Rush Limbaugh – Six Pages Of News Stories And Or Headlines Of Obama Blames, The Complete Mix Rush Limbaugh – Six Pages Of News Stories And Or Headlines Of Obama Blames Part Two Rush Limbaugh – Six Pages Of News Stories And Or Headlines Of Obama Blames Part One dorcie says: Just did a 2 word Google search “ Obama Blames ” and it shows 6,910,000 results. Absolutely astonishing…
Continue reading …No Bullshit Social Media: The All-Business, No-Hype Guide to Social Media Marketing
August 8, 2011 No Comment
Type: Book Title: No Bullshit Social Media: The All-Business, No-Hype Guide to Social Media Marketing See all customer reviews Product Description: The In-Your-Face, Results-Focused, No-“Kumbaya” Guide to Social Media for Business! Detailed techniques for increasing sales, profits, market share, and efficiency Specific solutions for brand-building, customer service, R&D, and reputation management Facts, statistics, real-world case studies, and rock-solid metrics Stop hiding from social media–or treating it as if it’s a playground. Start using it strategically. Identify specific, actionable goals. Apply business discipline and proven best practices. Stop fearing risks. Start mitigating them. Measure performance. Get results. You can. This book shows you how. Jason Falls and Erik Deckers serve up practical social media techniques and metrics for building brands, strengthening awareness, improving service, optimizing R&D, driving better leads–and closing more sales. “Conversations” and “communities” are wonderful, but they’re not enough. Get this book and get what you really want from social media: profits. Think social media’s a passing fad? Too risky? Just a toy? Too soft and fuzzy? Not for your business? Wake up! It’s where your customers are. And it ain’t going away. Does that suck? No. It doesn’t. Do social media right , and all those great business buzzwords come true. Actionable. Measurable. And…wait for it…here comes the big one. Profitable. Damn profitable. Want to know how to do it right? We’ll show you. And, yeah, we know how because we’ve done it. This is the bullshit-free, lie-free, fluff-free, blessedly non-New-Age real deal. You’re going to learn how to use social media to deliver absolutely killer customer service. How to R&D stuff people actually want. Develop scads of seriously qualified leads. You’ll figure out what you want. You know, the little things like profits, market share, loyalty, and brand power. You’ll figure out how to measure it. And then you’ll go get it. One more thing. We know what scares you about social media. Screwing up (a.k.a., your mug on the front page of The Wall Street Journal ). So we’ll tell you what to do so that won’t happen. Ever. No B.S. in this book. Just facts. Metrics. Best practices. Stuff to warm the hearts of your CFO, CEO, all your C-whatevers. And, yeah, you. So get your head out from under the pillow. Get your butt in gear. Let’s go make some money. See the details
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Click here to view this media Prosecutors in Jackson, Mississippii say that Deryl Dedmon, Jr. and John Aaron Rice were looking for a black person to hurt when they left a party on June 26. “Let’s go fuck with some niggers,” Dedmon had reportedly said to friends. Dedmon, Rice and several other teens drove from a white suburb to a prominently black part of town where they came across James Craig Anderson, a 49-year-old black auto plant worker. Witnesses claimed that after beating and kicking Anderson, the teens yelled “White Power!” and other racial epithets. When the beating was over, security footage showed Dedmon’s Ford 250 truck driving over Anderson, killing him instantly. “I ran that nigger over,” Dedmon allegedly told the other teens in a phone call. “He was not remorseful,” Hinds County District Attorney Robert Shuler Smith told CNN’s Drew Griffin. “He was laughing, laughing about the killing.” “This was a crime of hate. Dedmon murdered this man because he was black,” Smith added. Anderson family attorney Winston Thompson agreed, saying, “It appears there is no doubt that this was a racially motivated killing.” Dedmon has been charged with murder and faces a double life sentence. In July, Judge William Barnett reduced the murder charges against Rice to aggravated assault. He was released on $5,000 bond. Other teens involved in the case have not been charged. “Life sentences?” The Root’s Nsenga Burton wondered . “Why not the death penalty? We’re also wondering why Rice and Dedmon, Jr. are the only people being charged in this senseless murder? If multiple teens participated in the beatings and were in the car during the murder, shouldn’t they also be charged?”
