Ok let's go on some facts here about what the TEA party who in my opinion are the American version of the Taliban- here is what we know they wanted:
A) Didn't want any stimulus bill passed: Every economist stated that without a stimulus bill of some sort UE could hit 20%
B) They didn't want Banks/GM Bailed out:
If Obama didn't bail out the banks are GM- the UE would have been disastrous and many more americans would have been laid off just from the closing of GM- which is an American company and by the way both GM and the banks re-paid back their loans.
C) The TEA party said on record that debt ceiling was not a big deal- yes they did say that- I guess S & P thought otherwise.
On top of that Obama originally had a 4 trillion dollar deficit plan on the table a bill in which S & P favored. However, under pressure from the TEA PARTY who told Boehner that he's not to pass any Bill with any hint of tax raising revenue thereby Boehner instead of doing what's right for America only did what was right to please his caucus - he will pay for this during re-elections.
Boehner even boasted that he got 98% of what he wanted- ok Mr.Boehner you made your caucus happy but you made America lose it's Triple AAA rating and S & P stated that it was based on America's inability to compromise is why they got downgraded.
Originally Posted by wellendowed1911
NOT EVERY economist believed the Unemployment rate would go to 20% without a "stimulus" bill. If you care to look just a little, you will find a long list that disagreed with that completely because of the devaluation of the dollar. (That's what happens when you print money in a stagnated economy.) Also, most indicators are now clear that the "stimulus" and bailouts had the opposite of the intended affect. We were likely 1-2 quarters from slow economic recovery but the bailouts and printing of money caused too much uncertainty (risk) in the markets so a lot of capital disappeared (did not invest) due to uncertainty (also the Obamacare bill didn't help with the uncertainty). GM could have done exactly what Delta did and file for bankruptcy, deal with the creditors, reorganize and come out of bankruptcy. The GM bailout was purely a union/Obama deal that had been cut well in advance. It delayed a restructuring of GM that will have to come within a decade as they will be back in the same place by 2020. (conjecture on my part based on seeing their cars lately).
The funny thing about most of this is, the figureheads of both parties stand at microphones and fret that something must be done, yet they were the very same people in charge for 10, 20, 30 years that put us here. (Dingy Harry, Dickless Durbin, Bonehead Boehner, etcc...). Let's also not forget that Obama voted against debt increases as a Senator so he seems not to have any conviction, just political expediency. This is also the first administration in the last 75 years that has not submitted any budgets to Congress. Complete lack of leadership in the White House. While everyone wants to blame the Tea Party, they have only been in Washington 7 months so it doesn't seem like Tea Party people have much of the blame. They also only have a platform of cutting spending and balancing the budget. (I had to look that up). They have no social agenda at all. The Tea Party people for all that dislike them, may be the only ones focusing on what needs to be done. I dislike politician by nature but given that the current parties got us here, let's try something new.