Democrat-Led Congress: Incompotent & Irresponsible

[deacon blues]

For the first time since modern budgeting was introduced with the Budget Act of 1974, the House failed to even write a budget. This in a year of extraordinary deficits, rising uncertainty and jittery financial markets.
Gold is going through the roof. Confidence in the dollar and the American economy is falling – largely because of massive overhanging debt. Yet no budget emerged from Congress to give guidance, let alone reassurance, about future U.S. revenues and spending.

Also, Congress has not passed a single appropriations bill. To keep the government going, Congress passed a so-called "continuing resolution" before adjourning to campaign. The problem with continuing to spend at the current level is that the last two years have seen a huge 28 percent jump in non-defense discretionary spending. The resolution continues this incompetence, aggravating an already serious debt problem.

As if this was not enough, Congress then adjourned without even a vote on the expiring Bush tax cuts. This is the ultimate in incompetence. After 20 months of control of the White House and Congress, during which they passed an elaborate, 1,000-page micromanagement of every detail of American health care the Democrats adjourned without being able to tell the country what its tax rates will be on Jan. 1.

It's not just income taxes. It's capital gains and dividends too. And the estate tax, which will insanely rise from 0 to 55 percent when the ball drops on Times Square on New Year's Eve.

This isn't harmless incompetence either. To do this at a time when $2 trillion of capital is sitting on the sidelines because of rising uncertainty is completely irresponsible.

As if this lack of leadership, (no budget, no appropriations bill, no tax bill) was not enough, some Einstein on a House Judiciary subcommittee invites Stephen Colbert to testify as an expert witness on immigration. He makes a mockery of the whole proceedings. Did you know he requested to have his colonoscopy inserted into the Congressional Record?

A fitting end for the 111th Congress.