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US barrels toward a fiscal cliff
MSN Money ^ | 4/18/2012 | Anthony Mirhaydari

Posted on 04/19/2012 1:40:19 PM PDT by Vintage Freeper

For all the well-paid analysts and sophisticated computer systems that dominate trading, Wall Street still can't seem to focus on more than one thing at a time.For now, the focus has returned to the European debt crisis, as the issues that cut down Greece, Portugal and Ireland have hit Spain hard.

But very soon, as Election Day approaches, the attention will turn back to U.S. debt and deficit issues, which, as in Spain, are caused by too much debt and a government trying to avoid its budget-cutting duties. Remember last summer's debt-ceiling debacle and the market meltdown caused partly by the loss of the Treasury's AAA credit rating? Get ready for the sequel. (Snip)

Economic research suggests both higher debt and deep short-term austerity limit economic growth. So we can pick our poison. (Snip)

A decision on all of these issues -- the deficit, the debt ceiling, tax cuts and unemployment benefits -- will need to be made in the context of a fierce, polarized presidential election, the lame-duck congressional session that will follow and an even-more-divided government in 2013. Prediction markets suggest President Barack Obama will win re-election and Republicans will hold the House and retake the Senate. (Snip)

(Excerpt) Read more at money.msn.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Politics/Elections
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To: Jim Robinson
No one is pushing or even recommending Mitt Romney. What you are seeing is a way to change Mitt Romney from what he is into something much closer to Ronald Reagan.

If freedom loving conservatives are to politically win back the country from socialists, we have to turn socialists into freedom loving capitalists. Ronald Reagan was smart enough and enough of a persistent student of history that he figured it out for himself. Not nearly enough people are like Ronald Reagan and able to figure it out for themselves; most will need help.

It is unlikely that you and I are going to convince Romney to change. But Charles Koch has the wherewithall to get Palin, Gingrich and the others together in a setting that will make if far more likely that Romney can actually be enlightened under the guidance of people who have already discovered the truth.

And it doesn't hurt that Romney is a reasonably skilled politician who wants the top job and he wants it in a setting where history says he is an underdog. With the right coaching, he can probably be convinced that his chances of winning are much higher if he can can convince conservatives like yourself and most Freepers to vote for him instead of passing on the race and letting Obama win by default.

I would be willing to bet you voted for McCain-Palin. If Charles Koch can make that scenario happen, there is the distinct possbility that Romney can be converted to a conservative that is genuinely well to the right of McCain by the time he has the nomination in hand and has named Palin as his running mate. With just a little more instruction and coaching, he might well be tranformed into something much closer to Ronald Reagan.

Nothing even remotely close to something like this is going to happen if Obama wins or Romney wins without Koch's and FreeRepublic's influence to pull him to the right where he would have the best chance of beating Obama. FreeRepublic will not help without your getting onboard. And I am pointedly not asking you to help Mitt Romney, I am asking you to help us get FreeRepublic's Plan into Charles Koch's hands. Koch has means and stature that he can bring to bear and that will allow the scenario I have outlined to actually have a chance to take place. Neither you, nor I, nor FreeRepublic can do what Mr. Koch can do, but Jim, you have the means to get FreeRepublic on board and FreeRepublic has the means to send enough messages or mail to Koch Industries that some of them will rise to the attention of Mr. Koch. After that it will be up to him to recognize just how politically powerful FreeRepublic's Plan can be. It carries the seeds that can grow into an instrument that makes it possible for us to get our freedom back and turn it back into a country run by We the people instead of a country run by the government.

21 posted on 04/20/2012 6:18:16 AM PDT by Vintage Freeper (We have it in our power to begin the world over again.)
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To: Vintage Freeper; All
Solution ...A turn back to former levels of spending prior to Obama becoming President. IE He has hired more than 50,000 employees for government agencies since coming to office.

Turn back spending in all areas and RESET to budgets prior to Obama and maybe before the last two years of Bush. Difficult ... there will be lots of crying and wild accusations, yet it is what it takes to return America to sound footing.

