Boehner, McConnell say deal may be on the way
posted at 5:44 pm on July 30, 2011 by Ed Morrissey
National Journal reports on this ray of (limited) sunshine after a case of dueling chambers killed off the only two proposals on the table to the debt-ceiling impasse. John Boehner and Mitch McConnell told reporters that talks on a compromise have suddenly improved, mainly because the “right people” have come to the table and have started taking things seriously. Want to guess who the “right people” are — or more precisely, is?
Immediately after the House rejected a Democratic proposal for raising the debt ceiling, House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., appeared before reporters to say they are in negotiations with President Obama and that a deal will be reached before a critical Aug. 2 deadline.
“Our country is not going to default for the first time in history,” McConnell said as he posed with Boehner in the Speaker’s Capitol Hill office on the 2nd floor. “That is not going to happen. We now have a level of seriousness with the right people at the table that we needed. We’re going to get a result.”
Boehner concurred: “Despite our differences, we are dealing with reasonable, responsible people who want this crisis to end as quickly as possible and I think we will.”
The AP answers the question:
After weeks of intense partisanship, the White House and congressional leaders made a desperate, last-minute stab at compromise Saturday to avoid a government default threatened for early next week. “There is very little time,” declaredPresident Barack Obama.
Obama met with top Democrats at the White House and spoke by phone with Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell.
“He needs to indicate what he will sign, and we are in those discussions,” McConnell said of the president. He added he had also spoken with Vice President Joe Biden, who played a prominent role in earlier attempts to break the gridlock that has pushed the country to the verge of an unprecedented default.
“The right people at the table” isn’t a reference to Joe Biden. Biden has no role other than advisory in this or any other negotiation. Obama has to sign any agreement reached by Congress, and it appears that Obama has decided that a failure to get some sort of agreement will damage his standing even further than the crisis has already.
For the two Republican leaders, this is likely a response to the events of last weekend, at least from their perspective. The GOP insists that they cut a deal with Reid along the lines of the bill Boehner tried to pass on Thursday, but that when Reid took it to Obama, he pushed Reid into reneging. In that context, neither Boehner nor McConnell have much to gain anymore from haggling with Reid, who could have stood up to Obama and passed the compromise earlier in the week. Instead, the two GOP leaders want Obama to get serious and to deal directly with them, which is apparently what happened.
The White House downplayed the statement, but didn’t deny it either:
Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer used the social networking site Twitter to declare: “RE GOP presser: 1) Both McConnell and Reid have said there was no agreement 2) House GOP couldn’t even pass the bill they think was agreed to.”
My prediction is that we will see a deal structured in two installments of the debt-ceiling hike using the McConnell mechanism, which combined will hit the amount Reid wanted, and with the cuts and assumptions built into the Boehner proposal (with possibly a few changes, which should be checked), with a commitment for a balanced-budget amendment vote in the Senate included. A package like that could get a grudging majority in both chambers, and if it did, Obama would have little choice but to sign it. I suspect we’ll see an announcement before midnight tonight on something along those lines — or on a short-term debt-ceiling hike of no more than $100 billion to give them a little more time to get there.
Blowback
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There’s a list of the 22 at the link in my comment.
INC on July 30, 2011 at 6:44 PM
“The Democrats started the fire but if we (the Republicans) try to put it out, the Democrats (and their MSM allies) will blame us for starting it in the first place. Therefore we have decided to compromise but issuing a strongly worded memo that allows the fire to continue to burn-but less intensely.”
MaiDee on July 30, 2011 at 6:46 PM
They’re gonna agree to cut three bucks and set up a bi-partisan commission to look into some other cuts sometime in the hazy future.
gordo on July 30, 2011 at 6:47 PM
Good. Get it done. We cannot let crazy types push us over the cliff because they believe it is the right thing to do. Those folks must be closet libs anyway.
Southernblogger on July 30, 2011 at 6:48 PM
Witch, yer broom is cracking.
