It appears the trumped-up criticism by people who complain the media hyped-up Hurricane Irene is more off target than the forecasts that, as it turns out, accurately projected a killer storm would strike the East Coast.
National Guard helicopters were flying in food and water to isolated towns and villages in New England today, where flooding has wiped out roads, trapping residents and others.
So far the death toll stands at 40 people in 11 states and damage is expected to total in the doube-digit billions of dollars, from the barrier islands of the Carolinas to the bursting mountain-fed rivers and streams of Vermont.
Conservative critics in particular have poured on the inappropriate comments, even as Americans continue to suffer from the wrath of the hurricane-turned-storm that dumped a month's worth of rain in some areas in a single day.
House GOP leader Eric Cantor of Virginia waded back into the hot water when he said Congress would provide money to states to help dig out of Irene's wrath, but there would have to be cuts to other programs to pay for the disaster aid. And never mind that his state was whacked by the same storm.
"Yes there's a federal role, yes we're going to find the money -- we're just going to need to make sure that there are savings elsewhere to continue to do so," Cantor told Fox News yesterday.
White House aides rolled their eyes at Cantor's remarks, saying the first priority must be providing relief to states and counties.
"I think the principle that when we have a natural disaster and an emergency situation in, in this case, a significant stretch of the country, our priority has to be responding to the disaster and then helping those regions and states recover," White House spokesman Jay Carney said today when asked about Cantor's remarks.
It is not the first time Cantor has crossed folks by injecting his slash-but-no-tax agenda during a catastrophic natural disaster.
Cantor got a slap on the wrist from his former boss in the House GOP leadership, Missouri Gov. Roy Blunt, when he said federal money from FEMA "would be accompanied by support for having pay-fors" before Jopin, Mo. would be reimbursed for damage caused by the devastating mile-wide EF5 multiple-vortex tornado that struck Joplin, Mo. on May 22.
In plain English, Cantor suggested no cuts, no disaster funding -- pretty harsh rhetoric when you consider more than 150 people were killed and final costs are approaching $3 billion for the Joplin area.
"We need to prioritize spending, and this needs to be a priority," Blunt politicely said back in May. “I’m sure Eric will help find the necessary off-sets."
Republican candidate for president, Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota, is still back-peddling from her off-key remark suggesting Irene and last week's earthquake in the Mid-Atlantic region was the wrath of God.
"Washington, D.C., you’d think by now they’d get the message. An earthquake, a hurricane, are you listening? The American people have done everything they possibly can. Now it’s time for an act of God and we’re getting it," Bachmann said at a weekend campaign event.
Shock-jock Rush Limbaugh, demigod of the right wing and partisan blowhard to the left, led a chorus of naysayers who think the media over-sold the storm, telling his millions of "Dittohead" listeners that President Obama was hoping for a a nasty storm.
"I'll guarantee you Obama was hoping this was going to be a disaster as another excuse for his failing economy," Limbaugh said. "If he's out there blaming tsunamis, blaming earthquakes, this one -- made to order, but it just didn't measure up."
Showing posts with label Eric Cantor. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Eric Cantor. Show all posts
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
Tea Party Resolute, but Wall Street Finally Freaks Over Debt Debacle
Wall Street and global financiers finally ended a schizophrenic stand on the debt shenanigans in Washington, soundly signaling with a nearly 200-point drop in the Dow Jones industrials today that a default will likely rip apart a weary American economy.
"Right now I'm pretty worried," said Howard Ward, a chief investment officer at asset manager GAMCO, quoted by the Associated Press.
Wall Street, like much of Washington, has been slow to catch up with the will of Americans, who for weeks have indicated in poll after poll that they want a debt compromise. They even would be willing to see revenues increase along with the slash and gut budget savings to get it done, surveys repeatedly show.
Others, like the Tea Party ideologues refuse to give an inch, and that is creating the unfathomable possibility that the U.S. might just default.
"As hours pass and the uncertainty builds, I think the market is starting to price in the potential that we might not have a solution by August 2," Channing Smith, managing director of Capital Advisors Inc., told Forbes. "Confidence in our political system is beginning to fade."
While investors worldwide finally awoke to the dangerous reality that stubborn political gamesmanship and entrenched ideological warfare truly has brought the U.S. to the brink of default, the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office piled on with more bad news.
