“I got 98% of what I wanted.”

Speaker John Boehner, from an interview with Scott Pelley on CBS Evening News:

Pelley: Can you image Republicans backing increased taxes?

Boehner: I think that would be a stretch. It doesn’t seem likely to me that that would be recommended, much less supported, but I’ve been surprised before.

Pelley: You were unable to get your own caucus behind your bill a few days ago. Do you intend to remain Speaker of the House?

Boehner: I do. When you look at this final agreement that we came to with the white House, I got 98 percent of what I wanted. I’m pretty happy.

So I guess Speaker Boehner wanted the United States to lose jobs:

If Congress fails to renew these existing programs or enact improved versions, we can expect slower growth, fewer jobs, and higher unemployment. Specifically, there could be 1.8 million fewer jobs and a 0.6 percentage point increase in the unemployment rate in 2012 as a result of abandoning current budget policies.

– Economic Policy Institute

And to continue to put our credit rating at risk:

Moody’s Investor Services said Tuesday that the signing of the debt ceiling deal assures that the U.S. will keep its triple-A credit rating for now, but said the longer-term outlook is negative because of slower economic growth and questions about future spending cuts.

– LA Times

And is totally fine with the stock market freaking the heck out in response to all of this (or maybe that was the 2% he didn’t get?):

The broader United States stock market dropped 2.6 percent, erasing all of its gains for the year. That capped a string of declines over seven consecutive days, its longest losing streak since October 2008.

– NY Times

Just to note, though I’m sure everyone remembers this, October 2008 was when the economy originally hopped in a handbasket  on its way to the fiery depths of hell, necessitating a bailout and government stimulus.  We appear to be back at square one, as far as the stock market is concerned.

This was not part of the debt deal, but I imagine Speaker Boehner would say he’s pretty happy about this one, too:

The FAA shutdown doesn’t seem to be getting much coverage – probably because the media attention span has all been sucked into the vortex that is – or was – the debt ceiling crisis.  But as of this moment, the shutdown continues and it’s possible that it will go on into September since Congress is on the verge of recess.

– The Baltimore Sun

This is relevant for pretty much two reasons.  One, Congress apparently did decide to go into recess without extending authorization for the FAA even by a little bit (which is what was necessary to end the shutdown).  So until they reconvene in September, the FAA basically can’t function.  That might not be all Speaker Boehner’s fault (it likely isn’t), but he’s the Speaker of the damn House, so he certainly had something to do with that decision.

Two, you know how Republicans are all about jobs and the economy if you believe their 2010 campaign speeches?  Well, to go along with Speaker Boehner’s debt ceiling deal (which is so helpful to the economy /sarcasm), not extending authorization to the FAA means that 4,000 people are out of work, many of those that are working have to do it for free, construction projects are halted (delaying needed upgrades and putting construction workers out of a job), and the FAA is unable to collect taxes.  To the tune of $30 million dollars per day.  Do Republicans in Congress not think that the $1.2 billion dollars they are refusing to allow the FAA to collect somehow has no effect on the deficit?

Republicans say they refuse to extend authorization because they want to cut subsidies for small regional airports.  Democrats say Republicans refuse to extend authorization because they want to make it harder for airline workers to unionize.  Given the number of state governments controlled by Republicans who have done basically the same thing, and the fact that Delta Airlines (who has fought off attempts of their workers to unionize) is lobbying for continued FAA shutdown…I am not terribly inclined to believe Republicans are being honest.

So, in short, the Republican Party apparently would really like to have the economy crash and burn, to risk going into a “double-dip” recession, to risk having our credit rating downgraded because we can’t be trusted to pay our debts, and they are willing to forgo real, actual money for the sake of sticking it to the unions.

This is not a party that cares about “working class” Americans.  Anyone who tells you that they do is lying, or possibly does not care to use facts in their analysis of the world around them.

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