Heres the scoop since yesterday:
- Boehner's plan cuts $838 Billion in Spending
- Reid's plan cuts a little over $2 Trillion in Spending
- Both plans have little chance passing both houses
However, as Chris Matthews put it, "the pre-game" strategies are now over and the real negotiations begin. As reported yesterday morning, the tea-party freshmen Republicans reluncantly got their "asses" in line (Boehner said it, not me). In this time of constant political positioning for candidate campaigning, it only makes sense that a grand deal will happen in the final hours of Sunday Evening, hours before the opening bell of the markets begin to panic, or sigh in relief. I believe a repeat congressional performance of the health care bill will happen with the debt ceiling vote.
According to a recent poll, it seems like Obama is winning the rhetoric on this issue of compromise (56% of Americans Agree) with the Democrats holding their guns with the "shared sacrifce" anti-tax for the rich strategy and the Republicans trying to blame the President for lack of leadership. Hopefully the political theatre will die down considering the tea party policy shift on the debt ceiling issue.
Considering some bill will pass that has the debt ceiling saving us from credit rating catastrophe, I start to wonder if the debt ceiling debate should be part of the political arena. Just like the interest rates and printing money, shouldn't the debt ceiling be considered on the same circumstances. After all, if we do not raise the debt ceiling, global economic calapse is highly likely. Therefore, I believe that the debt ceiling should be under the Federal Reserve, the entity that allows our economic power to flow freely without any governmental disruption.
Although, for the markets' sake, we can get this debt ceiling crisis done earlier, these modern political times trends to the likeliness of last minute politics. Where the last bill will likely be the foundation of the grand compromise. If you listen to the news today, you are hearing that a 'new bill' is in the works. Let's see what that bill is... Didn't someone mention 'grand compromise'?