CBO ruled debt-reduction plans by GOP House Speaker John Boehner and Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid both fall short of their projected savings.
Boehner's debt ceiling plan would cut the deficit by about $850 billion in 10 years, less than the $1.2 trillion claimed, while Reid’s plan would slash $2.2 trillion over 10 years, short of its promised $2.7 trillion in savings, CBO said.
It forced Boehner to retool his legislation, while Reid said his Senate measure could be repaired with a tweak (Reid and the Senate Democrats are unified in the defeat of the incremental Boehner plan, and Obama has promised to veto it. They do not want to revisit this again at Christmas time, as the plan calls for).
The pitiful partisan parlay seems to trigger a battle-a-moment, especially for Boehner, whose shadowboxing with President Obama has exposed a much more unwieldy circular firing squad -- one that pits the Speaker against the House Tea Party faction, at times including his deputy, House GOP leader Eric Cantor, and the mainstream Senate Republicans.
Perhaps fighting for more than just his debt legislation, Boehner decided go to the stick and take on the stonewall Tea Party faction.
"Get your ass in line," he told House Republicans today at a closed-door meeting, where he demanded his caucus vote tomorrow in favor of a retooled two-step debt reduction plan.
"I can't do this job unless you're behind me," Boehner pleaded.
(There are side fights, too: Tea Party scrapper Joe Walsh has decided to take on GOP Sen. John McCain, who has blasted the Tea Party for stonewalling and touting a minority position on lifting the debt ceiling. Walsh blamed McCain for the debt crisis).
As the impasse took a turn for the dramatic away from the public eye, it played out loud and clear on Wall Street. The escapades and impotence of America's elected officials may already have cost the nation its AAA credit rating, even if the problem is rectified, ratings experts have warned.
All the markets appeared to be jolted by the desperate debt dealings:
-Standard & Poor’s 500 fell 27.05 points, 2.03%, to 1,304.89.
-Dow Jones average declined 198.75 points, 1.595%, to 12,302.55.
-Nasdaq composite dropped 75.17 points, or 2.65%, to 2,764.79.
-10-year Treasury note fell 7/32, to 101 7/32; yield up 2.98% from 2.96%
The standoff in Washington also was a contributing factor to the European markets, though the state of the local economies was big blame for a third straight day of losses.
The pan-European Stoxx 600 index sank 1.1% to end at 267.05. Markets from the FTSE to the Dax -- and everything else in-between -- took a hit.
Asian markets tonight (Washington time) are bracing for more of the same, expected to follow where the U.S. financial markets left off -- in the hopper.
Congress is tasked with raising the country's $14.3 trillion borrowing limit by Aug. 2 to avoid a debt default.
"Given that it is so clearly within the capacity of Congress to find the compromise that could clear both houses and be signed into law to solve this problem, I still believe that because the stakes are so high and because the American public so clearly wants this done in the right way, that in the end, it will get done," said White House spokesman Jay Carney.
"Right now I'm pretty worried," said Howard Ward, a chief investment officer at asset manager GAMCO, quoted by the Associated Press.
Wall Street, like much of Washington, has been slow to catch up with the will of Americans, who for weeks have indicated in poll after poll that they want a debt compromise. They even would be willing to see revenues increase along with the slash and gut budget savings to get it done, surveys repeatedly show.
Others, like the Tea Party ideologues refuse to give an inch, and that is creating the unfathomable possibility that the U.S. might just default.
"As hours pass and the uncertainty builds, I think the market is starting to price in the potential that we might not have a solution by August 2," Channing Smith, managing director of Capital Advisors Inc., told Forbes. "Confidence in our political system is beginning to fade."
While investors worldwide finally awoke to the dangerous reality that stubborn political gamesmanship and entrenched ideological warfare truly has brought the U.S. to the brink of default, the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office piled on with more bad news.
CBO ruled debt-reduction plans by GOP House Speaker John Boehner and Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid both fall short of their projected savings.
Boehner's debt ceiling plan would cut the deficit by about $850 billion in 10 years, less than the $1.2 trillion claimed, while Reid’s plan would slash $2.2 trillion over 10 years, short of its promised $2.7 trillion in savings, CBO said.
