esrosedotblog

AFTERMATH

I suppose I should say something about the whole debt ceiling thing.

I don't feel bad about it.

In my usual contrarian way, I liked all the messiness of it. This is the American way. We have never handled things in a euro-civilized way.

I saw some criticism from the haughty French dame that took over from the serial seducer at MLF. Piss off.

Of course, I don't like conflict any more than the next person. But as I wrote below, a few days ago, we voted (or did not vote which is part of the problem) the rascals in so we got what we deserved.

It is messy, democracy.

Obama? He gets out with more criticism from the lefties than those on the right. I think he did fine. He got boxed in. They are tough opponents. But a close inspection of the "deal" shows that the left didn't do that bad.

There won't be any more of this until after the general election. There are no cuts to Medicare and Social Security or other entitlements. There is wonderful cover for cuts to the incredibly too large defense budget. Now more of an "offense" budget.

The other thing is that the deal is backloaded. We always taught in negotiation to take your medicine in the long term. So much can happen that you may never actually have to "pay" anything.

I don't care about the winners/losers stuff or the polls. We are a long way off from any meaningful consideration of the Presidential. Until there is a GOP candidate we can't do much of anything. Romney is seen as the strongest against Obama (but not winning) and relatively weak in the GOP field. The rest? Not a worry. Perry is a desirable GOP candidate as he will scare the bejeezus out of the libs and they will turn out again. Ditto Bachman.

So, all in all not a bad deal or process at all.

And the stock market? Kevin Drum thinks it is really all about Europe which is definitely something to worry about. The Greeks. The Italians. And the rest of them for being unwilling to support their weakest.

Soon, if we were inclined, we will get to sneer at the EU.

What the Markets Are Really Worried About.

Labels: economy, Re-election of Barack Obama