Continue reading …Rick Santelli: ‘If it Wasn’t for the Tea Party…We Would Have Been Rated BBB’
August 8, 2011 No Comment
For over 24 hours, Obama advisers , Democrat senators , and terminally stupid ideologues in the media have been blaming Standard and Poor's downgrade of America's debt on the Tea Party. On Monday, one of the only sane voices in the mainstream media stood up and said, “If it wasn't for the Tea Party, they would have passed the debt ceiling thumbs up, we would have been rated BBB” (video follows with transcript and commentary): JOE KERNEN, CNBC: Alright. You know, Santelli, I never know with you. So, I don't know how much of the debate you've been able to watch, but what do you make of what's happened since Friday? RICK SANTELLI, CNBC: You guys ever play sports? You ever been on an organized team? UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yeah. SANTELLI: Okay. You know sometimes you get a couple of bad calls or the game didn't go your way but it should have? A good coach isn't going to come up to you and say, “Gee, you know, the other team really stinks. You know, I’m mad. We're going fight, we're going to appeal. We’re going to go to every league and every lawyer.” No, you know what a good coach says? “It doesn't matter. Okay? We’re a better team than this. Just take this to motivate the team to move on to greater things.” You know, the treasury secretary, the eight percent excuses, you know, the blame Bush, blame the sun, blame this. You know what leadership means? It means that it doesn't really matter what S&P says. We all know deep inside that no country is the same as it was five years ago. And the market seems to be okay with it. And as for stocks going down we were already Ralph Cramden on thin ice. Now an infant jumped on our shoulders. It’s just even more weight. In the end, in the end we need to address problems we know exist. A treasury secretary or a president should be out here not fighting S&P, not grabbing the other coach and slapping him around, taking the umpire behind the barn. He should be getting the team psyched to overcome. See, I remember I had a professor in college. I wrote a great paper. Could never please this guy. But it made me better. Okay? We’re better than this. Don’t get caught up in the minutia. All this BS. We’re better than this. We need to prove it. We’re off the track. Whether we're better than some other country or not, the real issue is we're on the wrong path. Blame the Tea Party? Geez, no wonder Kerry did so well in an election. If it wasn't for the Tea Party, they would have passed the debt ceiling thumbs up, we would have been rated BBB. For those not familiar with the jargon, S&P's highest rating is AAA. From there, it goes much like school grades to AA+, AA, AA-, A+, A, A-, BBB+, BBB. Everything BBB and higher is considered “investment grade.” Everything below that is considered highly-speculative or “junk.” With that in mind, I think Santelli's being a little aggressive in saying that without the Tea Party, S&P would have downgraded our debt eight notches to BBB. However, what the President, his Party, and their media minions seem to forget is that they wanted a clean vote on the debt ceiling, meaning one just on that issue without any other strings attached. At this point it seems safe to say S&P would have at least downgraded us to AA+ had that been the case as we then would have raised the debt ceiling without any spending cuts regardless of how small they ended up being. Maybe worse, Moody's and Fitch might have also reduced our rating last week adding more fuel to the fire that's happening on Wall Street. With that in mind, although Santelli might have been a tad aggressive with his outrage, it is indeed absurd to blame this downgrade on the small but growing number of Tea Party legislators that refused a clean vote and insisted that spending cuts be a part of any debt ceiling agreement. That liberal media members from coast to coast don't get this and instead echo the inflammatory and inaccurate Democrat talking point is indeed an outrage. (H/T Right Scoop )
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Click here to view this media Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) says that the tea party should not be blamed for the political brinkmanship that led to S&P’s downgrade of U.S. credit because they have bent over backwards to compromise. “We have actually done a lot of compromising,” Chaffetz told ABC’s Christiane Amanpour Sunday. “Remember, it was the tea party that really spurred — I was the primary sponsor of ‘Cut, Cap and Balance.’” “Wait a minute,” former Obama administration “Car Czar” Steve Rattner interrupted. “‘Cut, Cap and Balance’ was not a compromise.” “Yes, it was,” Chaffetz replied. “It was a raising of the debt ceiling by $2.4 trillion. And what is wrong in this country is that we aren’t willing to have the discussion about a balanced budget amendment.” CNN’s Jeanne Sahadi noted at the time that “Cut, Cap and Balance” exacerbated the problem. “For starters, since the bill isn’t expected to go anywhere in the Senate, lawmakers are wasting precious time needed to pass a debt ceiling increase before Aug. 2,” she wrote . In the end, Chaffetz did refused to compromise and vote for the final bipartisan compromise that raised the nation’s debt ceiling.
