Tea Party Responsible for the S&P Downgrade ?

[frayne]

In my humble opinion I feel both parties are responsible for the debt and mis managing our nation's financial affairs. I was just wondering how the rest feel about this downgrade being blamed on the Tea Party ?

 

[HFWR]

I foresee this being moved to "Politics", or an appearance from Porky...

Nevertheless, any pressure applied by the "Tea Party" to get our fiscal house in order can't be all bad, though they (as if they're homogenous) seem somewhat inflexible as to the solution, and while they appear to understand the gravity of deficits and debt, I'm not sure they grasp the consequences of the rapid deflationary aspects of immediate, draconian cuts...

Then again, I'm just a dumb ol' country boy...

 

[Tadpole]

I don't think us armchair experts can say very much. But I think that from the perspective of real solutions, the Tea Party's ideas are not realistic and may make it harder to dig out.

 

[ERD50]

ditto to HFWR.

I also find it 'interesting' that anyone would 'blame' (or credit, depending on your view - trying to keep it non-partisan) the group that has ~ 60 of 435 seats in the house, and only 5 in the Senate. Looking at it another way, wow - those guys/gals (many are freshmen) must really be savvy. A small minority 'out foxed' all those old timer professional politicians and bent them to their will!


Tea Party Caucus - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

( I better stop typing, and post before this gets closed!)

-ERD50

 

[ERD50]

I don't think us armchair experts can say very much. But I think that from the perspective of real solutions, the Tea Party's ideas are not realistic and may make it harder to dig out.

It's a possibility that they are not even trying to be realistic - but that their approach (whether you agree with it or not), is to take a hard line in order to shift the debate more towards their view.

Or to put it another way - they realistically expect to only shift the scales a bit. But with small numbers they needed to take an extreme stand in order to make a small shift.

Just my observations on possible motives. Could be way wrong.

Personally, I'd like to see more flexibility from them on the revenue side. I think they can 'sell' the idea of increased revenues to conservatives if it is done through tax reform. Especially if it could be done by lowering marginal rates a tad, but still show increased overall revenue (increased effective rates overall). And then, they can use increased revenues as a negotiating point with the rest of Congress. Puts them in a better position for spending adjustments.

-ERD50

 

[FIREd]

‪Porky Pig Cartoon Ending "That's All Folks!"‬‏ - YouTube