Schadenfreude on July 30, 2011 at 6:48 PM
I joked the other day that I was ready to plant a garden and shoot wild game for meat . . . considering the current conditions in this country, that “joke” is now closing in on reality.
rplat on July 30, 2011 at 6:48 PM
HondaV65, Boehner’s strategy all along was to get conservatives/Tea Partiers to sign on to his proposal (Step 2 of the plan I outlined in my comment @ 6:30pm). That stage was the critical stage!
If conservatives/Tea partiers had refused and the bill had failed, we would have had CCB and Reid’s plan as the only plans on the table. The ineveitable compromise would then have benefited us and we would have obtained either BBA and/or a serious cap on future spending from it.
There is not a lot of difference between the cuts contained in Reid’s bill and Boehner’s bill. So, guess what? When the compromise bill makes its way into the House, it will be much easier to paint conservatives/Tea partiers who refuse to vote for it as obstructionists and hardliners.
The media will harp on the fact that you voted for most of it the first time so why not a second time?
The changes will be as follows:
Tier 2 of Boehner’s plan will be replaced with something resembling McConnell’s blank check to Obama to raise the limit at his whim by proposing sham cuts that cannot be overturned if vetoed. Or they might even increase it beyond 2012.
TheRightMan on July 30, 2011 at 6:50 PM
I’m at the point of insisting a guaranteed passage of BBA, by two-thirds vote of each chamber, as the required trigger for anything else in the bill to take effect. They do that, I’m in.
/dreaming
TXUS on July 30, 2011 at 6:53 PM
I’m sure Allen West still has fans here at Hot Air, even among tea partiers, and if you’re one of them, I would just like to say that I don’t think he will have any problem raising money from the establishment anymore. Please donate money to the honor roll of 22 instead. They will probably not receive any money from the establishment.
FloatingRock on July 30, 2011 at 6:54 PM
Home grown veggies are more nutritious and taste better.Bambi and Thumper are not chemically juiced. No-Brainer.
Southernblogger on July 30, 2011 at 6:54 PM
This from the guy applauding an impending deal for a massive increase in government spending. Closet lib, indeed.
fossten on July 30, 2011 at 6:55 PM
heh. The idiot is back. You are so ignorant of politics and economics it is laughable. Damn you are funny.
CW on July 30, 2011 at 6:55 PM
Yes. Soblogger is a moby. I have never seen someone with sooo little specifics.
CW on July 30, 2011 at 6:56 PM
The economy is already taking its toll and we’re heading towards a North Korean style culture. This link is hard to stomach but it’s already happening.
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/brooklyn/game_time_in_klyn_pWrqNaSaOP6Vxm8SI14KCO?CMP=OTC-rss&FEEDNAME=
katy on July 30, 2011 at 6:56 PM
West is a fine guy who does not imbibe the Kool-Aid. Some folks here seem crazy as liberals. My way or we blow it all up.
Southernblogger on July 30, 2011 at 6:56 PM
I’m not a Romney fan and do not support him for POTUS, but I have to give him credit for backing some of the names on the honor roll. On the other hand, he didn’t take a stand on Boehner’s bill so that pretty much cancels it out. : )
FloatingRock on July 30, 2011 at 6:57 PM
There you go again Moby. You do know crazy.
CW on July 30, 2011 at 6:57 PM
Priorities at the DNC – the ‘president’s’ birthday bash
Schadenfreude on July 30, 2011 at 6:58 PM
Whatever, my point is still true. He will be well cared for by the establishment now while others will be more in need of peoples donations. If we don’t take care of our own first then we might as well pack it in.
FloatingRock on July 30, 2011 at 7:00 PM
No, I am not retarded enough to think a House majority overrides all else. I know that because Rush/Sarah told you otherwise, that you are actually stupid enough to accept it.
