Congress’ supercommittee has failed in its bid to cut a government debt that stands at an eye-watering $15 trillion.
With deep-running political divisions over spending and taxation, Republicans and Democrats failed to reach an agreement to cut $1.2 trillion of the national debt on Monday. As a result, U.S. and European stock prices were sent tumbling.
And of course, it goes without saying that both sides were quick to blame the other.
President Barack Obama said that a refusal by the GOP to raise taxes on the rich had formed an impassable obstacle to reaching a deal. Meanwhile, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Republicans had “never found the courage to ignore the tea party extremists” and “never came close to meeting us half way.” Republican Senator Jon Kyl was also accused of wrecking the deal.
The blame game worked both ways, however. GOP Senator Pat Toomey oversaw a Republican offer during the talks, yet said:
“Unfortunately, our Democratic colleagues refused to agree to any meaningful deficit reduction without $1 trillion in job-crushing tax increases.”
And GOP presidential candidate Rick Perry used the result to attack Obama, and by the sounds of it managed a whole sentence without stumbling. Bravo sir:
“It’s amazing to what lengths he (Obama) will go to avoid making tough decisions.”
Just listen to this mob, taking every opportunity to score cheap political points. It’s almost as though there’s some huge election-style event next year or something.
Congress’ public rating was below 20-percent approval in numerous polls before this announcement. Expect that to dip even lower in the coming days.
