Another perspective to be considered - the amount of the raising of the debt ceiling. There were some rumblings this week about $1 trillion higher this year, or $2 trillion higher inorder for it to be valid thru November 2012.
Posted on 04/09/2011 12:51:44 AM PDT by Scanian
The brawl in Washington over how to fund the government through September has served as a dry run for looming fights with higher stakes, particularly the debate over whether to raise the limit on how much the government can borrow.
The divisive fight has raised concerns among lawmakers and government officials that Democrats and Republicans in Congress will find it even harder to decide whether to increase the federal debt ceiling above $14.294 trillion in the next few weeks. And after that, they will have to turn to crafting a government budget for 2012 and eventually to tackling the long-term federal deficit.
"It's taken us some time to get acquainted with each other and to work our way through this, because understand that this process that we're in is likely to be repeated a number of times this year," House Speaker John Boehner (R., Ohio) said, referring to talks over the current budget.
The stakes are higher in the next round, shifting from worries about closing national parks to concerns the U.S. government could default on its debt, triggering another financial crisis.
"It's one thing to play brinksmanship on a government shutdown, which can be fixed in a minute without many long-term consequences," said Lee Sachs, a former counselor to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner. "It's another thing to do it with the debt ceiling, where the impact of failure would be catastrophic for years, if not decades."
Many congressional Republicans say they will refuse to raise the debt ceiling without more spending cuts. The White House and many Democratic lawmakers want the ceiling raised immediately, warning that if the country defaulted on its debt, interest rates would soar, sparking another financial crisis and crippling hundreds of thousands of businesses.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
“The brawl in Washington over how to fund the government through September has served as a dry run for looming fights with higher stakes, particularly the debate over whether to raise the limit on how much the government can borrow.”
If this was a dry run, the 28 votes in the House by Republicans for the shutdown isn’t encouraging. Maybe we can match the Democrats 42 votes next time.
Sometimes I think the hysteria by both parties over a non-shutdown shutdown stems from a secret fear of politicians that if the government closes for a while, hardly anybody will notice.
Maybe we’d find a “Government? Who needs it?” attitude taking hold among certain segments of the public.
And that would be DC’s worst nightmare.
I wholly agree, Scanian. That attitude is what led directly to the implosion of the Soviet Union. Versailles on the Potomac luxuriates on borrowed time. Literally borrowed.
You nailed it. If you take out the not paying the military part nobody I know would care.
Let's see, how many times will it need to be repeated at this rate, 38 billion for each months worth for around the clock work, this budget should be balanced before....., well never I guess.
Thanks.
The contrast between the panicked congresscritters and the indifferent public was amazingly stark.
Too bad those buggers can’t get that excited about the REAL problems facing America. It is only fear about their own worthless political hides that gets them that focused.
Thank you.
Actually Timmah can play games with the debt ceiling for months. It is just embarassing when he has to play accounting games with government pensions and other unfunded accounts to make the numbers work.
The Military is now funded through the end of the year so what excuse will Boehner give us next for caving?
It all depends on how the pols in DC play a shutdown, or how they respond to a forced 40% spending cut if the debt ceiling doesn't get raised (hypothetically speaking, of course).
If they decide to shove a gun in our face and yank Medicare and Medicaid payments, it will cripple our healthcare industry. I work in healthcare for a private organization, and easily 80% of our payment comes from Medicare or Medicaid.
I'm not saying this is a GOOD thing, just observing that we have allowed our healthcare system to get co-opted by the central government and it is nightmare. Hospitals, private practices, ambulance services, all of it would be crushed overnight if the pols decide to threaten us with "your money or your life".
If we default on the debt, so be it. It’ll be brutal for a couple of years but we’ll be better off in the long run. So what are we waiting for? Look at Argentina. They’re doing fine a decade after they’ve defaulted on their debt.
It is a bad situation for everyone but one thing people have to realize is that this country has endured worse and things tend to settle one way or another. If the government does collapse I really think that most Americans wouldn’t care as long as paychecks kept coming in some form (whether dollars or otherwise), dominos still delivered, and ipads were on the shelves.
Social security.
Nahh. Bankruptcy courts would be clogged up but things would go on. The whole House of Cards will have to come down before we can rebuild. The Great Society is what bankrupted us.
Battle? What battle? It will be a drama with a predetermined ending. The two roles will be played by the two establishment big-government parties.
Another perspective to be considered - the amount of the raising of the debt ceiling. There were some rumblings this week about $1 trillion higher this year, or $2 trillion higher inorder for it to be valid thru November 2012.
Extending the debt ceiling without pledges to cut spending is probably a non-starter. I don’t know if Boehner could pick off enough Republicans to do it stand alone.
In the meantime, I hope there will be stand alone votes on cutting funding for groups like Planned Parenthood. It’s possible enough moderate Dem Senators (esp. those up for re-election) could be picked off. Obama would probably veto, but send it up to him anyhow and get him on record vetoing spending cuts.
It really is just a Kabuki Dance. I am disgusted by the frauds that run this country.
Agreed. We agreed to “fund” the Government for the rest of the fiscal year.
Now, if the debt ceiling is not changed, where will the Dems get the cash to “fund” all of their dreams????
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.