Southernblogger on July 30, 2011 at 7:00 PM
You are too stupid even to understand that none of the bills cut even one dollar of spending.
fossten on July 30, 2011 at 7:02 PM
Those two look like CHUMPS…
Sorry.
golfmann on July 30, 2011 at 7:02 PM
No disagreement there. We need to define who our guy is though. Some idiot willing to sink us for ideology, or adults who see things for what they are. West is “America First”
Southernblogger on July 30, 2011 at 7:03 PM
False. West folded in the face of opposition in his district. He’s ‘reelection first.’
fossten on July 30, 2011 at 7:03 PM
Whatever. We gain power and we move the needle.
Southernblogger on July 30, 2011 at 7:04 PM
Shocked! Shocked I say!
Folks, the war has been declared and the sides are:
Democrat/Republican Elites -VS- The Tea Party and the American People.
Game On!
mikkins on July 30, 2011 at 7:05 PM
Why was there opposition? Because folks like you were ready to destroy us for your ideology????
Southernblogger on July 30, 2011 at 7:05 PM
No, we piss off the base and cave to the Dems and we lose power.
fossten on July 30, 2011 at 7:05 PM
Chicken Little, spare me your Y2K melodrama. You are a lib troll, who knows nothing but emotional arguments totally devoid of critical thinking.
fossten on July 30, 2011 at 7:06 PM
fossten: If West indeed voted for what his constituents wanted…
you consider this a bad thing?
Isn’t it true that every representative should be voting for what their constituents want?
Scott H on July 30, 2011 at 7:07 PM
Your idea of base seems equivalent to the Dems. Crazy people
Southernblogger on July 30, 2011 at 7:08 PM
I think you have that backwards, the crazy types are the ones winning right now, the leadership in both parties that are not willing to cut spending. They are pushing us over the cliff right now to continue spending, they like junkies trying to get their next fix.
bluemarlin on July 30, 2011 at 7:08 PM
You are caught in a fictional narrative created by the MSM to support and promote their political aims.
FloatingRock on July 30, 2011 at 7:09 PM
Only if they are on the other side. Don’t hurt Foss with inconvenient truths.
Southernblogger on July 30, 2011 at 7:09 PM
Destroy us? How?
FloatingRock on July 30, 2011 at 7:10 PM
No, you are trapped in cloud Kool-Aid land
Southernblogger on July 30, 2011 at 7:10 PM
Southern: Don’t use me, troll.
Scott H on July 30, 2011 at 7:11 PM
False premise. It was the press that created the pressure, not his constituents. He was afraid of how it would look to seniors so he caved.
fossten on July 30, 2011 at 7:11 PM
Never fricken mind if you are that seriously out of it.
Southernblogger on July 30, 2011 at 7:12 PM
What fossten said, except I would change that to the conservative base. They always want their votes and promise to fight then just bend us over. The only way the needle has been moving is to the left, one bill at a time!
bluemarlin on July 30, 2011 at 7:12 PM
Increasing the debt over and over IS pushing us over the cliff, cement-head.
fossten on July 30, 2011 at 7:12 PM
Deal? Again with the deal! I like the pic. “Pull my finger.”
MikeA on July 30, 2011 at 7:13 PM
I get it, I really do. You believe everything Obama says. He says we need the debt ceiling raised, you believe it. He says the Teabaggers will destroy the country, you believe it.
Kool-Aid, indeed.
fossten on July 30, 2011 at 7:13 PM
As original as a libtard. You don’t agree so the other person is a troll. Waah.
Southernblogger on July 30, 2011 at 7:13 PM
Can you give me an example?
FloatingRock on July 30, 2011 at 7:13 PM
They should throw in a special millionaires tax on Obama, specifically, and cut the presidential salary by 50% retroactive to February 2009, but to expire in February of 2013.
profitsbeard on July 30, 2011 at 7:14 PM
fossten: That was your premise, not mine. If he caved to press pressure, then yes, he should be called to account for that. If he ‘caved’ to constituent pressure, then clearly he’s doing what he’s supposed to be doing.
Scott H on July 30, 2011 at 7:14 PM
Can you change your name?* It’s WAAAAY too close to mine, and your posts are like 180 degrees from mine. :-D
*I was here first!
SouthernGent on July 30, 2011 at 7:15 PM
So you won’t substantiate anything you say, then? Why should anybody care what you think if you can’t back it up with facts of any kind?
