We’ve Been Screwed

As we’ve learned with terrorism there isn’t much you can do when your nemesis is willing to take himself down while taking you down.

I have avoided writing about what’s just happened in Congress concerning the federal debt ceiling. Actually, I’ve done more than that. I’ve avoided reading about it or watching programs about it on TV.

I feel I’ve we’ve been screwed. It hurts a lot.

As we’ve learned with terrorism there isn’t much you can do when your nemesis is willing to take himself down while taking you down. That’s what went on. The deal was shaped by partisans willing to act as suicide bombers!

The right wing of the Republican Party threatened to blow-up our economy if they didn’t get what they wanted. Everyone was scared because we knew they would!

Worse still the president and Democrats in Congress caved without a real fight. They control one house of Congress and the Executive Branch and they came away with bubkis.

This agreement might appease the bond rating agencies and help our nation’s balance sheet in the short term, but it guarantees the pain felt by the middle and lower class will persist and probably get worse. This deal won’t spawn jobs. The gulf between haves and have-nots will grow. The President and Democrats in Congress ought to be ashamed.

I’m not saying we shouldn’t cut back government spending. We should. There are loads of wasteful military programs and subsidies which produce the opposite of their intended result. At the same time we should put money into rebuilding our crumbling national infrastructure. We can should raise revenues by asking wealthy people and corporations to pay more.

There is little in this agreement I like or support. The intransigence shown by the Tea Party is a nightmare for all of us and now they that they feel empowered that will only get worse!

It’s worth saying again: We’ve been screwed.

(This is seems a good time to remind you these are my opinions alone. They do not necessarily reflect the opinions of my family, friends or employer.)

Hey Congress, Enough Already!

Pompous asses don’t want to be associated with you. You’re cheapening their brand!

If the graph of my 401-K was actually a roller coaster’s track it would be shut down! Too dangerous. Too many sharp turns. Too scary.

Hey Congress. Enough already. I’m sick of you. What you’re doing in DC is rubbing off on my retirement funds.

Pompous asses don’t want to be associated with you either. You’re cheapening their brand!

We have a totally dysfunctional Congress. At least one party seems to have forgotten the goal is to advance the country, not defeat the opposition!

Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky said this last fall,

“The single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term president”

Mitch. May I call you Mitch? Mitch, that’s the most anti-American thing I’ve ever heard a politician say! That’s the single most important thing for you to achieve? Idiot.

I blame a lot of this in the fiery vitriol that has overtaken politics in America. Selling a position has become much less important than injuring an opponent. Partisans get so caught up in the rhetoric they become incapable of backing down.

Compromise? Ha!

I had a small fight last night on Facebook. One of my friends published a link to a series of quotes and excerpts from Barack Obama’s books. They made Obama look awful.

Alas, they were taken out-of-context and in a few cases just made up. Obama hadn’t said those things. It didn’t matter.

When the error of her source was pointed out to my friend she refused to withdraw. In fact she doubled down posting another link. She told me she wouldn’t apologize.

She seemed anxious to hurt this president she reviles. If there weren’t facts matching the quotes she linked to it didn’t matter. Surely there were facts somewhere.

That’s what’s going on in Washington. Policies that looked fine when first introduced become poisonous when adopted by the opposition. It’s bad if the other guy thinks it’s good.

I’ve had enough of this stuff. Congress, you’re screwing around with my life and I don’t appreciate it.