The President and Congress acted this way once before

It resulted in the huge Wall Street Bail outs passing loaded with trojan horses that showered Billions on the undeserving and cost average Americans a fortune. It was all so rushed, and the details were not available to be reviewed and debated because... there was a HUGE CRISIS! Legislation passed that shuffled Trillions of dollars into and out of pockets because... there was a HUGE CRISIS! The world as we know it was about to end if something wasn't done RIGHT NOW!

You know, at least that time there was a crisis, brought on by many of the same people who got richer from the Federal response to that crisis, but a crisis nonetheless. This time it is a completely manufactured crisis, the debt ceiling needing to be raised for the double umpteenth time.

So maybe a deal had to be made of some sort to get by this one. Maybe a trillion dollars in spending cuts could not be avoided, or maybe they could, we'll never know really. Because why stop at one Trillion when we can shoot for 4 Trillion instead? Why not revamp Social Security Medicare and Medicaid too while we're at it? And, you know, our tax codes are kind of messy, so why not also negotiate new tax codes behind closed doors that lower the top bracket and encourage outsourcing of American jobs? And why not leave many details blank, so they can't be debated by Congress or the American People, until the very last second before a vote, or better yet - to be determined later?

Because, you know, there's a HUGE CRISIS! Something must be done RIGHT NOW!

Does anyone have a spare cocktail napkin handy? I just got an idea for completely revamping the U.S. Criminal Justice code that I want to jot down and have included in the budget deal. Among other things it will reduce the deficit by letting white collar criminals out of jail - they can be trusted to monitor themselves on parole, on the honor system. There's a lot of other stuff in there too, but it should be passed now with the details announced later, because WE HAVE TO ACT NOW!

Yup. They have to kill the village to save it because, like you say, There's a HUGE CRISIS!

Saving the future can't wait for elections. This is a CRISIS!

not bullseye =pure bullchit
Of course we have a crisis;two wars unfunded now a nerd saying let it crash? really do you have asny idea what happens if they let it crash?
ABSOLUTLEY NOT!

Who are WE to raise questions about the way they manager THEIR country? So what if WE have to pay for it, they have paper that says it all belongs to THEM.

we're sufficiently scared.

at least, those among us still not seeing through this fucking game you are all playing with people's lives.

land of the free, home of the brave!

I'm afraid if it loks like there might be resistence to the SS cuts that they'll let us default for a few days just so that we are so paralyzed by fear that we'll give it all to them if they'll just "save us" from the default.

What kills me about the richest 1% is that owning 99% of the wealth isnt enough for them, so they employ their dumbass lackeys to help them screw the rest of the world out of the piddly little bit they dont already own. What's next after that, what comes after they own everything and the world is a giant shitbox, where are they gonna go and what are they gonna do for sport?

I think they should hire Vince to be the Official Government Spokesperson for the catastrophe du jour.

You're gonna love his nuts.

There will be, after this has settled, a few rich people getting even richer.

And, of course, the mass of humanity all giving up a bit so that those rich get richer.

k&r