Disaster Not Averted as Senate Passes Debt Ceiling Agreement

August 02, 2011, by Melanie Nathan,

While Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky) was gloating on the Senate floor today, I am reminded of the Bush wars that got us into the trillions of dollars of debt in the first place.   Displaying Capital Hill condescension at its worst – McConnell lambasted President Obama out of one mouth and praised the compromise out of the other.

Capital Hill provided further insult to the intelligence of  “we the people,”  as the Senate heard the soliloquy of their minority leader, who while claiming victory chose the debt ceiling speech to reprimand President Obama and assert the Republican notion that its not about adding money to the coffers, at all, but rather its about cutting spending – as an absolute.

“This is just a first step. A crucial step to fiscal sanity, ” said McConnell, thinking any person with basic IQ could believe that assertion.  Out of touch, the Senator fails to see the frustration of the American people and will be held accountable, certainly by this blogger, when it comes election time.  To me its quite clear, the Republicans simply fail to equate income and expense.   To suggest that the debt is only a result of spending is insanity in itself. It is about taxing the billionaires and the corporations – building the coffers and balancing the spending accordingly.  Yet again they stand, declaring the American people the winners, while they are poised to rob Americans of critical social services.  I see this as persecution of the poor!  Persecution of the middle class!

Fortunately Senate Majority leader Harry Reid used his retributive opportunity with tact and clarity, noting the need for taxation, noting the cause and effect of the Bush wars.

The U.S.A. did not get into trillions of dollars in debt in the post Clinton surplus era for no reason.  We all know that President  Clinton added 23 million jobs and Bush lost 8 million.    We all know that Bush spent trillions of dollars on an unnecessary war.

Senator Harry Reid – “with one day left we were able to get together and avert disaster”- is a fair statement, but somehow I really cannot get over the fact that this was a human made disaster and one that could have been averted at the outset.

In fact the way I look at it, the disaster was anything but averted. The American people and their relationship to Congress will never be the same after this experience.

So our credit rating will probably go down anyway, the stock markets are not rallying as expected, and we need jobs in America immediately. The disaster is Congress – the disaster is feigned democracy – the disaster is the two party system – the disaster is the impact of The Tea Party- the disaster is the tax code!

The President is expected to sign the Debt Ceiling law later today.