FloatingRock on July 30, 2011 at 7:15 PM
Don’t erect straw men, and I won’t call you on it. K?
fossten on July 30, 2011 at 7:16 PM
You will not be mistaken for each other, I am sure of it!
bluemarlin on July 30, 2011 at 7:17 PM
fossten: I was asking for clarification, not erecting a straw man. You posted
I was trying to determine whether you meant that he actually was voting for what his constituents wanted, or something else.
I don’t understand why you’re attacking me.
Scott H on July 30, 2011 at 7:18 PM
There’s no real way he could have found out that he had opposition from a majority of his constituents during this short time period. It was a news story that ran about him in Florida, and he panicked. Then he publicly stabbed the Tea Party in the back.
fossten on July 30, 2011 at 7:21 PM
Elections are supposed to have consequences, and the one from 2010 has been denied trying to stop the spending by the existing leadership in both parties. They are doing all they can to keep the spending apace, put us further into debt and not deal with the spending problem.
If you pulled a lever to stop the spending then you knew it was going to be messy, nasty, vicious and necessary.
One cannot stand for stopping the spending and then cheer on more spending.
Give this country a taste of stopped spending so that only the necessary functions of government are funded, plus some other discretionary ones that it is felt are too hard to cut, like ‘entitlements’. We will not ‘default’ and will continue to pay interest on our debt, which keeps the AAA rating for those worried about that. That is ALL the bond holders care about. Thus there is no default no matter WHAT is done including NOTHING.
Doing nothing gets you a stopping in the excess spending and the government can only spend what it takes in or sell off some assets to help bridge while it gets used to this strange concept. What you get by doing nothing is the message from the 2010 election and it was, strangely enough, not about politics, not about deals and not about who wins and who loses but about stopping the spending.
If you want an idea of what happens when the spending for the discretionary and excess parts of government happens, then go to Iowahawk as he sums it up better than anyone. And if that isn’t enough then think of Barack Obama, the most Progressive/Liberal President in our times having to actually decide which parts of government to CUT funds to. That, in and of itself, is delicious as he can’t take it all from the military… and then he is stuck either cutting entitlements, which is going against the New Deal and Great Society dogma BOTH, or cutting the regulatory machine that is hindering our economy.
That is what you get by doing nothing at all.
Yes there will be pain, misery and cries for help.
You are to answer them, not government, as these are your fellow citizens. If you didn’t prepare in 2010 then what on Earth were you thinking if you pulled the lever for the spending to be stopped? You were not asking for business as usual, but business as usual to END. You can’t cheerlead what is happening NOW if that is how you voted THEN.
ajacksonian on July 30, 2011 at 7:22 PM
fossten: Yes, I am aware of his actions. However, I needed clarification, as I seem to have had less information than you regarding the reason for his actions. I therefore asked for clarification.
That’s all.
Scott H on July 30, 2011 at 7:24 PM
Oh No! No more credit! We’re all gonna die! Mr. Obama; dude, you’re justifying the stereotype.
MikeA on July 30, 2011 at 7:26 PM
You are a cultist. Facts are irrelevant to you.
Southernblogger on July 30, 2011 at 7:27 PM
You are a troll. Debate is foreign to you.
fossten on July 30, 2011 at 7:28 PM
Southernblogger has a plan to eliminate deficit spending. Really. That’s why he’s justified in calling the rest of us “crazy.”
Uh…what is that plan, Southernblogger?
Bugler on July 30, 2011 at 7:30 PM
RightMan, for two days I’ve been asking the question here that if CCB was dead, how does the Boehner bill leave us worse off, since it at least gives us the “we’ve passed two, you’ve done squat” argument. Your post was the best response I’ve seen, very well thought through.
I’m not gonna go full mea culpa yet for supporting the Boehner bill because Obama might still come out worse off in any deal, especially with his base. And my bottom line has always been beating Obama, which I think is the most important thing we can do to save this country.
