The Steinberg Files

Yesterday, the Dow Industrial average dropped more than 600 points — on the back of heavy losses last week. So how did President Obama respond? Did he meet with his cabinet?  Nope A meeting with Federal Reserve Chair Ben Bernanke?  Nope. Ok.  How about a meeting with congressional leaders?  Nope. The correct answer is . [...]

On Friday, S & P downgraded America’s debt from AAA, for the first time in history. How do you rate President Barack Hussein Obama? AAA  — Maybe the greatest President ever. A  –   Very good. B — About average. Subprime — Below average. Junk.

The House of Representatives just passed the Obama-Reid-McConnell debt ceiling plan. As regular readers know, I am not crazy about this plan. At least, the plan has no job-killing taxes. If could have been worse.  Much worse.

CNN reports on the current “debt ceiling deal”: “According to information from the White House and a presentation for his Republican colleagues by House Speaker John Boehner, the proposed deal includes $2.4 trillion in deficit reduction over 10 years while authorizing an increase in the federal debt ceiling by a slightly smaller amount to allow [...]

The Washington Examiner Reports: “As Republicans continued to close ranks around House Speaker John Boehner’s debt limit plan, Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., expressed confidence that the measure would have the votes to pass. “I think we have the votes, ” Issa said on a conference call with bloggers. “I don’t think all the people whose votes [...]

The Washington Post reports — no doubt with glee – “A leading House conservative said Tuesday that enough Republicans oppose the debt-ceiling plan drafted by House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) to make Democratic support crucial to passing it. “I am confident as of this morning that there were not 218 Republicans in support of this [...]

From MSNBC: “Despite warnings to the contrary, U.S. financial markets appeared to take the political maneuvering in stride. Wall Street posted losses but with no indication of panic among investors. Without signed legislation by day’s end on Aug. 2, the Treasury will be unable to pay all its bills, possibly triggering an unprecedented default that officials [...]

On Friday, debt ceiling negotations broke down between House Speaker John Boehner and President Obama, Boehner.  As reported by the National Journal, Boehner’s office issued the following statement on Saturday:  “Boehner’s office on Saturday morning chided Obama for opposing any proposal that does not raise the $14.3 trillion plan by enough to resolve the issue until after [...]

The Hill.com reported, way back on June 23: “Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Thursday morning said bipartisan talks on the looming debt-ceiling crisis are struggling because President Obama is failing to lead or even participate in the talks by proposing solutions. “Where in the world has President Obama been for the last month?” [...]

I just don’t get. it.  Why are Republicans in Congress bending over backwards to give Obama the debt ceiling deal he wants? Most of the recent deficit proposals — including the “Gang of Six” plan,  would give Obama big tax increases and a big increase in the debt ceiling – lots of money so Obama can buy the 2012 election. [...]