If Obama does not want to sign a short term measure, he can shut it all down. The GOP will not agree to tax increases without real entitlement reform, and should not, and so far, none is in the offing. The GOP might as well shut down as a party rather than agree to tax increases that will sustain the feds spending at 24% of the GDP, rather than what the debt commission proposed, which was around 20% (as opposed to 18% now).
I don't know what Obama's storming out accomplished. That is hardly a way to instill confidence.
In the meantime, an article came out in the WSJ today about how if we want to leave entitlements in place, the middle class is going to have to pay more taxes - a lot more. It is either that, or increase the federal income tax rate on those earning more than $250,000 per year to something like 77%. No reputable economist thinks that it economically practicable, and of course it is not politically possible. I will start a new topic on the WSJ article.
That's fine. But then don't threaten to crash the economy. At least McConnell has found a reason not to crash it even if it is just political damage to the GOP.
If Obama won't agree to a short term measure given the impasse, it seems to me he is the one who will kill a debt ceiling increase, and then we can litigate how the feds will slash a third of their spending. I think Obama got pissed and lost his cool, because he realized that in the end, he has no choice but to take Cantor's medicine on this. We shall see.
