Remember that most congressmen got elected because they were good at socializing and gladhanding, not because they’re rocket scientists. They deal in marketing and strategy, not reality:
In interviews with more than a dozen GOP lawmakers, the Republicans rejected the notion that Washington could default on its debt unless a borrowing increase is approved before Oct. 17. For the United States to actually default, these Republicans argue, the Treasury Department would have to stop paying interest on its debts—something GOP lawmakers claim is inconceivable.
“There’s always revenue coming into the Treasury, certainly enough revenue to pay interest,” said Rep. Justin Amash, R-Mich. “Democrats have a different definition of ‘default’ than what we understand it to be. What I hear from them is, ‘If you’re not paying everything on time that’s a default.’ And that’s not the traditionally understood definition.”
If this sounds familiar, it’s because it has been Republicans’ line of attack since their debt-ceiling battle with Obama in the summer of 2011.
Then, as now, the GOP argues it’s not the debt limit that would cause default, it’s Obama. The country would have the funds to pay its creditors if the administration would just delay payments to certain agencies.
Hoping to turn that argument into law, Republicans have touted legislation that would force Treasury to prioritize which bills it pays, pushing interest payments to the country’s creditors, as well as to senior citizens and veterans, to the front of the line and putting everything else second.
The measure makes for solid messaging—few voters are likely to disagree that Social Security and veterans’ disability payments should be top priorities—but budget wonks and financial industry experts criticize the idea.
“I don’t know any serious person who doesn’t think this will be cataclysmic,” said Steve Bell, a former Republican staff director of the Senate Budget Committee and now senior director with the Bipartisan Policy Center.
This is, of course, a wonderful setup for the Grand Bargain. We had to! To save the country! These Republicans just aren’t rational!
And this “no big deal” is the new talking point.
In bankruptcy, you can’t have any “favored debtors”.
Never mind the Republicans it’s Democrats like Cory Booker who make it possible for Obama to pass Grand Bargins into law. It was announced today that Mayor Mike Bloomberg was going to bolster Booker’s failing senate bid with a $1 million dollar campaign donation. If there was any question about Booker being a Wall Street Republican rather than a Democrat, Bloomberg’s infusion of cash should dispel those doubts.
“Booker’s failing senate bid”?
I thought he was a shoo-in.
The last guy I remember who used the word “inconceivable” on a routine basis was the Sicilian in “The Princess Bride” – and look what happened to him.
Let me see – let’s say I get a credit card bill in, a gas utility bill in, an electricity bill in, and a water bill in. I pay the first three, and I say to hell with the water bill because I’m short of money and hey- three out of four isn’t bad.
I wonder if the water company would turn the water back on if I presented Republican views on what constitutes “default” to them?
We’ve already outsourced the manufacturing sector of the country to China. How about we outsource budgeting and default issues to them, too?
I mean, whom would you trust – the Republicans or the Chinese?