We will owe the monies we borrowed. Trillions it is said. Where did it go? Who has it? We have been raped and we are sitting still for it. Obama has big plans to become (what it is he really wants to do after his reelection). God help us.

Tyranny is not the path to allow. It will be painful. Cut waste, not in a going through the motions, but in really becoming effective with the best people we have on the jobs.

STOP IT DEAD IN IT'S Tracks NOW!!!

22 posted on 04/20/2012 8:43:58 AM PDT by geologist (The only answer to the troubles of this life is Jesus. A decision we all must make.)
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To: editor-surveyor

“he is like W the second, and we cannot survive that.”

I think you know the significance of my FReep handle. So I have a deep reason to disagree with you, but for another reason.

I look at W as parallel to the 7 year consulship of Marius, a proto-socialist whose policies badly degraded the Roman republic so that only a dictator could control all the INTENTIONALLY divided interests, particularly the deliberately increased number’s dependent upon the government providing for them.

In my view W was Marius lite, Bummer is Marius intense, and Bumney will be Marius consolidated. If there IS a Sulla who arises to defeat out all the principles and cronies in this fascist/Statist/Globalist cadre, he will not bring back the American republic in anything you or I wish it to be. He’d almost certainly be part of the plan of the Incrementalists who’ve insisted upon being called “Progressives” for over 100 years.

I am not completely disagreeing with you. Just consider all 3 — W, O, and R — as front men for the dismantling of constitutional limits on power.

Needless to say I’ve more analysis to back up this short synopsis. I don’t yet know what can be done about it outside of prayer. That was something the ancient roman republicans did not have as part of their culture because there were yet no Christianity.


23 posted on 04/20/2012 10:49:34 AM PDT by Avoiding_Sulla (How humanitarian are "leaders" who back Malthusian, Utilitarian & Green nutcases?)
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To: dirtboy; Jim Robinson; Jeff Head; Cen-Tejas; sport; MWS; seekthetruth; Liz; ForGod'sSake; ...
"It is going to be a very, very, very hard sell that I can believe anything Mitt says."

That is understandable and everybody would have a right to be skeptical. But if Koch vouches for him, Palin vouches for him, and Newt plus the others vouch for him, the smart thing to do is believe and vote with the hope and expectation that Romney would live up to expectations because there are no other alternatives today that would even remotely offer any chance at all for turning the country around.

This is the best possible political deal in town. No one is going to put anything forward at this point that is credibly better or offers anything remotely close to the kind of potential this puts on the political table.

And even if Romney turned out to be a complete disappointment, it is still a better outcome than the alternatives. Why?

Having been Vice President, Sarah Palin's stature and presence in future elections will be compelling. It is not possible for me to believe the Democrats could ever find a credible opponent to run against her.

24 posted on 04/20/2012 11:56:12 AM PDT by Vintage Freeper (We have it in our power to begin the world over again.)
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To: Vintage Freeper
...if Koch vouches for him, Palin vouches for him, and Newt plus the others vouch for him, the smart thing to do is believe and vote with the hope and expectation that Romney would live up to expectations

Sorry friend, but authority figures don't do my thinking for me. If our Republican luminaries want to sell out their convictions for a bunch of false promises from a demonstrated liberal, they're more than welcome to do so. They'll never have my support again.

25 posted on 04/20/2012 12:05:04 PM PDT by Windflier (To anger a conservative, tell him a lie. To anger a liberal, tell him the truth.)
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To: Avoiding_Sulla

In our lifetimes, only Kennedy and Reagan stand out for not setting out to destroy our republic. All of the others armed our enemies, and favored them in trade, while attacking the Christian basis of our culture.

The gross ugliness of Bush lies in the difference between what he pretended to be, and what he clearly was. We had no great expectations for Clinton, nor Obama.


26 posted on 04/20/2012 12:08:51 PM PDT by editor-surveyor
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To: editor-surveyor; Jim Robinson; Jeff Head; Cen-Tejas; sport; MWS; seekthetruth; Liz; ForGod'sSake; ..
"..I am still looking for a solution..."

