Disappointment... disillusionment... anger... These are the emotions the electorate is currently feeling after the national embarrassment that was the debt ceiling battle. Something so mundane got escalated to a pissing match of immense proportions, and nearly brought down our (and possibly the global) economy. In the smoldering wreckage of the aftermath, our credit rating got downgraded by S&P, and even Moody's gave us a guarded outlook for the future.

Recent polling shows that Congress fared worse than the president, and the Republicans fared worst of all:

• Disapproval with Congress's performance: 87%
• Favorable Approval of Congress: 12%
• Trust Republicans with the economy: 40%
• Trust Democrats with the economy: 43%
• Trust neither party with the economy: ~ 30%
• Want House members voted out: 53%
• Want their own House Rep voted out: 65%
• Approval of Speaker Boehner:
• Republicans: 47%
• Independents: 20%
• Overall: 29%
• Support the Tea Party: 25%

This is not the stuff of heady re-election campaigns - this is a "vote the bums out" mentality. The coming election will be a newcomer's dream, and most House Reps will be on the defensive.

Raising taxes will be inevitable (regardless of what form they take and how they're labeled). It's only possible to cut government spending so much. Even Ron Paul (R-TX) gets it, saying (about services cuts) "these problems are going to be with us and I am just afraid there will be people in the streets like there have been in other countries when they don’t get what they want..." This gets to the point of the reality that when government spending is cut, so too are the things we take for granted.

AFL-CIO President Rishard Trumka had some choice words about the budget deficit talks and plans. He urged the White House to focus on job growth, not the deficit. There is truth to that, because with job growth comes income tax revenue, which will help reduce the deficit. Unfortunately, he also said:

It's completely untrue that the President offered to cut Social Security; in fact, it's quite the opposite. I understand the frustration of seeing vital programs trimmed down while the rich enjoy historically low tax rates, but if you are going to make persuasive arguments, they must be based in fact.

Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) is pushing a bill to raise the cap on Social Security taxes to help fund it into the future. It's a simple thing that the Republicans will most certainly hate and fight against, once again reinforcing their reputation as obstructionists. The GOP has also been warning Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke to not do another round of quantitative easing, which will gooses the economy by making more money available. Improving the economy is just not on the Republicans' agenda when there's campaign hay to be made.

There is some positive news, though. The TARP program (hated by Libertarians and Tea Partiers) recovered another $900M in the first 6 months of this year. That means that of the $413B actually disbursed from the program, $314B (or 76%) has been recovered. So the next time some politician rails against TARP, saying we gave away nearly a trillion dollars in taxpayer money, the reality is that less than $100B is actually outstanding, and that number continues to shrink.

THAT'S how you protect the economy and the taxpayers. Republicans take note.