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Click here to view this media Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) says that the tea party should not be blamed for the political brinkmanship that led to S&P’s downgrade of U.S. credit because they have bent over backwards to compromise. “We have actually done a lot of compromising,” Chaffetz told ABC’s Christiane Amanpour Sunday. “Remember, it was the tea party that really spurred — I was the primary sponsor of ‘Cut, Cap and Balance.’” “Wait a minute,” former Obama administration “Car Czar” Steve Rattner interrupted. “‘Cut, Cap and Balance’ was not a compromise.” “Yes, it was,” Chaffetz replied. “It was a raising of the debt ceiling by $2.4 trillion. And what is wrong in this country is that we aren’t willing to have the discussion about a balanced budget amendment.” CNN’s Jeanne Sahadi noted at the time that “Cut, Cap and Balance” exacerbated the problem. “For starters, since the bill isn’t expected to go anywhere in the Senate, lawmakers are wasting precious time needed to pass a debt ceiling increase before Aug. 2,” she wrote . In the end, Chaffetz did refused to compromise and vote for the final bipartisan compromise that raised the nation’s debt ceiling.
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Total killed during Syrian uprising passes 2,000 as President Bashar al-Assad defies international pressure Syria defied Arab isolation and mounting international anger on Monday as President Bashar al-Assad’s security forces continued attacks on pro-democracy protesters across the country. The US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, urged al-Assad to return his troops to barracks and release all prisoners, one of the bluntest demands yet made of the Syrian leader, after regional powerhouse Saudi Arabia led a rare chorus of Arab states in condemning the repression. Reports from Deir al-Zor described artillery and heavy machinegun fire and snipers on roofs as troops and intelligence agents carried out mass arrests in the north-eastern city. On Sunday, 42 people were killed there, nudging the death total during five months of the uprising to more than 2,000. In Hama, security forces were reported to have deployed an anti-aircraft gun to fire on civilians, diplomats said. Videos from around the country purported to show gunfire, shelling and corpses from violence over the weekend. Three people were reported to have been shot during a funeral in Deraa. In a political development, al-Assad announced the replacement of his defence minister, Ali Habib, a member of the minority Alawite community, by the army chief of staff, Daoud Rajha, who is a Christian. Analysts said the move seemed intended to emphasise the regime’s claim to be defending all Syrian citizens against a sectarian conflict it says is being fomented by Islamic extremists. State TV described Habib as being in poor health and said the decision to replace him had been taken after consultations by the president. Syrian media scorned moves by Saudi Arabia and its Gulf allies to protest against the violence by withdrawing their ambassadors from Damascus. The Sana news agency quoted an unnamed official as expressing “regret” that Arab states had “completely ignored facts on the killing and sabotage committed by armed terrorist groups”. Kuwait and Bahrain followed the Saudis in recalling their envoys for consultations. On Sunday, King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia condemned the crackdown in a speech that was billed as historic but was largely prompted, western diplomats said, by US pressure. Britain has also been lobbying the Saudis and other Arab states, which rarely criticise each other in public, to get tough with Syria. Qatar, which pursues more independent policies, recalled its ambassdor from Damsacus last month. On Sunday the Arab League, which represents all Arab states, had spoken out for the first time and called on the Syrian authorities to stop acts of violence against civilians. Speaking on state TV, commentator Samir Shehadi warned that Syria would in future support Shia protestors in Saudi Arabia and Bahrain in retaliation for their stand. Neighbouring Jordan also expressed concern for the first time. British diplomats said they were alarmed by the arrest of a leading dissident, Walid al-Bunni, and his sons, who had been due to take part in an opposition conference. A leading human rights lawyer was also reportedly detained. Communications were patchy and details incomplete, but the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights quoted residents in Deir al-Zor as saying that security forces had shot dead a mother and her two children who were fleeing the assault. “The army opened up with heavy machine guns on al-Joura district. Security forces then launched a search sweep, terrorising residents,” an activist in the city told AFP. People were said to be too terrified to take the wounded to government hospitals, instead treating them at home or in makeshift hospitals. Troops also entered Maarat an-Numan in the northern province of Idlib at dawn on Monday, opposition activists said. Turkey’s foreign minister, Ahmet Davutoglu, is due to meet Assad in Damascus on Tuesday and will be carrying Clinton’s message to Assad to release all detained protesters, establish a new government and send his army back to barracks, Turkish media reported. Bouthaina Shaaban, Assad’s media adviser, said Davutoglu would hear a protest that his country had failed to “condemn the brutal killing and crimes committed by the armed terrorist groups”. William Hague, the foreign