America's financial situation debacle will affect the world. Irresponsible spending could ruin the country, but also affect millions of people worldwide.

The solution has a special political value to each party.

Agreement must be reached.

The game of chicken is wich party will concede their agenda for the sake of the country.

On top of that is the idea that "big money interests" would profit immensely if the American economy fails (by cheaply increasing their holdings).......Domestic interests as well as global interests.

Is it a game of chicken? If so, who will duck first?

Are there potential profiteers? If so, who are they?

The ONLY THING these politicians (the low-life Democrats, and the party I generally support, the not-quite-as-low-but-dam_n close low-life Republicans) care about is getting re-elected. Period. Full-stop. Both sides should be trying to solve the problem but they aren't. What they are doing is trying to trick the other side into accepting a plan that can be used against them come election time.

Rewind 20 years. President Geroge HW Bush had a famous quote, "Read my lips - No New Taxes". When he later compromised with the Democratic Congress to get us out of the recession the Dems used that against Bush in the 1992 election. That's what each side is try to catch the other side in today.

In politics (American anyway), a compromise is like a handshake between two WWE "wrestlers" - you know once they shake, one of the two is going to hold on and kick or punch the other guy.

Warren Buffet apparently said, "I could end the deficit in 5 minutes. You just pass a law that says that anytime there is a deficit of more than 3% of GDP all sitting members of congress are ineligible for reelection.". How true.

Playing chicken with your country's economy? There goes patriotism (if they ever had any).

Dems and Reps should be shut up together like a Papal Conclave until they come up with a result. White smoke, and some food gets sent in.

Playing chicken with your country's economy? There goes patriotism (if they ever had any).

Dems and Reps should be shut up together like a Papal Conclave until they come up with a result. White smoke, and some food gets sent in.

no food would speed up the matter

Or better yet, no toilet. "Oh, you need to use the toilet? You sure can as soon as you reach an agreement."

Playing chicken with your country's economy? There goes patriotism (if they ever had any).

Dems and Reps should be shut up together like a Papal Conclave until they come up with a result. White smoke, and some food gets sent in.

Food? Let 'em eat each other if they get hungry.

Interesting topic, but on a more serious note,as Harcourt asked, will anyone profit from a default, either in the short term or the long term?

Interesting topic, but on a more serious note,as Harcourt asked, will anyone profit from a default, either in the short term or the long term?

Probably the usual suspects - bankers. With the usual suspects losing - us.

A hike in interest rates and the ensuing lot of defaulters means loads of cheap property to be snapped up, both commercial and domestic. A devaluation of the dollar means exporters make a packet.

It's ironic that the companies' with the most assets and whose owners rake in the big bucks are "too big to fail" and get government bailouts, but the small guy is left to the wolves.

And the wolves profit again in the long run.

At the end of the depression/recession, the relative net worth of those that had money to start with will have increased disproportionately.

It's not just the bankers. We've seen before, with the likes of Rumsfeld, Cheney et al, how those in power can and will send the country into debt for their own personal profit, and the profit of the big-money interests that lobby them.

Are there influences in the current situation trying to force a default, with no thought to politics, just $$?

The Tea Party and the extremely conservative right wing would like to see the entire financial system go into collapse. I think they believe only by a total destruction can it be rebuilt in a way that suits their philosophical ideas.

The Haves will always have, at least relatively speaking, and the Have Nots will still have nothing.

The Tea Party and the extremely conservative right wing would like to see the entire financial system go into collapse.

Come on. This is what Obama and the democrats want us to believe. These are mostly average people with average families and the collapse of "entire financial system" is hardly in their interests. They think that spending needs to be severely curtailed to prevent the collapse of the entire financial system, and want to throw Obama out on his ear.

I'm not sure which side is right about how to cure the financial ills of the USA, but I'm pretty sure that the Republicans are right about getting rid of Obama.

This is not a Tea party versus the rest deal

LVM summed it up long ago

“There is no means of avoiding a final collapse of a boom brought about by credit expansion. The alternative is only whether the crisis should come sooner as a result of a voluntary abandonment of further credit expansion or later as a final and total catastrophe of the currency system involved.” – Ludwig von Mises

There is nowhere to go with this fiasco.

If they raise it yet again the result will be not only the same but worse.

This can has been kicked as far as it will go. There is no more road.

Better to end it now & start a fiscally responsible monetary system.

Why again allow this mess to borrow? Why do they even have a budget?

How long did the 1.9 trillion I believe it was ceiling raise from last time last?

Not even a year..... It goes on & on.

All the while they make stupid proposals like cutting 4T over 10 years.

Yet they will need a 2T raise every year till then if not more.

Hows the math on that working out? Cut 4T raise 20T????

This is insanity plain & simple. A blind man can see it.

Make no mistake they will get the raise one way or another but it will not be the

big one that Obama wants that would see him through his 2012 campaign to get re-elected

It will be a short 900B or so & they will again be back in Sept/Oct asking for more.

They are drunken sailors & have no intention of cutting spending. Instead they will only threaten

cuts to Social Security & Medicare to get folks to knuckle under.

Never once considering more beneficial cuts like stopping useless invasions/policing actions in other countries or shrinking the bloated government. Like any good household or company would do.

Playing chicken with your country's economy? There goes patriotism (if they ever had any).

Dems and Reps should be shut up together like a Papal Conclave until they come up with a result. White smoke, and some food gets sent in.

no food would speed up the matter

Naam, you don't seem to have got the point. White smoke at a Papal Conclave indicates that agreement has been reached (on the new Pope); by analogy, if this was applied to the Dems and Reps, they would have to reach an agreement before they got any food (or toilet, as someone suggested).

Sorry, a joke is no good if it has to be explained.