It forced Boehner to retool his legislation, while Reid said his Senate measure could be repaired with a tweak (Reid and the Senate Democrats are unified in the defeat of the incremental Boehner plan, and Obama has promised to veto it. They do not want to revisit this again at Christmas time, as the plan calls for).
The pitiful partisan parlay seems to trigger a battle-a-moment, especially for Boehner, whose shadowboxing with President Obama has exposed a much more unwieldy circular firing squad -- one that pits the Speaker against the House Tea Party faction, at times including his deputy, House GOP leader Eric Cantor, and the mainstream Senate Republicans.
Perhaps fighting for more than just his debt legislation, Boehner decided go to the stick and take on the stonewall Tea Party faction.
"Get your ass in line," he told House Republicans today at a closed-door meeting, where he demanded his caucus vote tomorrow in favor of a retooled two-step debt reduction plan.
"I can't do this job unless you're behind me," Boehner pleaded.
(There are side fights, too: Tea Party scrapper Joe Walsh has decided to take on GOP Sen. John McCain, who has blasted the Tea Party for stonewalling and touting a minority position on lifting the debt ceiling. Walsh blamed McCain for the debt crisis).
As the impasse took a turn for the dramatic away from the public eye, it played out loud and clear on Wall Street. The escapades and impotence of America's elected officials may already have cost the nation its AAA credit rating, even if the problem is rectified, ratings experts have warned.
All the markets appeared to be jolted by the desperate debt dealings:
-Standard & Poor’s 500 fell 27.05 points, 2.03%, to 1,304.89.
-Dow Jones average declined 198.75 points, 1.595%, to 12,302.55.
-Nasdaq composite dropped 75.17 points, or 2.65%, to 2,764.79.
-10-year Treasury note fell 7/32, to 101 7/32; yield up 2.98% from 2.96%
The standoff in Washington also was a contributing factor to the European markets, though the state of the local economies was big blame for a third straight day of losses.
The pan-European Stoxx 600 index sank 1.1% to end at 267.05. Markets from the FTSE to the Dax -- and everything else in-between -- took a hit.
Asian markets tonight (Washington time) are bracing for more of the same, expected to follow where the U.S. financial markets left off -- in the hopper.
Congress is tasked with raising the country's $14.3 trillion borrowing limit by Aug. 2 to avoid a debt default.
"Given that it is so clearly within the capacity of Congress to find the compromise that could clear both houses and be signed into law to solve this problem, I still believe that because the stakes are so high and because the American public so clearly wants this done in the right way, that in the end, it will get done," said White House spokesman Jay Carney.
Thursday, July 14, 2011
Reid & McConnell Try to Find Debt Deal; Pouty Cantor Sent to His Corner
The adults apparently are attempting to settle the looming debt crisis that is already rocking the financial markets and is threatening to put the nation in the same ugly economic position it found itself in the summer of 2008.
With GOP House Speaker John Boehner apparently unable to rein in his obstructionist second-in-command, Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Va.), the top leaders in the Senate are trying to come up with a compromise that will avoid the federal government defaulting on its debts by a drop-dead Aug. 2 deadline.
"Cantor has shown he shouldn't even be at the table, and Republicans agree he shouldn't be at the table," said Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid.
Reid (D-Nev.) called Cantor "childish" over his pouty explanation of how President Obama dressed him down during yesterday's negotiating session at the White House.
Boehner, nonetheless, stuck by Cantor.
"We're in the foxhole," Boehner said in support of Cantor. "I'm glad Eric's there."
So with Boehner (R-Ohio) virtually muted by Cantor's mouthy negotiating style, Reid said he is trying to see if the framework of an alternative plan put forward by Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell is a path to a potential deal.
But like Boehner, McConnell (R-Ky) is wearing a partisan game face today -- at least in public.
"We refuse to let this President use the threat of a debt limit deadline to get us to cave on tax hikes or phony spending cuts," McConnell said.
The negotiators are about to sit down to talks again today very shortly, and the odds are Cantor will be on his best behavior.
Cantor is a dandy from Richmond who may have miscalculated Obama's strength -- the same mistake some people in the Virginia capital made a century and half ago about another President from Illinois.