secretary, condemned the latest violence against Syrians. “This brutality exposes the regime’s claims to be committed to a reform process as an utter sham,” he said in a statement. On Sunday night reporters were taken on a tour of the government-run hospital in Hama, where more than 150 fatalities have been reported in recent days, and shown the remains of 16 people, some decomposing. Dr Mohammed al-Omar said most of the bodies were members of the security forces who were killed by armed groups. Condemnation of the Syrian government spread to the internet, where the hacking group known as Anonymous claimed credit for vandalising the Syrian military’s website. The site quickly became unavailable, but screenshots circulated online showed the group’s trademark headless suit and a message addressed to the Syrian people saying that “the world stands with you against the brutal regime.” Syria Middle East Bashar Al-Assad Ian Black guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Total killed during Syrian uprising passes 2,000 as President Bashar al-Assad defies international pressure Syria defied Arab isolation and mounting international anger on Monday as President Bashar al-Assad’s security forces continued attacks on pro-democracy protesters across the country. The US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, urged al-Assad to return his troops to barracks and release all prisoners, one of the bluntest demands yet made of the Syrian leader, after regional powerhouse Saudi Arabia led a rare chorus of Arab states in condemning the repression. Reports from Deir al-Zor described artillery and heavy machinegun fire and snipers on roofs as troops and intelligence agents carried out mass arrests in the north-eastern city. On Sunday, 42 people were killed there, nudging the death total during five months of the uprising to more than 2,000. In Hama, security forces were reported to have deployed an anti-aircraft gun to fire on civilians, diplomats said. Videos from around the country purported to show gunfire, shelling and corpses from violence over the weekend. Three people were reported to have been shot during a funeral in Deraa. In a political development, al-Assad announced the replacement of his defence minister, Ali Habib, a member of the minority Alawite community, by the army chief of staff, Daoud Rajha, who is a Christian. Analysts said the move seemed intended to emphasise the regime’s claim to be defending all Syrian citizens against a sectarian conflict it says is being fomented by Islamic extremists. State TV described Habib as being in poor health and said the decision to replace him had been taken after consultations by the president. Syrian media scorned moves by Saudi Arabia and its Gulf allies to protest against the violence by withdrawing their ambassadors from Damascus. The Sana news agency quoted an unnamed official as expressing “regret” that Arab states had “completely ignored facts on the killing and sabotage committed by armed terrorist groups”. Kuwait and Bahrain followed the Saudis in recalling their envoys for consultations. On Sunday, King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia condemned the crackdown in a speech that was billed as historic but was largely prompted, western diplomats said, by US pressure. Britain has also been lobbying the Saudis and other Arab states, which rarely criticise each other in public, to get tough with Syria. Qatar, which pursues more independent policies, recalled its ambassdor from Damsacus last month. On Sunday the Arab League, which represents all Arab states, had spoken out for the first time and called on the Syrian authorities to stop acts of violence against civilians. Speaking on state TV, commentator Samir Shehadi warned that Syria would in future support Shia protestors in Saudi Arabia and Bahrain in retaliation for their stand. Neighbouring Jordan also expressed concern for the first time. British diplomats said they were alarmed by the arrest of a leading dissident, Walid al-Bunni, and his sons, who had been due to take part in an opposition conference. A leading human rights lawyer was also reportedly detained. Communications were patchy and details incomplete, but the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights quoted residents in Deir al-Zor as saying that security forces had shot dead a mother and her two children who were fleeing the assault. “The army opened up with heavy machine guns on al-Joura district. Security forces then launched a search sweep, terrorising residents,” an activist in the city told AFP. People were said to be too terrified to take the wounded to government hospitals, instead treating them at home or in makeshift hospitals. Troops also entered Maarat an-Numan in the northern province of Idlib at dawn on Monday, opposition activists said. Turkey’s foreign minister, Ahmet Davutoglu, is due to meet Assad in Damascus on Tuesday and will be carrying Clinton’s message to Assad to release all detained protesters, establish a new government and send his army back to barracks, Turkish media reported. Bouthaina Shaaban, Assad’s media adviser, said Davutoglu would hear a protest that his country had failed to “condemn the brutal killing and crimes committed by the armed terrorist groups”. William Hague, the foreign secretary, condemned the latest violence against Syrians. “This brutality exposes the regime’s claims to be committed to a reform process as an utter sham,” he said in a statement. On Sunday night reporters were taken on a tour of the government-run hospital in Hama, where more than 150 fatalities have been reported in recent days, and shown the remains of 16 people, some decomposing. Dr Mohammed al-Omar said most of the bodies were members of the security forces who were killed by armed groups. Condemnation of the Syrian government spread to the internet, where the hacking group known as Anonymous claimed credit for vandalising the Syrian military’s website. The site quickly became unavailable, but screenshots circulated online showed the group’s trademark headless suit and a message addressed to the Syrian people saying that “the world stands with you against the brutal regime.” Syria Middle East Bashar Al-Assad Ian Black guardian.co.uk
