Posted on 07/10/2011 6:09:09 PM PDT by The Magical Mischief Tour
After meeting for exactly 90 minutes, the president and members of congress achieved absolutely nothing except for what ZH readers already knew: that a debt deal has to be reached by July 22 or else. "President Barack Obama said Sunday that "we need to" work out a debt deal within the next 10 days as he convened a meeting with congressional leaders, aiming to fashion a deficit reduction package for the next 10 years. As the meeting opened, Obama and the leaders sat around the table in Sunday casual dress. Asked whether the White House and Congress could "work it out in 10 days," Obama replied, "We need to." Despite Boehner's preference for a smaller, $2 trillion plan for deficit reduction, White House aides said Sunday that Obama would press the lawmakers to accept the larger deal. Republicans object to its substantial tax increases and Democrats dislike its cuts to programs for seniors and the poor. The aides, however, left room for negotiations on a more modest approach." And just like on Friday when the president's appearance was heralded as a harbinger of a massive NFP beat only to be the biggest let down since Geithner's TV appearances in February which sent the market down by 10 S&P points each time, so the president will address the nation tomorrow. From Reuters: "U.S. President Barack Obama will hold a news conference at 11 a.m. EDT (1500 GMT) on Monday about the status of negotiations to cut the deficit and raise the debt ceiling, the White House said on Sunday. Obama met with congressional leaders for about 75 minutes Sunday evening and will meet again with them on Monday "to discuss the ongoing efforts to find a balanced approach to deficit reduction," the White House said, without giving a time for that session."
More from the AP:
"He's not someone to walk away from a tough fight," White House chief of staff William Daley said. "Everyone agrees that a number around $4 trillion is the number that will ... make a serious dent in our deficit." But embedded among the tough words was rhetoric that acknowledged the "big deal's" prospects had become uncertain at best.
"We're going to try to get the biggest deal possible," said Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner.
It was an abrupt change from 24 hours earlier. Republicans late Saturday rejected the $4 trillion proposal, the largest of three under consideration, because its tax increases would doom it in the GOP-led House, Speaker John Boehner said.
The Ohio Republican informed Obama that a package of about $2 trillion, which bipartisan negotiators had identified but not agreed to, was more realistic.
Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky left little doubt that the $4 trillion deal was dead.
"I think it is," McConnell said. Raising taxes amid 9.2 percent unemployment, he added, "is a terrible idea. It's a job killer."
The statements threw into question the extent to which the Sunday meeting, called for 6 p.m. EDT, would move the talks toward a resolution as an Aug. 2 deadline loomed. That's when the nation would begin to default on its debts, administration officials say, if no deal is reached to raise the borrowing limit from $14.3 trillion.
One thing is certain: with each passing day until July 22 or T-Day, the day by which Congress has to pass the debt ceiling legislation, of which there are precisely 10 working days, the market, which has so far completely ignored any concern about a failure in the debt talks, will start getting increasingly more nervous. As a reminder there is a 4 week Bill auction this Tuesday: the last one priced at 0.000%. If the logjam in DC continues after Monday, something tells us the government will not get ultra short-term funding for free.
As for the spin free interpretation of what the "deficit deal" means for America, read our previous observations on the matter here.
“targeted job growth”
“infrastructure”
“rebuilding roads and bridges”
“broadband”
“Living in Fantasy Land.”
I agree. He’s thinking smallball. Dude should be thinking about something that would really make a big difference, like a giant public works project to build some really, really big pyramids. Something useful like that. He could even be buried in one of them after his reign ends.
lol Yep. You captured live action in the field! Heh...!
Employment statistics do not count people who are not looking for a job (they are considered to be "off-the-market") so that would exclude retirees, for example. Also, a large number of white males aged 20 to 25 are in school and do not work.
“I thought he was dead?”
He is.
OK....and I agree....and I believe most other Americans know this. Some will want to hear it; others not so much.
But the repub/rino/conserv/tparty KNOW that these "spins" are exactly what is coming.
Question: why don't they attack first?
In a military analogy, it would be like an army's commanders knowing with full and complete knowledge - the enemy's battle strategy, number of combat units, the exact tactics the enemy will use in the battle, the "logistical" elements the enemy possesses....and yet they do nothing until after the enemy attacks and kills many of their troops.
Then after the attack, they make excuses about how awful the enemy treated them...whining and complaining the entire time.
Troops are dead...the enemy has won yet again....the army commanders had the full knowledge of the enemy and exactly how they were going to be attacked....and yet did nothing.
Truthfully, the republican party makes me sick.
Obama smells blood in the water
He saw the R’s will cave
Now he is going for the kill
this guys very close to me just voting republican without even caring who the republican candidate is....and I’ve never voted for either party. That says a lot.
Yay! I’m just in time to hear that twit stutter and sputter and whine some more . . . wonder how late he’ll be to his own press conference this time?
From what I read yes he thought it all out.
Obama is creepy
You couldn’t get Hugo Chavez off your television set during his 1st term.
Is Obama studying Hugo tactics?
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