Debt-ceiling drama: This mess needs to end really freaking soon

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» Can they kiss, make up and pull off a debt deal? With Republicans suddenly pushing for a smaller short-term agreement and Obama going all heave-ho in favor of a larger one, Obama’s starting to show some boldness that we haven’t seen in a while. In terms of political battles, he called the GOP’s bluff. To be clear, tax increases are the main sticking point here, but are we starting to see the limits of the all-or-nothing approach the GOP has to taxes? Obama looks like he’s not going to blink. But either side could.

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10 Jul 2011 12:08

biggish Republicans appear ready to agree to a $2.4 trillion debt-cutting agreement to allow the debt ceiling to go up, and to help prevent the country from defaulting on its loans. It’s something that Republicans have been fighting towards for a while. So what’s this drama we’re hearing about Boehner backing down last night?
bigger However, Obama’s eyeing a different deal — a much-larger $4 trillion one, which (over the next decade) would increase taxes for the top-fifth of incomes by cutting back tax credits and deductions — but in the process, trimming the debt significantly. Is it us, or does Obama seem more serious about fixing this issue? source

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I think it’s a shame because they’ve done a lot of good, they’ve riddled out a lot of, let’s say, nasty people. It’s unfortunate that a few people have brought it down. But they have got no choice because they condemned others so they have got to show they are accountable.
Newspaper vendor Jean Natella • Offering her take on the closing of News of the World. Say what you will about the paper’s tactics, but they have shown results in the past, though the problem the paper has faced has been one of culture. As another reader, Michael Mitchell, puts it: “I don’t think it should close; I think the people responsible should not be there. They have, I feel, overstepped the mark. Or they’ve been found out, because if this paper is doing it you can bet the majority of them are doing it as well.” We can get behind that. source

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» That’s no small chunk, guys: In other words, roughly a third of the security aid that the U.S. gives Pakistan each year. Why the change? Well, as White House Chief of Staff Bill Daley puts it, Pakistan has “taken some steps that have given us reason to pause on some of the aid.” Like possibly harboring Osama bin Laden in a compound within a couple of miles of a military base? That seems like a pretty big step. That said, the U.S. does consider the relationship with Pakistan important, if imperfect. “It’s a complicated relationship in a very difficult, complicated part of the world,” Daley says. “Obviously, there’s still lot of pain that the political system in Pakistan is feeling by virtue of the raid that we did to get Osama Bin Laden, something that the president felt strongly about and we have no regrets over.”

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