This is not as disastrous for them as it is for us. But for once they cannot escape the consequences of their warped personalities.

[harun]

58. How the hell did this article get past the Ministry of Information folks?

Rec for truth.

[ashling]

60. I put this as my status on fb and my comment was

"it's difficult to escape the conclusion that America's credit rating was intentionally sabotaged by Congressional Republicans."

[liberal N proud]

61. WOW!

[goforit]

62. Re-election for Tea Party? .....NOT

[spanone]

65. k&r...

[SpiralHawk]

66. Republicons Vs. America

Nota Bene.

[DemocratAholic]

67. who are these people at S&P

Is it possible S&P did this downgrade as a way to make Obama look bad? Could this be a political move? Who are these people running S&P? Are they Republicans? Do they have an axe to grind?

What I find interesting about this downgrade, if it was made because of political concerns (as S&P has admitted was the number one reason)...why don't they specify that it was because Republicans brought the debt to the brink of default. S&P seems to have not said anything about that. Instead they seem focused on the size of the debt, BUT that was not the major reason.

It does seem to me after the financial crisis, the Obama administration did not have kind words for these credit rating agencies. Perhaps this is payback. This seems to be a drastic move, considering all the financial crises USA has been through and always maintained the same credit rating.

[Lucky Luciano]

70. No question that the Republicans single handedly and intentionally caused the d/g. nt

[Stuart G]

71. This is more than you think it is..

Yahoo News, a rightwing media whore reported it. I have followed Yahoo News for quite a while. They are true whores, and their headlines and stories reflect this.
The fact that was reported there , is very important. I believe the Conservative Wallsreeters, will take on the Kochs. Of course, I have been wrong before, (often) .. but the CWs are very mad and they have more money and power than the Kochs and the tea party.

Why are they mad? The downgrade could bring on a severe second recession. That could and will bring on increased regulation of all Wall Street and Conservative Businesses. It ain't rocket science. CWs do not want any regulation. They would rather take on the Kochs and pay some more in taxes, (yes, I really believe that) than have severe regulations on their business due to a deep recession started by this downgrade. The CWs control the media and normal Puke politics . The Kochs and teabaggers are not normal. They, the Kochs and teabaggers will be gone faster than you think. While that may not seem possible, the CWs want it. The CWs will make it so.

[surrealAmerican]

72. k & r

[life long demo]

73. Why do so few media outlets point the finger at the repugthugs?

I don't understand this. It is so obvious, it smacks you in the face.

[TomCADem]

74. Because The Media Is Funded By Corporate Advertisers, Thus You Have The Spin

It is a matter of economic incentives. Corporate sponsors do exert pressure on media outlets to change their coverage. Heck, this is why boycotts of advertisers occasionally yields results.

[cbdo2007]

79. The average American doesn't understand much....and the media is run by average Americans.