A Spanking In The Works

You have to know that Obama will put his best professorial touches to this:

House Republicans will head to the White House Wednesday for their first conference meeting with President Barack Obama, as Congress gears up for a battle over raising the nation’s borrowing limit.

The meeting, which will take place in the White House’s East Room Tuesday morning, will be the president’s first full introduction to the House Republican Conference.

In advance of the meeting, Speaker John Boehner’s (R-Ohio) staff released a statement signed by 150 economists arguing that Congress should offset the debt ceiling hike with spending cuts. Boehner himself took that position in a speech last month to the Economic Club of New York. The statement is expected to come up at the meeting with Obama.

“An increase in the national debt limit that is not accompanied by significant spending cuts and budget reforms to address our government’s spending addiction will harm private-sector job creation in America,” the statement read. “It is critical that any debt limit legislation enacted by Congress include spending cuts and reforms that are greater than the accompanying increase in debt authority being granted to the president.”

First, I'm curious to know what Obama's retort will be. I can think of about 200 economists who would, correctly, argue that cutting spending when jobs are needed is a horrible idea.

TRANSLATION: those GOP economists are fucking loons.

Too, the GOP has not exactly played their cards close to the vest, while Obama has. In fact, Boener has doubled down on teh stoopid in many cases, holding a symbolic vote last night rejecting an increase in the debt ceiling without spending cuts.

 

Which would actually have meaning if in fact, Obama hadn't already signaled that he'd be open to spending cuts in areas that really require it, like defense.

 

You don't bluff a poker player who's already signaled he's holding two aces in the hole by going all in, in other words. Obama doesn't strike me as being a big idiot like the last Resident (evil).

 

The basic flaw in Boener's argument, of course, and the one I expect Obama will lecture him on at great length, is job creation in America is a function of small businesses, which have already seen their taxes cut by Obama and have produced few jobs to show for it, through no fault of their own. If banks aren't lending money to them, they aren't building businesses.

 

More important, they would not benefit from the tax cuts the GOP have proposed (including extending the Bush tax cuts) and would in fact be mostly harmed by the spending cuts the Republicans have proposed. The banks have and would, however. And you'll note the divorce from reality here: tax cuts are benefitting folks who have not lent a hand to improving the American job picture.

 

Too, these job-creatin' folks are the front-line beneficiaries of health care reform, something the GOP has targeted as a main culprit of spending, despite the fact the fucker hasn't even taken effect yet.

 

We should probably start linking John Boehner's name with Herbert Hoover. That ought to make the connections crystal clear for even the stupidest yahoo on the right.