I am coming to the conclusion that some of the republicans - enough to actually control the party at the moment - want to see the government shut down, or go broke, or just to cause havoc and wreck the system. They hate the current government so badly that this hate outweighs any sense of patriotism or support. In fact, they think it's patriotic to cause governmental upheaval. And so I am beginning to think that perhaps Aug. 2 will come and nothing will be done and there will be some kind of serious financial event. I don't think anyone is going to be able to predict what form it will take exactly, but it will be something that will touch the world, I'm pretty sure of that. Just look what concerns about Greece has done to the world markets.

But I still think that in long run, the people will blame the republicans, because right now people don't want intrasigence - they want cooperation. Obama seems to be pleading for it - and, as he says, at the risk of being shunned by his base, but no matter what he does, the republicans reject it out of hand. That's the perception anyway.

Obama may be the first president re-elected with high unemployment.

And what is this stuff Boehner was saying today? Not to tax the "job creators?" What job creators? Bush and his "base" (some call you the elite) promised us jobs from his tax cuts for the rich and look what happened? It caused all kinds of economic problems, but the one thing it didn't do was create jobs. So what is Boehner basing that statement on? Certainly not history or reality.