An embarrassment for Congress and a far-reaching blow to Washington’s financial credibility...? HAHAHAHA...!

oh, yeah... like there's any financial credibility left...

what kind of credibility could possibly remain for a country that has thrown trillions of dollars at its super-rich elites and their bankster puppets, has a larger defense budget than the rest of the planet combined, flushes billions and billions of dollars into the twin sinkholes of afghanistan and iraq, smooths the way for the loss of millions of jobs to other countries but works overtime to lighten the tax loads of the very corporations responsible, allows many more millions to be thrown out of their homes with no recourse, and then - THEN - turns around and burns the midnight oil in an attempt to shred the tattered remnants of the social safety net and place the burden for all of this on the very citizens who have already been repeatedly victimized in the decades-long rape and pillage...

from a nyt op-ed...

We are no fans of the supercommittee. It is undemocratic, and the deep, automatic cuts the law would impose if the committee fails to reach agreement are gimmicky and potentially dangerous. But walking away at this point would be an embarrassment for Congress and a far-reaching blow to Washington’s financial credibility.

[...]

Simply dismissing the committee and undoing the sequester would be such a vast admission of Congressional failure that it could push down the nation’s credit rating, lead to chaos in financial markets and severely cripple hopes for an economic recovery. Republicans created the policies that forced up the deficit and then refused to compromise with President Obama. They cannot simply walk away now. Panel members have only a few days to come up with a plan that balances new revenues with spending cuts. That is the only way to wrestle down the deficit without doing huge damage to the economy and the country.

there isn't any credibility... there hasn't been any credibility for quite some time... with the congressional approval rating at a jaw-dropping 9%, talking about congressional credibility is beyond ridiculous... whatever happens - or doesn't happen - isn't going to make the slightest bit of difference to a system that is so profoundly broken, the only sensible thing to do is sit back and wait for the implosion...

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It's the 1 percent that pay for elections, not the 25 million workers suffering from Congressional greed and incompetence

the ability of our super-rich elites to use their bought and paid for elected puppets and media shills to manipulate us and pit us against each other knows no bounds...

dean baker...

It is truly impressive how the Washington elite have managed to make these modest protections for the country's working population (the 99 percent) into the greatest problem facing the country. The obsession with cutting these programs is occurring at a time when we have more than 25 million people unemployed, underemployed or who have given up looking for work altogether. One might think that Congress would convene a supercommittee to get people back to work rather than figuring out a way to undermine programs that people need, but it's the 1 percent that pay for elections, not the 25 million workers suffering from their greed and incompetence.

Since almost no one can be immune to the hysteria that the media have created around the cost of these programs, it is worth putting it in some context. Starting with Social Security, the latest projections from the Congressional Budget Office show that the program can pay all benefits through the year 2038 with no changes whatsoever.

Even if we never did anything, the program would be able to pay more than 80 percent of scheduled benefits well into the next century. Since the value of benefits is projected to rise through time, 80 percent of the projected benefit in 2040 is considerably higher than the average benefit received by retirees today. Therefore, the often repeated comment that there will be nothing there for our children or grandchildren is a telltale sign of ignorance or dishonesty.

[...]

The public should realize that "generational warfare" is an agenda that was deliberately designed by the 1 percent to distract the rest of us from the class war that they have been successfully waging over the last three decades. Rather than have a public debate on the policies that have redistributed so much income upward, the 1 percent want to pit children against their parents and grandparents, forcing them to fight over crumbs.

it's truly astounding to me that, given the state the world is in and the many issues of real substance we have facing us as a human race, that the appointed stooges of our elites can, in what only amounts to unbelievable arrogance and deliberate denial, sit in washington and deliberate how best to destroy the precious little bit that remains of our social contract...

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