Charles Koch has been looking for fifty years. Ben Franklin knew we were in trouble before the ink was dry on the Constitution; "A republic, if you can keep it," and every conservative since de Tocqueille, “A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy.."

FreeRepublic has one. Perhaps you should examine it so you can stop wasting your time looking elsewhere and start working to advance the one we have.

27 posted on 04/20/2012 12:12:02 PM PDT by Vintage Freeper (We have it in our power to begin the world over again.)
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To: Vintage Freeper
"..I am still looking for a solution..."

FreeRepublic has one. Perhaps you should examine it so you can stop wasting your time looking elsewhere and start working to advance the one we have.

You mean Vintage Freeper has a 'solution'. You directed me to the write-up on your home page the other day. Given that you appear to be advocating support for Mitt Romney, I don't feel compelled to study any 'solution' you might advance.

Perhaps you can summarize it here, and convince me to give it serious consideration.

28 posted on 04/20/2012 12:25:38 PM PDT by Windflier (To anger a conservative, tell him a lie. To anger a liberal, tell him the truth.)
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To: Vintage Freeper

The Conservative Cause is clearly served by an Obama re-election rather than a Romney win.

A Right leaning/Conservative Congress can easily remain united behind an Obama re-election....whereas the same Congress will be sliced and diced by the RINOS if Romney is in the White House.

The Powers That Be fully understand this....


29 posted on 04/20/2012 12:30:19 PM PDT by mo (If you understand, no explanation is needed. If you don't understand, no explanation is possible.)
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To: Windflier
"Sorry friend, but authority figures don't do my thinking for me."

How clearly are you thinking?

As it stands today, Obama or Romney is going to be the next President. For the sake of discussion, assume that God has ordained it that Obama is going to lose. As you see it now, Romney is a second class socialist as compared to Barak.

Even if Romney and the others made a complete fool out of you, you would still be still better off because of Palin's improved electability.

30 posted on 04/20/2012 12:35:59 PM PDT by Vintage Freeper (We have it in our power to begin the world over again.)
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To: Vintage Freeper

We’re not idiot battered wives who fall in love with a “dreamy” guy who’s a complete jerk but thinks we can change him if we “love him enough.”

Bush, Sr. fired all of Reagan’s people as soon as he won the presidency despite being there for 8 years as V.P. You can’t teach an old RINO new tricks. Palin won’t be allowed anywhere near a Romney administration.

As Rush explained on Greta a few months ago, the Republican party is not a conservative party. When a true conservative gets through it’s either by accident, by the grass roots fighting them the entire way there, or because they feel they have no alternative except bring in the conservative or they’ll lose the election.

A rubber stamped RINO president isn’t necessarily going to be any better for the country than a gridlocked Democrat president. Plus we get another chance in 4 years if Romney loses, but not for 8 years if he wins. And if he’s as popular as Ford or Bush, Sr., then he’ll simply pave the way for a return of Obama or another liberal president in 2016, and within that 4 years they’d have enough time to rebuild a majority in Congress and avoid all gridlock.


31 posted on 04/20/2012 12:48:53 PM PDT by JediJones (From the makers of Romney, Bloomberg/Schwarzenegger 2016. Because the GOP can never go too far left.)
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To: mo
"The Powers That Be fully understand this.."

If the Reoublican Powers that be understood this..we wouldn't have the mess that we are in.

We had a consideraly less liberal Democrat (Clinton compared to Obama, and the most right leaning conservative Congress in seventy years and things got worse.

Don't confuse gridlock with actually electing a President and Congress that might actually have a chance to turn the tide. If Palin, Gingrich, Santorum and Paul are as bad as you seem to believe or imply, then why bother to vote at all because the US would be at the gates of hell.

32 posted on 04/20/2012 12:53:06 PM PDT by Vintage Freeper (We have it in our power to begin the world over again.)
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To: Vintage Freeper

You go ahead and reward Romney for being a big money establishment pick that could care less about the people of the USA.

He is a failed politician that has spent a fortune to try and save his legacy. We the people of the USA are the least of his concerns.


33 posted on 04/20/2012 12:57:16 PM PDT by stevestras
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To: Vintage Freeper

“Palin, Gingrich, Santorum and Paul...”

