I hope this passes for a correct attribution.
The following is excerpted from a Facebook entry (https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=600696526636505&set=a.433295386709954.96727.433288343377325&type=1) by Tom Joad (https://www.facebook.com/TomJoadLives).

This story is less politics and more economics. ... [Many are ] feeling the strain of what the Republicans are doing to the country right now. They (John Andrew Boehner (R-OH), the 61st and current Speaker of the United States House of Representatives - and Eric Ivan Cantor (R-VA), House Majority Leader) stood up again today and did what psychologists call "projection," and political commentators call "spin."
 This current crisis and the resulting financial strain and pain and domino effect into the financial markets and private companies that do work for the government - belongs to about eighty morons in the House of Representatives. What's frustrating (for me) is listening to relatively smart people in the media trying desperately NOT to tell the truth about it, because saying that John is lying to us paints them with "the L word" - even if it's an accurate statement.
[...]
. YES, this is - to a degree - a bit of political theater, but more than that - it's folks who need money trying to figure a way around the roadblocks that eighty guys with an axe to grind in the House threw up between them and paying their mortgage at the beginning of next month. Period. This isn't about a difference of opinion. This is about 80 House Republicans throwing a hissy fit because they have no Constitutional remedy over the bitter pill of having the government cut off the gravy train for those in the disease management industry - who have tripled our costs over the past decade. They did that - and "Obamacare" wasn't even on the table. Costs will now flatten out - the party's over - and they are PISSED off.
[...]
[T]he fear of universal/socialized medicine is, in my mind, the driving force behind the hoopla (discounting racial and other party platform divides, the usual suspects). The AMA is a powerful organization and they aren't interested in giving up an inch of their hard won turf. And their hands are in enough DC pockets to make sure this never happens.
...
[I] believe a thriving society needs to care for its members, healthcare being one necessity.
[...]
 But I still want to know--is there anything the POTUS can do to stop this crap? Anything written anywhere? I grew up in an era where people read. Thankfully most folks I know still do.
[...]
 To the best of my knowledge: no. Congress controls the pursestrings - on purpose (that whole separation of powers thing the founders thought was a good idea). The Republicans WILL be violating their Constitutional oath of office if they allow the nation to default (which is why the Speaker is floating the idea of a short-term fix)
[...]
 Many people have floated the idea that the president has the Constitutional authority (granted by the Civil War Reconstruction-era 14th Amendment [which sought to limit the ability of the former slave states from doing what these morons are doing right now]) to direct Treasury to issue bonds to cover any shortfall. I'd like to believe that he would follow that course
[..]
 The Speaker wants to kick the can down the road for six weeks because he doesn't want to go down in history as the guy responsible for a global financial meltdown. He wants Americans to believe (and is getting the press to parrot his nonsense) that this band-aid (which leaves 800,000 people out of job
[...]
 and untold billions in losses by regular folks nervously watching their IRAs shrink) - as meeting the president "half-way."
[...]

Bipartisan, National Governors Association: "No ShutDown, No Cuts, No Bankruptcy"

Well, it looks as though the states themselves are going to fight Newt's suggestion that state bankruptcy is a grand idea.
Boonyville: Jan 24, 2011
I found this tidbit on my scan of the news, and thought I should make note for future finger pointing.

OMG I HATE NEO-SCUM.


Governors tell feds to avoid government shutdown
By LIZ SIDOTI, Associated Press

Salon.com, US Governors Economy

Their states on the brink of financial catastrophe, governors pleaded Saturday for the divided federal government to avoid doing anything that would hamper the tenuous economic recovery back home.

Their message to Washington: prevent a government shutdown, abstain from spending cuts that dramatically will affect states and end even preliminary discussions about allowing states to declare bankruptcy.
...
...

"We don't need a hiccup now in our recovery," she added. "We are fragile."
...

...
Also of concern to the governors was talk about allowing states to declare bankruptcy as a way of handling their growing piles of debt.

Some congressional Republicans, conservative groups, and potential GOP presidential candidates such as former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty have floated the idea. But House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., has spoken out against the idea, an indication it's not going anywhere.

"We have been clear," Gregoire said. "We don't even want the subject discussed, let alone to move it forward."

Governors are worried about the potential effect on the municipal bond market. They also said it would increase interest rates and mean higher costs to state government.

Connecticut Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, a Democrat, said it was "one of the most dangerous discussions we've had in a long time" and called any such proposal "the height of insanity."

Still, at least one broke ranks.

"It should be a discussion," said Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, joining other likely 2012 GOP contenders.
...

Also: Government shutdown veterans of 1995: ‘Don’t do it!'


You, too, can fight NEO-SCUM.
VOTE PROGRESSIVE, and give ONLY to Progressive Candidates!