White House debt talks collapse

[Tchocky]

Originally Posted by Neal Stevens

The big standoff now is Republicans, under pressure from Tea Party activists, want to force the President to make large spending cuts without raising taxes on the wealthy

Just a minor point Neal - it's nothing to do with just the wealthy. Almost all of the Republican House have signed a pledge to never ever raise taxes in any circumstance. Closing loopholes etc is included in this. I'm strongly in agreement with Tom Friedman in saying this is an "abdication of their governing responsibilities in a period of incredibly rapid change and financial stress".