In this case, Cantor showed up at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue with a Ziplock bag full of checkers only to discover that the current resident is playing chess.
With GOP House Speaker John Boehner apparently unable to rein in his obstructionist second-in-command, Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Va.), the top leaders in the Senate are trying to come up with a compromise that will avoid the federal government defaulting on its debts by a drop-dead Aug. 2 deadline.
"Cantor has shown he shouldn't even be at the table, and Republicans agree he shouldn't be at the table," said Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid.
Reid (D-Nev.) called Cantor "childish" over his pouty explanation of how President Obama dressed him down during yesterday's negotiating session at the White House.
Boehner, nonetheless, stuck by Cantor.
"We're in the foxhole," Boehner said in support of Cantor. "I'm glad Eric's there."
So with Boehner (R-Ohio) virtually muted by Cantor's mouthy negotiating style, Reid said he is trying to see if the framework of an alternative plan put forward by Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell is a path to a potential deal.
But like Boehner, McConnell (R-Ky) is wearing a partisan game face today -- at least in public.
"We refuse to let this President use the threat of a debt limit deadline to get us to cave on tax hikes or phony spending cuts," McConnell said.
The negotiators are about to sit down to talks again today very shortly, and the odds are Cantor will be on his best behavior.
Cantor is a dandy from Richmond who may have miscalculated Obama's strength -- the same mistake some people in the Virginia capital made a century and half ago about another President from Illinois.
In this case, Cantor showed up at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue with a Ziplock bag full of checkers only to discover that the current resident is playing chess.
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Obama & Cantor Joust as Moody's Joins S&P in Issuing Debt Warning
Investors fired a broadside today at the shenanigans surrounding Washington's debt negotiations, killing a Wall Street rally over what should have been anticipated news that Moody's rating service would lower the U.S. AAA credit rating if a deal is not reached.
Moody's officially joined the Standard & Poor's credit rating service in warning Congress and the White House that they need to do a deal, or else the U.S. could find itself in another financial crisis like the one that crippled markets and wiped out fortunes and 401ks in the summer of 2008.
Moody's disclosure that it would put the U.S. "under review" had been expected, yet with the financial markets so volatile it was enough to kill a rally on Wall Street and send the dollar and 10-year Treasury note downward. The U.S. stock exchanges mostly ended on a positive note, but they still pulled back in the final hour of trading on the Moody's news.
Apparently the rally-killing news did little to shake up the players around the negotiating table at the White House, where President Obama and House GOP leader Eric Cantor locked horns at what was described as a contentious meeting.
Cantor told reporters Obama became "agitated" when the Virginia Republican suggested a short-term deal, prompting the President to warned him not to "call my bluff."
Obama, who has firmly stated he will not accept a short-term deal, then pushed away from the table and left the meeting.
"I know why he lost his temper," Cantor said. "He's frustrated. We're all frustrated."
Obama aides later reportedly described Cantor's explanation "overblown."
The testy parlay today, however, will not keep the negotiators from meeting again tomorrow back at the White House for the fourth straight day.
Moody's officially joined the Standard & Poor's credit rating service in warning Congress and the White House that they need to do a deal, or else the U.S. could find itself in another financial crisis like the one that crippled markets and wiped out fortunes and 401ks in the summer of 2008.
Moody's disclosure that it would put the U.S. "under review" had been expected, yet with the financial markets so volatile it was enough to kill a rally on Wall Street and send the dollar and 10-year Treasury note downward. The U.S. stock exchanges mostly ended on a positive note, but they still pulled back in the final hour of trading on the Moody's news.
Apparently the rally-killing news did little to shake up the players around the negotiating table at the White House, where President Obama and House GOP leader Eric Cantor locked horns at what was described as a contentious meeting.
Cantor told reporters Obama became "agitated" when the Virginia Republican suggested a short-term deal, prompting the President to warned him not to "call my bluff."
Obama, who has firmly stated he will not accept a short-term deal, then pushed away from the table and left the meeting.
"I know why he lost his temper," Cantor said. "He's frustrated. We're all frustrated."
Obama aides later reportedly described Cantor's explanation "overblown."
The testy parlay today, however, will not keep the negotiators from meeting again tomorrow back at the White House for the fourth straight day.
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