The rhetoric from today's political maneuvering is eerily reminiscent of the rhetoric just a week ago and absolutely in now way represents the 'progress' than an impatient to BTFATH equity market appears confident about. As AP reports [5], Harry Reid seemed to arrogantly explain "we haven't done anything yet" by way of compromise (as his party rejected the compromise deal on the basis of the spending and taxes issues; and the Republicans came out swinging. Boehner (behind closed doors) exclaimed "The Senate needs to hold tough; the President isn't negotiating with us;" and tea-party caucus member Fleming blasted, "It's very clear to us he does not now, and never had, any intentions of negotiating," and warned, there was "definitely a chance that we're going to go past the deadline."
Via AP, [5]
Republicans and Democrats in Congress lumbered through a day of political maneuvering Saturday while a threatened default by the Treasury crept uncomfortably closer and a partial government shutdown neared the end of its second week.
"We haven't done anything yet" by way of compromise, Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.,
...
Across the Capitol, tea party caucus Republican Rep. John Fleming of Louisiana said there was "definitely a chance that we're going to go past the deadline" that Treasury Secretary Jack Lew has set
...
"The Senate needs to hold tough," Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore., quoted Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, as telling the GOP rank and file in a private meeting. "The president now isn't negotiating with us."
...
The president's party rejected a stab at compromise led by GOP Maine Sen. Susan Collins, while Republicans blocked the advance of a no-strings attached measure the Democrats drafted to let the Treasury resume normal borrowing. The party line vote was 53-45, seven short of the 60 required.
In disagreement was a pair of issues, both important and also emblematic of a broader, unyielding dispute between the political parties over spending, taxes and deficits.
...
"Perhaps he sees this as the best opportunity for him to win the House in 2014," Fleming said of the president. "It's very clear to us he does not now, and never had, any intentions of negotiating."
Reid was savage.
Republicans had begun seeking concessions on health care, he said, and now their No. 1 issue is "to divert attention from the fools they've made of themselves on Obamacare."
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In his Saturday address, Obama said, "Politics is a battle of ideas, but you advance those ideas through elections and legislation - not extortion."
Doesn't exactly sound like the "deal is close" bullshit that drove the Dow up 500 points in 36 hours we saw last week?
In the meantime, we wonder what "sweet nothings" these two were discussing in the past...
