“Default” Redefined
It’s been confusing, disingenuous, and most often used as an out-and-out lie, not just by Mr Obama, the Democrats, and the media, but even the lamentable Wendel Goler of Fox. But as Pilgrim pointed out here several days ago, only a fraction of the government’s revenues each month must go to paying our creditors, principally bond-holders such as China and Saudi Arabia.
If we don’t make those payments then, and only then do we go into default, and not even Obama could reduce American revenues by that much. (Although he is trying.)
Every use of the term “default” other than in that context is a fabrication and lie.
This especially refers to Mr Obama’s use of “default.” It is either based on misinformation, actual incompetence, or a lie.
What Obama refers to as “default” is when we reach our credit card limit, the bank won’t extend our credit any further and then we must turn back to our expense side, and look at 1) our spending habits, and 2) contracts we’ve already made based on the assumption the bank would extend our credit. Oops.
We can also increase our income, by taking a second job, moonlighting. But let’s assume we were forced to sign a contract with a third party accounting firm (the Republican House) so to insure we cannot increase our revenues by going out and holding up banks, stagecoaches, and innocent pedestrians. (For reasons we’re not yet sure why, there are tried and tested ways to increase revenues greatly…by adding new taxpayers and jobs…which Obama seems not to care about pursuing.)
In other words, the president wants to raise revenues by taking money from the job creators so he can hire new government employees, which depletes state coffers, instead of raising revenues by letting them keep more of their money to hire more private sector employees, which, in no time would have the treasury’s coffers running over with cash.
To the president “default” is having to choose, from those line items he contracted for in the past, (and I do mean him, not Bush, and not the Congress in 1936) as to which one to give preference to and pay. This is default-of-the heart.
As to possible cuts to correct this, Defense, social security, medicaid, veterans, are still on the table, while national parks, the polar bear exhibit at the Billings MT Zoo, the Department of Education, and those 429,000 new employees Obama hired since being in office are off.
There are two options about the how to go about curing “this” default;
1) let congress decide by coming up with a budget deal which they’ve been half-heartedly trying the past 6 months, and unlikely to succeed as they are worlds apart in worldview, philosophy, ethics, even reserved seats in the Hereafter, i.e, the entire direction the country should be going in, free society or managed one
2) If they cannot decide, then, by operation of law it falls upon the president, through the Secretary of Treasury to make these choices unilaterally.
It is by forcing the president to make these choices and appear at least a year or two more mature than he did at his press conference yesterday, that Obama calls “default,” for he must make these choices out of his hip pocket.
Obama is being forced to “default” on his stated position of having his cake and eat it too.
Call CreditReport.com, Mr Obama. It not just the amount of the debt, but the stupidity of it that causes your Score to go from 770 to 590, or as Moody’s call it, “down the crapper”. That will be on your head, not the GOP.
In code, Option 2 really means, “Take it to the people, and let the People decide”. Quite frankly, Obama dreads this outcome far more than the GOP should.
Obama’s near Melt-down, Friday July 22
It was evident in the tremulous tone of his voice at the Friday afternoon presser to announce the breakdown of negotiations. He lied, and has already been called on it. Turns out he tried to crawdad a deal (move the goalposts…probably because his own party became undone as to its terms) that was already agreed on, which in turn, has exposed to not just the GOP team, but the nation at large, the kind of sniveling coward he is.
Along with welshing on a debt, this is the lowest form of human conduct.
And it is this fact, not numbers and pie charts, that will drive the rest of these negotiations.
Obama appeared yesterday as a child in front of a school guidance counselor, who only had to receive a simple prompt from the press for him to go on and on and on about how he had tried so hard, conceded everything but his wife’s good looks, but still they bullied him and walked away.
Last week, I wrote that it would only take one question from the press to make Obama come undone. Yesterday he almost did it all by himself.
It’s anyone’s guess as to how the next two weeks will work out, with or without Obama’s presence, but now as far as the GOP negotiations – the options are all theirs.
If need be, they can “call Obama’s bluff” and take it to the people with confidence.
