After being summoned by the Emperor Scooter Insipidus (President Barack Hussein Obama) and sitting through a useless Saturday morning meeting which lasted for less than an hour, Speaker of the House John Boehner hosted a meeting of his own with Congressional Leaders including Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.

The purpose of both it and the meeting with Scooter was, at least in Speaker Boehner’s mind, to head off an unprecented government default, at the same time showing enough progress to forestall a disastrous plunge in stock prices when Asian markets open ahead of the U.S. workweek.

Leaving the Emperor, err, president, out of the afternoon’s negotiations, Boehner and the Republicans pursued their goal of as much as $4 trillion in deficit cuts over a decade as a condition for raising the nation’s debt limit.

You guessed it. No progress was made, whatsoever.

After the meeting, “Dinghy Harry” Reid said that he deeply disappointed in the status of the negotiations.

Reid accused GOP leaders of intransigence (a seldom-used word meaning hard-headedness). He added he would not accept anything less than a deal that raised the debt limit through 2012.

Reid issued a statement, saying:

Their unwillingness to compromise is pushing us to the brink of a default on the full faith and credit of the United States. We have run out of time for politics. Now is the time for cooperation.

The Norma Desmond of the House of Representatives, San Fran Nan Pelosi, decided that she would blame the Republicans, too.

I’m shocked, I tell you. Shocked.

Her statement read:

The delay in bringing forth a solution springs from the Republicans’ decision to walk away from 98 percent of the wealthiest people in our country

That’s right, Norma. As you fly around in your private jet, bought with the money you and your husband have made, blame all of those filthy capitalists that made it possible.

Boehner’s spokesman responded in a statesmanlike manner, (Darn it.) issuing the following statement:

Like the President and the entire bipartisan, bicameral Congressional leadership, we continue to believe that defaulting on the full faith and credit of the United States is not an option.

In an effort to produce an outline of a plan before the markets open Monday and if possible before the Asian markets open Sunday night,the House Republican leadership may release a plan as early as Sunday afternoon.

According to an anonymous GOP congressional aide, both sides are working on a plan that would include no new revenues, spending cuts of more than $1 trillion along with a debt-ceiling increase that is smaller than the spending cuts but would get the country into early next year.

There’s a major hitch in their plans. The President of the United States desperately wants to raise our taxes, euphemistically calling our money REVENUE.

During his royal meeting yesterday morning, Obama once again told those assembled that he would not support a short-term extension of the debt ceiling, ludicrously arguing that it could lead to a downgrade in the nation’s credit rating.

Scooter, your disastrous economic policies have done that already.

Royal Page, errr, White Press Press Secretary Jay Carney issued the following statement on behalf of Scooter Insipidus:

As the current situation makes clear, it would be irresponsible to put our country and economy at risk again in just a few short months with another battle over raising the debt ceiling. Congress should refrain from playing reckless political games with our economy. Instead, it should be responsible and do its job, avoiding default and cutting the deficit.

To call this political theater would be a gross understatement. It is the culmination of the consequences of political chicanery…grand schemes which have been plotted and carried out, to the detriment of our country, since the “New” Democrats took over Congress in 2007.

Now, as the August 2nd deadline, set by Scooter, which just happens to coincide with the Muslim holiday of Ramadan and his extended vacation, draws closer, he and his congressional minions are in full panic mode, desperately trying to blame the Republicans for their own irresponsible spending and economic policies that have gotten us into this mess in the first place.

Here’s the thing:  according to an article posted on americanthinker.com yesterday, by Rick Moran, the deadline of August 2nd may not be accurate:

…For months, markets have been girding themselves against the possibility that the U.S. will reach the limits of its borrowing ability on August 2 and default on its debts. But researchers at Barclays Capital think the real deadline may not be until a week later.

In a note published Friday, the Barclays Interest Rates Research team wrote that “the date on which the Treasury will run out of cash to pay its obligations might not be August 2; it might be around August 10 instead.”

Why the change? The note explains that previous projections showed the Treasury running out of money on the morning of Wednesday, August 3. On that day, it was predicted, the Treasury would need to spend $32 billion, including $22 billion in Social Security payments — and it was only projected to have $30 billion at its disposal.

That projection was made on July 13. But since then, the researchers say, the Treasury has taken in about $14 billion more than expected, and paid out about $1 billion less than expected. Hence, the deadline date might actually be August 10, a week later than previously believed.

Interesting, huh?  About those vacation plans, Scooter…