What started as a mad dash to strike a deal to lift the federal debt limit slowed to a crawl over the weekend as stalemated Senate leaders waited nervously to see whether financial markets would plunge Monday morning and drive the other side toward compromise.
Republicans seemed to think they had more to lose. After talks broke down between President Obama and House leaders, GOP senators quickly cobbled together a plan to end the government shutdown ”” now entering its third week ”” and raise the $16.7 trillion debt limit. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) then asked Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) to elevate negotiations to the highest level.
On Sunday ”” with the Treasury Department due to exhaust its borrowing power in just four days ”” Reid was wielding that leverage to maximum advantage. Rather than making concessions that would undermine Obama’s signature health-care initiative, as Republicans first demanded, Democrats are now on the offensive and seeking to undo what has become a cherished prize for the GOP: deep agency spending cuts known as the sequester.
Well, those on Capitol Hill do have the most beautifully quiffed hair – the women too.
Meanwhile, back in the real world…
Yeah. Meanwhile, Congress seems to forget who it is they work for. Maybe a parliamentary system isn’t such a bad idea after all.
#2 Not to toot America’s self-tarnished and self-dented horn, but one should take note that the article quotes that opinion from hardly a disinterested source, namely China’s official news agency Xinhua. From the article:
[blockquote]In a lengthy polemic against American hegemony since World War II, it added: “Such alarming days when the destinies of others are in the hands of a hypocritical nation have to be terminated.
“A new world order should be put in place, according to which all nations, big or small, poor or rich, can have their key interests respected and protected on an equal footing.”….
China is the biggest foreign holder of US Treasury bonds, worth a total of $1.28 trillion according to US government data.
“Instead of honoring its duties as a responsible leading power, a self-serving Washington has abused its superpower status and introduced even more chaos into the world by shifting financial risks overseas,” but equally stoked “regional tensions amid territorial disputes, and fighting unwarranted wars under the cover of outright lies” the commentary said, referring to Iraq.
It added that emerging economies should have a greater say in major international financial institutions the World Bank and International Monetary Fund and proposed a “new international reserve currency that is to be created to replace the dominant US dollar.”[/blockquote]
A new international reserve currency, like the rock-solid Euro has proven to be? 😉 Certainly some US politicians have acted irresponsibly in excessive spending and shifting financial risks overseas. But the Chinese are very unlikely to provide a better, egalitarian alternative.