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Obama hits back at S&P’s downgrading of US credit rating and blames Tea Party Republicans for loss of AAA status Barack Obama has dismissed Standard and Poor’s downgrading of America’s credit rating and insisted the US remained an AAA country. In his first words since S&P’s decision on Friday evening, he sought to calm the markets, which had been tumbling since opening, saying America’s problems were solvable, providing there was the necessary political will. “This is the United States of America. No matter what some agency says, we will always be a triple A country,” he said. As well as seeking to reassure the markets, Obama also sought to protect his chances of re-election to the White House next year by blaming the decision on Tea Party Republicans. The downgrade, the first in American history, provides the Republicans with a powerful stick to with which beat him in the election campaign. Candidates seeking the party nomination to take on Obama pinned responsibility on the president, saying he had provided poor leadership and failed to take desperately-needed action to make even deeper debt cuts. A CNN poll showed 75% of those surveyed felt the economy was going badly – up 15% since May. Despite the Wall Street selloff, prompted by the ratings downgrade, international investors piled into US treasury bonds. By midday in New York, two-year US Treasuries were in such demand that their yields hit an all-time low of 0.24%. At the same time, 10-year Treasuries fell to 2.36%. Analysts said that – compared with the problems mounting in the eurozone – the US looked a safe haven. The VIX index – known as the “index of fear”, because it measures market confidence – jumped to levels not seen since the depths of the 2009 recession. Obama spoke from the White House while the markets were still open in the hope that he might have an influence – but they continued falling during and even after his statement. The president, blaming the Republicans, said the downgrade was not so much because of doubts about America’s ability to pay its debts but the month of wrangling in Washington over the debt ceiling rise. The question was a political one, not a financial one, he said. In a swipe at S&P, he noted that other credit agencies had not joined it in downgrading America. “It does not mean we don’t have a problem,” Obama said, citing the deadlock in Washington over the last month. He said the threat from the Republicans had upset the market, and that was a “legitimate concern”. But he claimed there was good news in that the problem could be fixed by balancing the budget and the new Congressional super-committee being set up to look at spending cuts and revenue raising could provide the answers. Good bipartisan proposals were out there, he said. “It is the lack of political will in Washington” that was the problem. He would put forward proposals of his own over the next few weeks. His statement is unlikely to create much confidence that there will be a bipartisan agreement. The president insisted there had to be tax raising measures, a move the Republicans say they will not even contemplate. Obama also said that any cuts in benefits, such as Medicare, would be “modest”, while Republicans are looking for deep cuts. Much of the political action this week will be in Iowa, the first state where the Republicans will hold their caucus early next year to choose a candidate to take on Obama. Most of the Republican hopefuls will be campaigning in the state this week ahead of a televised debate on Thursday and a straw poll on Saturday. However, the candidates lined up on Monday to blame Obama. The present Republican frontrunner, Mitt Romney, speaking in New Hampshire, another of the early states in the Republican nomination battle, said Obama was primarily responsible for the downgrade because he had failed to stimulate economic growth. He added that some of the blame could be placed on Democrats and Republicans in previous Congresses. “No, I don’t think it’s simply the president’s fault. I’m sure there are many people who share responsibility in Washington for the excessive spending over the last couple of decades,” Romney said. Democrats, most of them anonymous, also criticised Obama, saying his present troubles are a direct result of his failure to stand up to the Tea Party Republicans during the debt ceiling stand-off. There is unlikely to be much relief for Obama over the summer holidays. The political focus will shift to the composition of a new Congressional super-committee set up as part of the deal last week to draw up detailed plans for debt reduction. The committee is due to begin work in September and identify areas for spending cuts before the end of the year. The Obama administration expressed hope that the downgrade will put pressure on the bipartisan committee to reach a compromise. But Republicans, having fought two successful guerrilla campaigns this year so far