I think the GOP should not have politicized the debt ceiling because our US debt situation linked to Wall Street is so screwed up, it is basically too big to disrupt without taking down the entire US financial system. Tea Party have the right concept but they do not have an inkling on how late it is for the US to reform. IMHO the Tea Party should stop placing faith in the political system and prepare their own family for the impending collapse of US dollar and hyperinflation. IN OTHER WORDS IT IS ALREADY TOO LATE TO DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT. If the GOP wins the election in 2012, tax cuts will not restart the economy because the very large debts and liabilities are still on corporate balance sheets or transferred to federal gov as part of the bailout deal. Until those debts disappear or paid off by debtors, the US economy will remain stagnate. Japanese economist call it the “balance sheet depression”. If GOP chose austerity the US voters will vote them out in 2016. If the Dems choose spend and tax the voters will throw them out in 2016. As a bank critic and expert Chris Whalen pointed out in his analysis the US faces a fiscal and cultural crisis. The average American is not ready to accept the necessary austerity to pay off our debts (tax increases and/or spending cuts). So what is left is political paralysis, cultural denial and the debt will increase and ultimately implode the nation. Rising from the chaos will be the end of democracy and rise of a US dictatorship. IMHO it is already too late for political action, and what is left for individuals to do is prepare their families and have some extra set aside to take care of other family members who did not listen and prepare. After that, everyone else is on their own when it comes to trying to buy food, obtain guns and other vitals in a hyperinflation dollar collapse or currency reset.
Bingo! Great post.
That is money taken out of the pockets of working men and women and then borrowed to send out grants to school teachers with better health care and retirement plans than any working men ever imagined.
There's other stuff, but I thought I'd remind everyone of what the Democrats did with their half century of dominance of the Congress.