1.8
July 13, 2011

“I’m not going to do that,” Obama said. “I’m not going to take money from old people & screw students.”

Updates:

> Income Inequality between Rich & Poor is at its most extreme since…

> Video: Bill Maher on the Debt Ceiling: “If you’re middle class and vote Republican, you’re an idiot.”

> The Republicans, essentially holding veto power, play a cynical, ideological game with our economy. The Democrats, as always, weakly ask for compromise, offering to “cut spending, military, tax breaks for corporate jets & hedge-fund managers, cut aid to poor & unlucky.”

> “The Bush tax cuts netted *zero* jobs in the 2000s. Trickle-down economics doesn’t work. It’s time to kill the tax cuts for the wealthy.”

> “The Republican effort to repeal light bulb energy efficiency standards — which saves consumers $12 billion a year and reduces electricity usage — has failed by a vote of 233 to 193.”

> Wall Street Journal:

Mr. McConnell: “‘After years of discussions and months of negotiations, I have little question that as long as this president is in the Oval Office, a real solution is unattainable,’ he said.

White House press secretary Jay Carney fired back, “This president is going to be in office for at least another 18 months, and I think the American people expect this Congress to work with him…

…Meanwhile, some 470 executives—including the chief executives from Alcoa Inc., DuPont, Citigroup Inc. and Procter & Gamble Co.—released a letter to the president and Congress urging them to raise the debt ceiling…

The executives warned that a government default could throw financial markets into “disarray” and “this is a risk our country must not take.”

…the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, National Association of Manufacturers, and Financial Services Forum have spent months in briefings with lawmakers warning about default…if the U.S. government’s bond rating were downgraded from Aaa to Aa, it could shave 1% off the gross domestic product and cost at least one million jobs. “Now is the time for our political leaders to act,” the executives wrote.

> “By far the strangest thing about the American debate concerning national economic policy is that it has been conducted without discussion of the largest item in the budget: America’s wars.”

> “What Republicans are really interested in doing is cutting the welfare state. That’s why they’re opposed to any increase in taxes, even though the biggest single driver of the deficit is the Bush tax cuts, which Republicans overwhelmingly supported.”

> Today:

…Obama returned to this theme in the talks, saying everyone is being asked to sacrifice except rich people. The Republicans repeated their belief that any tax increase would damage the fragile economy.

…Obama attempted to neutralize Republican arguments about raising taxes in a weak economy by noting that no increase would take effect until 2013.

…The clock is ticking, and no one is budging.

For more, click over to the Daily Beast.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

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