Seriously, however, I agree with Flying. The American economy is doomed; when and how it collapses is what is at issue.

The Tea Party and the extremely conservative right wing would like to see the entire financial system go into collapse.

Ridiculous. I'm surprised you would write such nonsense. If you weren't a mod I would think you were trolling.

Believe it or not, there are millions of people back home who when faced with their own personal debt crisis, cut their own personal spending. They hold back on buying that new car, new lawnmower, eat at home instead of a restaurant, stay home instead of going on vacation, don't go to the doctor when they have the common cold, etc. These people make up the Tea Party. We also have millions of people who when faced with a personal debt crisis go out and get another credit card or "borrow from Peter to pay Paul". These people are known as liberal Democrats (not all Dems) and even a few Republicans.

Each of us has to decide which way is best for ourselves and for me it is to cut back spending. Now we have to decide which way is best for our country and we're split with tens of millions on each side. I pray the cut spending side wins.

This is not a Tea party versus the rest deal

LVM summed it up long ago

"There is no means of avoiding a final collapse of a boom brought about by credit expansion. The alternative is only whether the crisis should come sooner as a result of a voluntary abandonment of further credit expansion or later as a final and total catastrophe of the currency system involved." – Ludwig von Mises

There is nowhere to go with this fiasco.

If they raise it yet again the result will be not only the same but worse.

This can has been kicked as far as it will go. There is no more road.

Better to end it now & start a fiscally responsible monetary system.

Why again allow this mess to borrow? Why do they even have a budget?

How long did the 1.9 trillion I believe it was ceiling raise from last time last?

Not even a year..... It goes on & on.

All the while they make stupid proposals like cutting 4T over 10 years.

Yet they will need a 2T raise every year till then if not more.

Hows the math on that working out? Cut 4T raise 20T????

This is insanity plain & simple. A blind man can see it.

Make no mistake they will get the raise one way or another but it will not be the

big one that Obama wants that would see him through his 2012 campaign to get re-elected

It will be a short 900B or so & they will again be back in Sept/Oct asking for more.

They are drunken sailors & have no intention of cutting spending. Instead they will only threaten

cuts to Social Security & Medicare to get folks to knuckle under.

Never once considering more beneficial cuts like stopping useless invasions/policing actions in other countries or shrinking the bloated government. Like any good household or company would do.

I agree except I would have added some !!! to the end where you wrote "Cut 4T raise 20T????"

The Tea Party and the extremely conservative right wing would like to see the entire financial system go into collapse.

Ridiculous. I'm surprised you would write such nonsense. If you weren't a mod I would think you were trolling.

Believe it or not, there are millions of people back home who when faced with their own personal debt crisis, cut their own personal spending. They hold back on buying that new car, new lawnmower, eat at home instead of a restaurant, stay home instead of going on vacation, don't go to the doctor when they have the common cold, etc. These people make up the Tea Party. We also have millions of people who when faced with a personal debt crisis go out and get another credit card or "borrow from Peter to pay Paul". These people are known as liberal Democrats (not all Dems) and even a few Republicans.

Each of us has to decide which way is best for ourselves and for me it is to cut back spending. Now we have to decide which way is best for our country and we're split with tens of millions on each side. I pray the cut spending side wins.

Yeah, quite right. Sensible people don't buy a new car when their finances won't support it.

Smart world leaders don't start trillion dollar invasions either.

Yeah, quite right. Sensible people don't buy a new car when their finances won't support it.

Smart world leaders don't start trillion dollar invasions either.

More bumper sticker wit.

The Tea Party and the extremely conservative right wing would like to see the entire financial system go into collapse.

Ridiculous. I'm surprised you would write such nonsense. If you weren't a mod I would think you were trolling.

Believe it or not, there are millions of people back home who when faced with their own personal debt crisis, cut their own personal spending. They hold back on buying that new car, new lawnmower, eat at home instead of a restaurant, stay home instead of going on vacation, don't go to the doctor when they have the common cold, etc. These people make up the Tea Party. We also have millions of people who when faced with a personal debt crisis go out and get another credit card or "borrow from Peter to pay Paul". These people are known as liberal Democrats (not all Dems) and even a few Republicans.

Each of us has to decide which way is best for ourselves and for me it is to cut back spending. Now we have to decide which way is best for our country and we're split with tens of millions on each side. I pray the cut spending side wins.

Yeah, quite right. Sensible people don't buy a new car when their finances won't support it.

Smart world leaders don't start trillion dollar invasions either.

quite right the usa is picking up 70% of the tab for nato?! whats that oh great wise man BO. the bottom line when the dems talk about taxes and the rich not paying their fare share, it is really odd considering less than 50% of americans pay fed tax. It is nice to make speeches about corprate jets etc.. but in fact the tax line is at 250k dollars gross, so that means small businesses will be taxed on their inventory, and gross income before they pay their employees etc... taxes are a real burden for those that work to live a dream. Why not have flat tax that even the people who earn 10k dollars have to pay? because then the tea party would rule the roost, no one wants to watch their money wasted which means the liberals would not be the viewed as the saviors any longer.

Some questions:

1) This new debt ceiling plan doesn't have any new taxes like some wanted. My question is, assuming the taxes equalled additional revenue, what was that additional revenue be used for? Paying down the debt or paying for more programs?

2) About "fair share". According to the IRS, in 2008 the Top 1% of those who filed Individual Income Tax Returns accounted for about 21% of Individual income. So how much shoud they pay in order to pay their fair share? 1%? 21% Something else?

3) Some in Congress tried to attach a Balanced Budget Amendment to the new bill. Why is that such a bad thing? Our gov't have repeatedly shown they can't operate within a budget. Maybe it's time they had to.