in which they threatened to close down the federal government and force the US to default, are almost certain to renew hostilities over spending. Ha-Joon Chang, page 26 US economy Financial crisis Global recession United States Barack Obama Banking Stock markets Economics Ewen MacAskill guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Obama hits back at S&P’s downgrading of US credit rating and blames Tea Party Republicans for loss of AAA status Barack Obama has dismissed Standard and Poor’s downgrading of America’s credit rating and insisted the US remained an AAA country. In his first words since S&P’s decision on Friday evening, he sought to calm the markets, which had been tumbling since opening, saying America’s problems were solvable, providing there was the necessary political will. “This is the United States of America. No matter what some agency says, we will always be a triple A country,” he said. As well as seeking to reassure the markets, Obama also sought to protect his chances of re-election to the White House next year by blaming the decision on Tea Party Republicans. The downgrade, the first in American history, provides the Republicans with a powerful stick to with which beat him in the election campaign. Candidates seeking the party nomination to take on Obama pinned responsibility on the president, saying he had provided poor leadership and failed to take desperately-needed action to make even deeper debt cuts. A CNN poll showed 75% of those surveyed felt the economy was going badly – up 15% since May. Despite the Wall Street selloff, prompted by the ratings downgrade, international investors piled into US treasury bonds. By midday in New York, two-year US Treasuries were in such demand that their yields hit an all-time low of 0.24%. At the same time, 10-year Treasuries fell to 2.36%. Analysts said that – compared with the problems mounting in the eurozone – the US looked a safe haven. The VIX index – known as the “index of fear”, because it measures market confidence – jumped to levels not seen since the depths of the 2009 recession. Obama spoke from the White House while the markets were still open in the hope that he might have an influence – but they continued falling during and even after his statement. The president, blaming the Republicans, said the downgrade was not so much because of doubts about America’s ability to pay its debts but the month of wrangling in Washington over the debt ceiling rise. The question was a political one, not a financial one, he said. In a swipe at S&P, he noted that other credit agencies had not joined it in downgrading America. “It does not mean we don’t have a problem,” Obama said, citing the deadlock in Washington over the last month. He said the threat from the Republicans had upset the market, and that was a “legitimate concern”. But he claimed there was good news in that the problem could be fixed by balancing the budget and the new Congressional super-committee being set up to look at spending cuts and revenue raising could provide the answers. Good bipartisan proposals were out there, he said. “It is the lack of political will in Washington” that was the problem. He would put forward proposals of his own over the next few weeks. His statement is unlikely to create much confidence that there will be a bipartisan agreement. The president insisted there had to be tax raising measures, a move the Republicans say they will not even contemplate. Obama also said that any cuts in benefits, such as Medicare, would be “modest”, while Republicans are looking for deep cuts. Much of the political action this week will be in Iowa, the first state where the Republicans will hold their caucus early next year to choose a candidate to take on Obama. Most of the Republican hopefuls will be campaigning in the state this week ahead of a televised debate on Thursday and a straw poll on Saturday. However, the candidates lined up on Monday to blame Obama. The present Republican frontrunner, Mitt Romney, speaking in New Hampshire, another of the early states in the Republican nomination battle, said Obama was primarily responsible for the downgrade because he had failed to stimulate economic growth. He added that some of the blame could be placed on Democrats and Republicans in previous Congresses. “No, I don’t think it’s simply the president’s fault. I’m sure there are many people who share responsibility in Washington for the excessive spending over the last couple of decades,” Romney said. Democrats, most of them anonymous, also criticised Obama, saying his present troubles are a direct result of his failure to stand up to the Tea Party Republicans during the debt ceiling stand-off. There is unlikely to be much relief for Obama over the summer holidays. The political focus will shift to the composition of a new Congressional super-committee set up as part of the deal last week to draw up detailed plans for debt reduction. The committee is due to begin work in September and identify areas for spending cuts before the end of the year. The Obama administration expressed hope that the downgrade will put pressure on the bipartisan committee to reach a compromise. But Republicans, having fought two successful guerrilla campaigns this year so far in which they threatened to close down the federal government and force the US to default, are almost certain to renew hostilities over spending. Ha-Joon Chang, page 26 US economy Financial crisis Global recession United States Barack Obama Banking Stock markets Economics Ewen MacAskill guardian.co.uk
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