And Then There Were None

House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) abandoned talks with the White House over a large-scale, $4 trillion debt reduction deal over his party's insistence on no tax increases of any kind. He was the last Republican member in those talks, with Majority Whip Eric Cantor (VA) having left several weeks ago.

It now seems a certainty that the US will default on its debt come Aug. 2. All because the wealthiest Americans can't spare one penny in new taxes, and all because the vast majority of Republicans, who are middle class and who will actually bear the brunt of the damages caused by this wrecked deal, don't see that the rich are flushing them down the toilet.

What was it that Leona Helmsley said? Oh, yeah:

We don't pay taxes. Only the little people pay taxes.