US gubmint shutdown + default + subprime sequel?

[Lemur]

It would be nice to know [Obama] has a plan.

Ah, the latest Republican meme, "Obama has no plan!" And yet multiple sources and published articles have revealed details* of the offers he was making to Boehner in private meetings. Enough details, in fact, to dismay the liberal base and make his left-wing allies in Congress get all snippy with him. Sounds like there were concrete offers on the table, which rather undermines the talking point du jour, "He has no plan!" Yawn.

This entire episode is a manufactured crisis. And I find republicans fulminating about debt now to have the stink of born-again virgins about them. Two trillion-dollar off-budget wars combined with tax cuts and a new giveaway to old people? Is the president republican? Yay! Oh, now the president is a democrat? HERESY! SOYLENT GREEN IS PEOPLE!

-edit-

* From one of many sources: "We did learn some intriguing details about the debt ceiling negotiations in recent days. Both President Barack Obama and House Speaker John Boehner were ready to anger their respective bases in order to work out a deal. To the dismay of many Democrats, President Obama was ready to support cuts in entitlement spending for Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. He was ready to support what’s called 'means testing' – meaning that richer people would have to shell out more for health benefits under Medicare than poorer people. The president is also apparently ready to adopt a new cost-of-living increase formula that effectively would result in reduced Social Security and Medicare benefits. When I interviewed Independent Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont the other day, he made it clear he hated those proposals."