But, I think my flaw was believing that once the Boehner bill got thrown in Reid’s lap, Boehner would then say, “take it or leave it”. I didn’t count on the weak-ass compromise coming back. So, I probably should have listened to many of you who said the GOP will always betray you.
I love the tea party, I am a tea partier. I just broke a different way on this one because I thought it would help us win the political battle and I am starting to regret it,especially now that I see Boehner negotiating with Obama and Reid.
JohnInCA on July 30, 2011 at 7:32 PM
Allen West will be on the conservative 98% of the time..:)
Dire Straits on July 30, 2011 at 7:33 PM
I don’t really care about the politics of this mess. If the Democrats had backed CCB and some tiny shred of responsibility instead of uncontrolled spending and kicking-the-can tomfoolery, I would have been all for them. Ditto Boehner and McConnell.
But they all blew it. One central issue has been consistently been ignored: when you are out of money, you stop spending. End of story. You do not rely on bankrupting future generations or printing endless quantities of counterfeit bills, even if the “pundits,” Larry Kudlow and “Captain Ed” think that’s the way to go.
There is enough money coming in to keep the basics — which, after all, are the sole purposes of government, according to the Constitution. If there’s not enough to fund ACORN, union bribes, pork projects and the lavish lifestyles of Congress and Osama Obama, well, that’s just too damn bad.
Let those who want to keep spending pony up their own money and spend it. That’s what we do, if we have it. Otherwise, tighten those belts, give up the perks and start living as Americans do, under the restrictions of job losses, dwindling budgets and much personal pain.
As for the politics, they don’t matter. Survival matters, as the compromise-now crowd will discover when the well runs totally dry, as it inevitably will.
MrScribbler on July 30, 2011 at 7:33 PM
this is not the hill to die on, that hill over there looks good let”s leave this hill and go over there maybe we can die on that hill.
unseen on July 30, 2011 at 7:34 PM
Sorry..:)
Dire Straits on July 30, 2011 at 7:34 PM
You’ve finally taken the red pill.
I told you Boehner didn’t have the rubies to stand up to the Dems.
fossten on July 30, 2011 at 7:36 PM
I have appreciated everything you’ve said over the last few days, but this is the one that says it all. This is indeed what the Ta Parties were about, stopping the spending. We all knew it would be ugly.
piglet on July 30, 2011 at 7:38 PM
Watching CSPAN, and chambers sounds like the UK .. Wow
pambi on July 30, 2011 at 7:42 PM
LOL. You did. Just don’t rub it in too much. I don’t think I can take much more.
JohnInCA on July 30, 2011 at 7:43 PM
That can’t be true, that’s why I’m asking for facts from you. I’m trying to understand your argument so that I can respond to it.
FloatingRock on July 30, 2011 at 7:46 PM
He’s going to tell us all about his plan. Any minute now.
Bugler on July 30, 2011 at 7:50 PM
Yes we did.
I saw the trendlines as I clawed my way back to the conscious world and was horrified. I got my training and picked up a Thompson in 2007. The election cycle hadn’t really even started back in that hot July. We can get through this but we must understand that we have heard the Gates of Hell close behind us and our leaders now lose us in the inferno. Thus the way out starts by getting to the center of the inferno and then just pick a way as they all are equal and they all lead out when you head straight and true.
I don’t want to dither in Hell.
I am sad that so many of my fellow Americans are thinking of getting a good roasting. The longer we stay, the worse it gets, but the way out in any direction remains just the same and that first step starts with stopping the spending.
ajacksonian on July 30, 2011 at 7:51 PM
I prefer this quote…
The real battle is in Nov 2012… this is simply one of many skirmishes leading up to it.
If people keep shooting all their allies before we get there, we won’t have many troops…
OnlyOrange on July 30, 2011 at 7:53 PM
I agree..Everyone needs to focus on getting rid of Democrats and Obie..:)
Dire Straits on July 30, 2011 at 7:56 PM
All you have to do is watch the European model for what is to come.
