Republi-CON Budget Drama, Much To Do About Nothing

UPDATE II: "You’re not still worried about the federal deficit, are you? That is so 2010! Get over it! The presidential candidates certainly have." Read the Washington Post, Growing federal debt recedes as political issue.

The Republi-CONs conned the Tea Party.


UPDATE: "[I]n their first major act of 2012, House Republicans picked up exactly where they left off: They staged a duplicitous debate in which they pretended that they were going to deny President Obama permission to increase the government’s borrowing limit.

The pretense had been clear since last summer, when 174 House Republicans voted for a budget deal that guaranteed that the debt limit would continue to increase this year unless two-thirds of the House and Senate voted otherwise — a practical impossibility.

But that didn’t stop many of those same 174 Republicans from marching to the floor Wednesday afternoon to vote for a resolution “disapproving” of the very same debt-limit increase they had already blessed. It was a model of deception: claiming to oppose something they had guaranteed would take effect."

Read the Washington Post, For House Republicans, a game of debt charades.

Last week the national "debt stood at $15.1 trillion, $1 trillion more than when the [Republi-con House] got to town. By the end of next year, projections show, it will grow by an additional $1 trillion."

And how much did the Republi-con House cut next years budget? "[B]y only about $7 billion, a sliver so tiny [you] could measure its impact in minutes."

Read the Washington Post, Washington’s year of drama leaves little done regarding debt.

As I say each show, I'm waiting, where's the balanced budget. But don't hold you breath because the Republi-CONs conned the Tea Party, there'll be no $100 billion budget cut, and let's admit the obvious, the Republi-CONs are not serious about deficits.

I also point out that to balance the budget, Congress should do nothing.

It's Not Who You Are, It's Who You Know

So much for the Republi-CON 'classless merit-based society' myth, especially in Mississippi:

"A look at the clemency applications of felons who were pardoned reveal that many contained personal appeals from friends of Gov. Haley Barbour and major Republican donors.

Read The New York Times, Many Pardon Applicants Stressed Connection to Mississippi Governor.

More proof that "the instinct to favor family [and friends] never disappears and will reassert itself whenever possible."

Cap and Trade and Save

"Criticism of cap-and-trade programs often centers on the costs they impose on electric power companies and their consumers. But as I report in Friday’s Times, New York and other Northeastern and mid-Atlantic states that are trying out such a system have found that those costs can be offset by energy efficiency measures paid for by the cap-and-trade program itself."

Read The New York Times, Reaping a Bonus From Cap-and-Trade.

And if you don't believe in global warming, then explain what happens to 35 gigatons of CO2 each year.