What we learned from last night...

Late last night, the US Government avoided a shutdown and everyone was Happy Happy like little pigs rolled in mud...  But what did we really learn from it?   More specifically, what can one observe from the political theater we all witnessed over the past few days?

For one thing, everyone was desperate to get a deal done for selfish reasons...

--  The President had vacation plans set for Williamsburg, Va this week (after bringing the family with him on vacation to Brazil last month)-- bags all packed...kiddies in the car... just gotta get this budget deal thing passed...

-- Rep. House Maj. leader John Boehner was desperate to get a victory of some kind to show his Rep. colleagues, especally Tea Party members he was wasn't a weak, weepy, impotent leader

-- Harry Reid, Senate Maj. leader (Dem), while completely losing the economic side of the budget battle to Boehner to the tune of over $38 billion in cuts and knowing this,  was able to save face by protecting specialized riders and provisions that are near and dear to the Dem base, such as planned parenthood.

We also learned that all parties concerned were afraid of a government shutdown even though as the previous posting itemized, no essential government services would have been affected.  Mail would have still been delivered.. Soc. Sec checks still sent out, etc...  I'd be hard-pressed to believe the President and Congressional leaders all compromised their principles so that you could take your family to Yellowstone Park without headaches.

What you saw on display were political cowards -  the Reps too cowardly to fight for more cuts, the Dems too cowardly to protect the people's interests by minimizing the cuts, and a detached President who only gave a bleep at the very end of the process, and as stated before, was willing to compromise anything just to get his family getaway started.

If Republicans really believed spending cuts were needed to save this country, they would have dug in their heels and fought tooth and nail for a much larger spending reduction bill.   And if the Democrats really cared one shit about middle class and working poor, they would have dug in as well to prevent the $38+ biillion from being taken out of the budget.  You would have had at last, a Real ideological fight for all of America to see and weigh in on.

But as Jesse Ventura said, politics is show business.  And after all the debating and posturing, Dems and Reps go "offstage" and have dinner and drinks together, as if their votes had the same consequence and significance of High School Student Government.

All sides afraid that you the voter would blame them and hurt their chances to retain power in 2012.  They know the American people may forget bailouts and banks, and not have a clue about Federal Reserve and manipulation of markets... but you do know shutdown.

So the Reps celebrated $38.5 billion in spending cuts from the 2011 Budget..  to put into perspective, the Federal Reserve pumps $2.5 billion into the stock market daily to create the current phony asset bubble meant to replace the capitulated housing bubble.  So these precious cuts to social programs amount to 15 days of Federal Reserve QE2 spending.

And when you consider the ultimate US budget for 2011 is in the Trillions, this current squabble was the equivalent of a family fighting over whether to cut the expense of buying popcorn when going to the movies from its yearly family budget.

To put last night in the simplest of terms- you had complete Losers of all political stripes come together near the midnight hour to agree to nothing of significance because both sides lacked the courage to fight for what they truly believed in.

The next "pretend" debate coming up-- raising the "Debt Ceiling"..

And if you're into gambling, the safe money is on it being passed.