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Control of the House is 1/3 of the pie. The only other option is to shut down the government, terrify seniors, watch Wall Street go crazy, and generally serve our political heads to Obama on a silver platter - something that will result in our evisceration at the polls in 2012 and four more years of Obama with strengthened/newfound majorities. Not a winning strategy.

IMHO, the opposite on the political fallout. If "we" "make it through" without the government crashing into the debt ceiling, obama and all Dems will be able to do their standard operating procedure of lie, lie, lie and the whole "emergency" will fade in people's minds if the Federal government can somehow "limp" through until november 2012.

If the debt ceiling is not raised, the cash runs out.

At that point - obama has to start making choices as to who to pay and who not to pay.

Not everyone can get paid. He will make a lot of people very unhappy when they don't get paid. Hence, the general public will see a collapse happen this summer and fall. They will see checks not going out, contracts being cancelled, all kinds of bad things. obama's press conferences will go from bad to terrible.

The Repubs should simply sit cool as a cucumber, shrug and smile and say - well, elections have consequences. If Repubs had the Senate and Presidency we could hack government spending down right now, this year, for the current year, and eliminate some departments AND all their corresponding regulation on citizens and business. But we can't. The President was elected, it's up to him to make the choices of who not to pay if Congress can't agree on letting the government borrow more.

It would be a bumpy ride until 2012.

But if they "limp along" without causing ma and pa public any pain, once Repubs take office in 2013 - the Government is then at 16 to 18 trillion in debt - 8 or 9 TIMES ANNUAL REVENUE. The bubble will burst on the Repubs watch after 2013. If that debt ceiling gets increased, I pity the next President. I would drop out if I was in the race. Just imagine, with all the czars, bailouts, enormous staff increases - the list goes on and on - 2013 will be the start of an unmitigated disaster. I highly doubt that anyone will buy bonds in 2013 if they buy another trillion or two now. Because the economy will still languish and tax revenue will not move up much past 2 trillion.

No. We would get all the blame. We already fought the shutdown fight with Clinton and lost. The Obama economy is a nightmare, and this shutdown would allow him to blame his continued poor performance on the alleged uncertainty wrought by the intransigence of the GOP. Wall Street would go berserk, there could be serious consequences in the bond market, for the dollar, etc. We would get all the blame thanks to a media absolutely salivating at the chance to lift the economic millstone from around Obama’s neck. Moreover, Republicans would be blamed for every negative ramification - from delayed Social Security checks and Medicare reimbursements to closed national parks to endangering our troops and mistreating our veterans. It would be a nightmare for us and the result would be a return of Obama in 2013 with a strengthened hand. No, this had to end this way, this time around. Anything else was political suicide, and the only way we save America from bankruptcy and demise is through our political success. 2012 - keep your eye on the prize.

PieterCasparzen wrote:

f Repubs had the Senate and Presidency we could hack government spending down right now, this year, for the current year, and eliminate some departments AND all their corresponding regulation on citizens and business.

When has that ever happened in the past?

Republicans had the House, the Senate and the Presidency from January 2001 through December 2006. During that time, the Department of Education budget doubled. Department of Energy grew by 50%.

We need more Republicans like Custer needed more Indians.

What we need is a party dedicated to smaller federal government, limited by the Constitution. And we need that from the bottom to the top. We need city council members and county commissioners who control their spending and don't go asking their Congress Critters for "Grant money" to pay for things. The problem goes much farther than inside the beltway.

We need Republicans who will act like republicans. Repubicans who will live within the limits of the Constitution, and local and state Republicans who understand you can't pass "10th amendent resolutions" asking the Congress to respect the Constitution, and then ask for $Billions in "federal grants" for extra-constitutional "programs."