If any of ‘em were on a ballot anywhere...I’d be happy to vote for them. Am not votin’ Romney. Period. End of Story.

the 1994 Republican Congress pulled Clinton far more right than Dole ever would have gone...and as a result the USA finances were considerably improved by 2000....

Same thing will happen this time around


34 posted on 04/20/2012 1:05:16 PM PDT by mo (If you understand, no explanation is needed. If you don't understand, no explanation is possible.)
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To: Jim Robinson
This guy has been trying to convince anyone who will listen for the past couple years that he has designed THE ONE and ONLY roadmap for fixing America and the world. Funny enough if you're amused by delusions of grandeur, (not my cup of tea) but a little bit of his prattle goes a long, long way. Kind of like me...

8^D

35 posted on 04/20/2012 1:23:47 PM PDT by Gargantua ("A bruvvah gusta keep dat pimp-hand strong!.")
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To: Vintage Freeper
"Having been Vice President, Sarah Palin's..."

How clearly are you thinking? Good grief!

36 posted on 04/20/2012 1:27:52 PM PDT by Gargantua ("A bruvvah gusta keep dat pimp-hand strong!.")
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To: asinclair

Your Federal Government burns through 4 Billion of our dollars EVERY day.

Nibbling at the edges is out of the question!

Ponder this:

Government and Medicine do not mix.

All known Government Medical Programs have failed financially.

The US Federal Government is broke.

We cannot afford to allow ANY Government Medical “Entitlement” Program to continue, except for our Military Veterans.

It is all about the money.

After 80 years, the experiment of buying votes by promising “Entitlements” has ended in financial ruin for America.

The longer that the voters ignore the above facts, the greater the damage will be for America.

BTW, to test my assertions, just look into the eyes of your children and grandchildren, and then tell them that they will work a large portion of each of their workdays to pay for the failed Federal Entitlement Programs that we began.

It is all about the money, your grandchildren’s money.


37 posted on 04/20/2012 1:54:00 PM PDT by Graewoulf ((Dictator Baby-Doc Barack's obama"care" violates Sherman Anti-Trust Law, AND U.S. Constitution.))
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To: JediJones; stevestras; mo
I suspect that each of you are good solid well-meaning conservatives. Ronald Reagan, like most Christians, believed that there is some good in almost everybody. In contrast, Reagan was not blind to the truth, that most politicians whether liberal or conservative, are corrupt. If Republican politicians knew how, or really wanted to solve the problem of big government, they have had ample opportunity.

The United States is in decline. Using history as our guide, we might have fewer than five elections left, but if our problems are to be solved in time, they need to be addressed now.

The Reagan Wing is the solution to politicians. It is a way to recruit candidates cut from the same cloth as the Founders and made from the same mold as Ronald Reagan. It is too late for this election with the single exception of recruiting Romney to become part of the Reagan Wing.

38 posted on 04/20/2012 1:58:48 PM PDT by Vintage Freeper (We have it in our power to begin the world over again.)
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To: Vintage Freeper
Even if Romney and the others made a complete fool out of you, you would still be still better off because of Palin's improved electability.

Cut to the chase here. Are you suggesting a Romney/Palin ticket?

I don't see that happening, although I wouldn't put it past the Romney campaign to reach out to her as a VP choice. They're going to need someone who can help real conservatives to hold their noses and pull the lever for Romney.

If Palin accepts his offer, she will greatly diminish herself in my estimation. I, for one, would have a hard time ever trusting her again, if she ran with him.

39 posted on 04/20/2012 2:18:51 PM PDT by Windflier (To anger a conservative, tell him a lie. To anger a liberal, tell him the truth.)
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To: Vintage Freeper
And even if Romney turned out to be a complete disappointment, it is still a better outcome than the alternatives.

Actually it's about the same and neither Romney nor Obama is desirable. Obama at least has some resistance from Republicans in Congress, but Romney? Romney would be able to push his projects through easily since he could get the support of Democrats and Republicans.
40 posted on 04/20/2012 2:24:10 PM PDT by af_vet_rr
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