Anybody want to bet me that when this is all “agreed” to at the end of the day or weekend or Monday or whenever they decide to do it that it WON’T include tax hikes?
golfmann on July 30, 2011 at 7:57 PM
If Boehner comes back with a tax bill I hope everybody will put the kybosh on it and push a clean credit hike bill instead. Fake spending cuts are not worth real tax increases.
Personally, I would prefer a clean bill anyway because I don’t like all the dishonesty and back room shenanigans that have been going on on both sides.
FloatingRock on July 30, 2011 at 7:59 PM
So 43 GOP Senators (therefore, not all TPers) formally said they would not vote for Reid’s bill before they even saw it.
Then Joe Manchin (D) WV said he would not vote for Harry’s bill.
Then Harry’s bill goes to the House where 11 Dems vote against.
Are all you critics of the House Tea Party caucus ready to take back all your vitriolic, condescening lectures and insults about how the Tea Party was going to damage the country if they didn’t sign on to Boehner’s plan #2 “…now, g*dd@ammit, NOW!”? Apparently the country isn’t going down the tubes so fast afterall and the crisis wasn’t what all the panicked critics were stampeded into believing by Obama & Geithner.
JimP on July 30, 2011 at 7:59 PM
Sounds like part of the storyline in Fountainhead. If the Tea Party has read that book, clearly they fail to understand its lessons.
bayam on July 30, 2011 at 7:59 PM
I remember from my WWII course the story of a German officer picked up during the Italy Campaign. He had been a PanzerGroup Leader and was quite confident that Germany would win the war. They had better equipment. They were better trained. Spiffier uniforms.
Then they took him for interrogation and he looked at the long, long road filled with trucks going north, tanks going north, and they were all packed with supplies, fuel and men willing to fight. Mile after mile after mile… he started off haughty but 100 miles later when they reached the port he said:
“We have lost the war”
It isn’t about the tactics of the skirmish but the strategy of the fight. That was set in 2010. Do not let the elite and leadership try to change that now. If we cannot continue on the path of stopping the spending then you will not get to 2012 as a winner but as having betrayed what you said you wanted done.
The leaders can go blow.
So long as YOU stick to your word NOW and support it NOW, that will give courage to those having to be at the front lines as WE are that supply chain. Dither now, lose your way now, don’t support this fight now and all will be lost.
Amateurs talk tactics.
Professionals talk logistics.
Yes this is a single fight but it is in the necessary direction and so long as the supply chain keeps moving forward then there will be long term success. Start trying to change the direction now and you lose. It is just that simple.
ajacksonian on July 30, 2011 at 8:02 PM
Two presidential candidates were on the “list of 22″ who opposed the Boehner bill 1.1–Michele Bachmann and Ron Paul.
Take a bow!
Emperor Norton on July 30, 2011 at 8:05 PM
You’re living in a fantasy land where the rest of the world is manipulated by Obama. The Chinese and Europeans are capable of evaluating the risk of US political theater to the world economy and they have spoken very loud and clearly about the danger present. To deny it betrays an incredible level of ignorance about the place of the US in the world economic order and how the past few weeks have done real damage to the nation’s credibility.
For the past 3 years, the US has been pushing back on pressure from China to partner with Brazil, India, and other growing economic powers to identify and establish an alternative to the dollar as the world’s reserve currency. Such a move would drastically weaken the USA’s position in the world and undermine our dominance in global finance. It’s this kind of Tea Party ignorance and hubris that’s done as much as the financial crisis to help China make its case.
bayam on July 30, 2011 at 8:06 PM
I’m not sure who I loathe more. Obama or Boehner. At least Obama doesn’t pretend to like me before stabbing me in the back.
angryed on July 30, 2011 at 8:08 PM
It’s all about Barry, all the time. Screw the country.
GarandFan on July 30, 2011 at 8:09 PM
bluemarlin on July 30, 2011 at 8:10 PM
This situation reminds me of Atlas Shrugged.
