Obama Encourages More Hostage-Taking with Nod to Current Debt Ceiling Tactic

« Deficit Hysteria Aside, Economy Still Hard on Millions of Americans

Social Security “Fixes” Demonstrate Absurdity of Predicting 75 Years into the Future »

Obama Encourages More Hostage-Taking with Nod to Current Debt Ceiling Tactic
By: Jon Walker Friday April 29, 2011 11:53 am	Tweet11

When you give in to hostage-taking, you set a pattern that just encourages people to take more hostages, and ask for bigger ransoms every time. This is exactly what is happening thanks to President Obama previously declaring that he must give in to Republican hostage taking tactics. From the Hill:

House Republicans are considering a plan to grant only incremental increases to the federal debt limit in a bid to extract more concessions on spending cuts and budgetary reform from the Obama administration.

The idea has a champion in Grover Norquist, the conservative activist and president of Americans for Tax Reform, who says he is “building allies” in the House Republican Conference to push for extending the debt limit every two months.

Since Obama allows and even encourages this kind of tactic, it is just going to keep happening and getting worse.

Even if Obama were trying to use the debt ceiling to play a game of rotating villain, so he could pretend he was “forced” into accepting some regressive deficit reduction package, in the long run, feigning weakness is a really bad idea.

3 Comments

3 Responses to “Obama Encourages More Hostage-Taking with Nod to Current Debt Ceiling Tactic”

selise April 29th, 2011 at 4:04 pm

in the long run, feigning weakness is a really bad idea.

maybe he’s not feigning?

James K. Galbraith: We Need to Make an Honorable Fight… the Fate of the Entire Country is at Stake

Recovery begins with realism and there is nothing to be gained by kidding ourselves. On the topics that I know most about, the administration is beyond being a disappointment. It’s beyond inept, unprepared, weak, and ineffective. Four and again two years ago, the people demanded change. As a candidate, the President promised change. In foreign policy and the core economic policies, he delivered continuity instead. That was true on Afghanistan and it was and is true in economic policy, and especially with respect to the banks. What we got was George W. Bush’s policies without Bush’s toughness, without his in-your-face refusal to compromise prematurely, without what he himself called his understanding that you do not negotiate with yourself.

It’s a measure of where we are, I think, that at a meeting of Americans for Democratic Action, you find me comparing President Obama unfavorably to President Bush.

April 30th, 2011 at 4:11 am

must give into …I think that should read, give in to

It is imperative that the debt ceiling not be raised until major major major spending cuts are negotiated. We are, simply put, out of real money.
The printing presses have de-valued the dollar and stagflation has begun. This is a recipe for disaster of imense proportions.

selise May 1st, 2011 at 5:55 am

In response to alamode @ 2

can’t be “out of real money.”

but there IS a difference between spending trillions lining the pockets of the banksters and wise spending.

Sorry but the comments are closed on this post

« Deficit Hysteria Aside, Economy Still Hard on Millions of Americans

Social Security “Fixes” Demonstrate Absurdity of Predicting 75 Years into the Future »