Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Kuros]

House passes the vote 269-161. It goes to the Senate. Gabbie Giffords graced the floor at the end of the vote.

[Kuros]

Egan-Jones Downgrades US From AAA To AA+

[Ya-ta Boy]

[Ya-ta Boy]

[Privateer]

Well if there ever is a progressive party (I know, I'm dreaming) with a majority in the House of Representatives, I guess we know what to do: hold the government to ransom until it capitulates and we get the massive reforms we need. Can you imagine the vilification?

[visitorq]

[Ya-ta Boy]

This writer views the Tea Party as a neo-Confederate movement.

The debt ceiling crisis is the latest case in which the radical right in the South has held America hostage until its demands are met. Presidents Andrew Jackson and Abraham Lincoln refused to appease the Southern fanatics. Unfortunately, President Obama and the Democrats in Congress chose not to follow their example and instead gave in. In doing so, they have encouraged the neo-Confederate minority in Congress to find yet another opportunity in the near future to extort concessions from America's majority by sabotaging America's government.

http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2011/08/02/lind_tea_party/index.html

[Kuros]

^^

Yes. That is precisely my biggest concern with the Tea Party, as well.

[visitorq]

[Ya-ta Boy]

[Ya-ta Boy]

It seems not everyone is thrilled with the outcome of the debt ceiling debacle.

"China hopes the U.S. administration and the Congress would take responsible policy measures to handle its debt issue in light with the interests of the whole world including those of the United States," Zhou said...

Also Wednesday, a Chinese rating agency said it has downgraded Washington's credit rating from A+ to A.

The move by Dagong Global Credit Rating Co., which is little-known abroad, is unlikely to affect U.S. borrowing rates but reflects the pessimism Washington's debt battle has generated worldwide.



http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20110803/as-china-us-debt/

We're now being lectured by China on financial responsibility. China.

And it isn't just the Chinese who are not impressed with the whole economic outlook of the US:

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) � Asian stocks fell sharply Wednesday as relief the U.S. averted a debt default gave way to increasing pessimism over prospects for the world's biggest economy...

Japan's Nikkei 225 index slid 2.1 percent to 9,642.86 and Hong Kong's Hang Seng shed 1.9 percent to 21,995.75.

South Korea's benchmark Kospi index tumbled 2.7 percent to 2,064.35. Stock markets in Australia, Taiwan, India, Singapore, the Philippines and Indonesia also dropped.

There "seems to be a lot of fear in the market, a lot of panic," said Jackson Wong, vice president at Tanrich Securities in Hong Kong, citing worries that the terms of a deal signed by President Barack Obama on Tuesday to avert a U.S. default may worsen an already slowing economy.
http://news.yahoo.com/asian-stocks-fall-amid-dim-us-economy-prospects-034209171.html

[Ya-ta Boy]

The most withering statement I've come across so far:

If the Bush administration's conduct of the war in Iraq and against terror undercut the world's belief in the United States' stated international principles and the 2008-2009 financial crisis undercut the world's belief in American capitalism, this debacle contributed to a growing sense of doubt about the functioning of American democracy...

While American political leaders may try to rationalize this deal away by saying it is the best that could have been struck, that's nonsense. America could have done this without such unnecessary, confidence-shaking drama. America could have done this in a way that was consistent with sound economic principles. America could have done this in a way that was intellectually honest. But we did not. As a result, while this deal may have temporarily shored up market confidence in the U.S., the process leading up to it has almost certainly done much more severe lasting damage than we are easily able to calculate today.
http://rothkopf.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2011/08/02/we_have_a_deal_but_washington_has_also_deeply_damaged_america_s_brand

Second best comment I've found: The real issue is not small versus big government. It is smart versus dumb government. Germany and Singapore both have smart governments. The United States, alas, has a dumb government that now seems also to have a death wish.
http://prestowitz.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2011/08/01/the_american_way_of_suicide

This article was also worthwhile: The Sweet Smell of Schadenfreude

State wire service Xinhua expressed its dismay at the potential of a default in the run-up to the final debt decisions, calling the political brinkmanship in Washington "dangerously irresponsible" in an editorial last week and noting that the "ugliest part of the saga is that the well-being of many other countries is also in the impact zone when the donkey and the elephant fight."

"The United States is now in the same basic trap as the Old Continent," forced to enact harsh austerity measures in order to reduce the deficit, but hampering economic growth in the process. The deal "transmits the message that the policies proposed by the radical core of the Republican Party, the Tea Party, will be an obstacle for crisis management in Washington," the editors conclude.

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2011/08/02/the_sweet_smell_of_schadenfreude?page=0,1

[visitorq]

[Kuros]

[NohopeSeriously]

http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/

Here's a good blog about this whole thing called financial crisis in the USA.