Too bad the libs in this country fail to understand its lessons.
fossten on July 30, 2011 at 8:11 PM
Batam, your comments get sillier by the day.
angryed on July 30, 2011 at 8:12 PM
Bayam too.
angryed on July 30, 2011 at 8:13 PM
I’ll believe it when I see it. Not that I doubt the GOP, but I would not trust Reid and Obama with the future of this great nation as far as I could pick them up and throw them.
Philly on July 30, 2011 at 8:17 PM
In the fog of war, it’s hard to tell who shot first, but it certainly looks like there’s a circular firing squad around COL West…
McCain certainly fired a shot — but we all knew he was a RINO through and through, so we expected as much… I really don’t think his shot did any damage, though it did give the lefties who love him ammunition…
OnlyOrange on July 30, 2011 at 8:22 PM
Go ahead, read Atlas Shrugged and then wonder what so many of the great entrepreneur capitalists of our era- Steve Jobs, Zuckerberg, Bill Gates, Warren Buffet- think about Tea Party policies. And ask yourself why you support policies that these great capitalists oppose and see as obstacles to economic growth.
What if Steve Jobs quit? Do you really think some tool from the Tea Party could replace him?
bayam on July 30, 2011 at 8:24 PM
Maybe not but it would still be fun to try. : )
FloatingRock on July 30, 2011 at 8:24 PM
If we can make it to Jan 2013, we will have the power to pass the Balanced Budget Amendment, make reasonable and rational (not rushed) changes to entitlements, tax codes, repeal Obamacare or whatever…
I suggest you may not want to politically die on any hill between now and then…
OnlyOrange on July 30, 2011 at 8:26 PM
Um, Fountainhead said: Don’t Compromise. Bayam needs to stay away from the crack dens.
andy85719 on July 30, 2011 at 8:26 PM
“What if Steve Jobs quit? Do you really think some tool from the Tea Party could replace him?
bayam on July 30, 2011 at 8:24 PM”
Ayn Rand, who knew socialist oppression from first hand experience, created her characters without the neurotic guilt complexes foisted on the billionaires you name who made their riches in a country whose culture is dominated by leftists pushing the ‘You should feel guilty for being rich’ narrative. There ARE Tea Party type billionaires that don’t suffer from this neurosis. Heard of the Koch brothers, to name just two?
JimP on July 30, 2011 at 8:29 PM
Ask those guys if they could START their companies given the regulatory climate today. That is also why Apple and Microsoft are keeping their profits off-shore.
It isn’t about the guys at the top, but keeping the bottom open so that new entrants are not impeded from getting into the market. Large companies don’t like to be challenged, and yet the way of the market is that of new entrants finding new ways to compete against larger and less nimble companies. These are not scions of small business, and that is where the business of America is and small businesses account for the bulk of the employment in this Nation. Jobs and Gates had to start as a small business in a very rough field, and Jobs would head Apple towards niches while Gates had his dream of every computer running a Microsoft operating system. In 1979.
So ask them, please, if they could start such businesses TODAY.
ajacksonian on July 30, 2011 at 8:31 PM
Don’t you remember the difference in Fountainhead between the creator and the parasite? Tell me exactly what have the Koch brothers invented or innovated?
There’s no comparison between what the great entrepreneur capitalists in this country have achieved and what the Koch boys did with their inheritance money.
bayam on July 30, 2011 at 8:36 PM
Murky whines: “We’ll have a vote at 1 a.m. How dignified. What body has a vote during the darkest hour?”
andy85719 on July 30, 2011 at 8:37 PM
Oh, bayam, the Kochs create jobs. You just produce CO2.
andy85719 on July 30, 2011 at 8:37 PM
Did Boehner adjourn the House until Monday?
Also is it true the negotiations are on the Boehner bill that just passed?
gophergirl on July 30, 2011 at 8:40 PM
Oh, bayam, the Kochs create jobs. You just produce CO2.
andy85719 on July 30, 2011 at 8:37 PM
andy I think you meant methane.
arnold ziffel on July 30, 2011 at 8:45 PM
BTW, small businesses drive the economy.
INC on July 30, 2011 at 8:47 PM
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