Many in G.O.P. Offer Theory: Default Wouldn’t Be That Bad

[TomCADem]

Source: NY Times

A surprisingly broad section of the Republican Party is convinced that a threat once taken as economic fact may not exist — or at least may not be so serious. Some question the Treasury’s drop-dead deadline of Oct. 17. Some government services might have to be curtailed, they concede. “But I think the real date, candidly, the date that’s highly problematic for our nation, is Nov. 1,” said Senator Bob Corker, Republican of Tennessee.

Others say there is no deadline at all — that daily tax receipts would be more than enough to pay off Treasury bonds as they come due.

“It really is irresponsible of the president to try to scare the markets,” said Senator Rand Paul, Republican of Kentucky. “If you don’t raise your debt ceiling, all you’re saying is, ‘We’re going to be balancing our budget.’ So if you put it in those terms, all these scary terms of, ‘Oh my goodness, the world’s going to end’ — if we balance the budget, the world’s going to end? Why don’t we spend what comes in?”

* * *
Representative Ted Yoho, a freshman Florida Republican who had no experience in elective office before this year, said the largest economy on earth should learn from his large-animal veterinary practice. “Everybody talks about how destabilizing doing this will be on the markets,” he said. “And you’ll see that initially, but heck, I’ve seen that in my business. When you go through that, and you address the problem and you address your creditors and say, ‘Listen, we’re going to pay you. We’re just not going to pay you today, but we’re going to pay you with interest, and we will pay everybody that’s due money’ — if you did that, the world would say America is finally addressing their problem.”

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/09/us/politics/many-in-gop-offer-theory-default-wouldnt-be-that-bad.html?_r=0

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I have watched coverage of the shutdown and debt ceiling dispute on television and it is continuously portrayed in false equivalency terms. There is no coverage of the fact that Republicans do not even have consensus with respect to what they want or that many of them simply deny that there is a crisis at all. Somehow, they can shutdown the federal government, then act shocked and outraged that benefits and services are not being paid.

[samsingh]

1. not surprising - repugs are stupid and can't connect any dots logically

they only screw things up and then wait for Democrats to clean up their mess

and repugs cry like little babies

[kardonb]

23. not so bad ....

for them , of course , as long as they get THEIR paychecks , and they'll make damn sure they do. a- holes .

[Berlin Expat]

2. These people

are insane; economic know-nothings and illiterates.

I'm pretty sure they want to crash the economy; in their minds, they shall rise up like a phoenix to rule over the ashes. Like Satan said in Paradise Lost, "'Tis better to rule in Hell than serve in Heaven".

They figure they will be the rulers of the ruins of the United States of America. Add a little Galt's Gulch to the Republic of Gilead, and voilá! Instant Teahadi paradise.

[kestrel91316]

30. Best summary of the situation I've seen yet. + 1 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000

[Jackpine Radical]

3. When it comes to Republicans,

Dunning & Kruger were optimists.

[Politicub]

4. It's insane that they can theoretically bring down the whole American experiment

And I think they're intoxicated by the idea of complete destruction of the economy and misery of the American people.

It's sick thinking and behavior, and it makes me feel helpless to do anything about it. 2014 seems like a long way away.

The media narrative is as disgusting, if not more so, since they're complicit in enabling the GOP.

[truthisfreedom]

5. Many in G.O.P. Offer Theory: Romney will win Election

[dotymed]

6. Fucking idiots!

No one is stupid enough to believe that if America defaults on her debts, it is fine.

The IMF will then start their SOP (designed by and for corporate America) what an easy way for these bastards to purchase America for pennies on the dollar.

They are beyond insane, they are very dangerous. This WILL cause (at least) a civil war and possibly crash the world.

Preppers, you were right.

[Politicub]

7. And the media dutifully go along with it

The false equivalency makes me sick and want to .

Wouldn't be that bad. Are there people who honestly believe this?

[Deep13]

8. Also, don't wear your seatbelt, because a crash won't be that bad.

Did I mention smoking is good for you.

[jmowreader]

37. Meth-Krokodil-crack cocktails are lots of fun too

As evidenced by some of the people on that side of the aisle...

[PatrynXX]

9. It's rather annoying that telling the public what will happen is scaring the public

Like hello this is whats going to happen. Dad might not get SS or his VA benefits at the end of the month or I might not get SSD at the beginning of the month etc. there is a possibility that will happen like better than 50/50. So it's rather irresponsible of any idiot thinking eh default isn't that bad. Like saying eh 2007-2008 eh nothing happened. And utterly skewers their argument about paying down the debt.

[seabeckind]

10. Denialists

They deny any testimony by anyone outside the accepted "experts".

Doesn't matter the topic.

They believe what they're told to believe and do lots and lots of projection.

Jim Jones would be proud.

[seabeckind]

11. Oh, and to add

After their position is proven to be false, they will spin it to show their position was right all along and that the bad thing happened because of sabotage.

[Berlin Expat]

12. It is very

much cult-like behavior. It's a perfect illustration of epistemic closure.

[NickB79]

33. Their life is denial.

Global warming? Deny it.

Evolution? Deny it.

It's their pattern.

[Swede Atlanta]

13. These people are totally insane....

Mr. Paul, you do not understand what not raising the debt ceiling means. Even if we were to balance the budget where fiscal year revenues met or exceeded fiscal year expenditures, it is highly doubtful we could do that without raising the debt ceiling. While we might even be successful as we were in the Clinton years to begin paying down the debt, the debt ceiling still looms as a necessity.

Mr. Yoho (I think he spelled his name wrong - should be Yahoo) doesn't understand that what a national government does, especially one whose economy drives the global engine and whose currency is generally recognized as the reserve currency, is very different from what your veterinary practice does. It is of a dimension so great that his little brain couldn't begin to understand it.

[seabeckind]

14. Trying to argue facts

Wasted effort. They deny facts.

Confirmation bias.

[Lobo27]

16. Of course they are insane.

A default would cripple the world. Our economy would be in shambles followed quickly by Mexico and Canada. A damn domino effect....

[Mz Pip]

15. Then there really is no point for Obama to negotiate

The GOP wants to have it both ways. They want to scare the American people about Obama's refusal to negotiate but also say the default will be no big deal.

It's hard to keep their bullshit straight.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

17. Giving time for stupid views is malpractice, unless it is to point out how stupid they are. nt

[Renew Deal]

18. The republicans are happy to prove AGAIN why they shouldn't be in power

They did it in the 20's and 30's and people have forgotten.

[meanit]

24. Yes, apparently the meltdown of 2008 was not enough

to wake people up to what the Republicans are really all about. Many have no clue what happened in 1929 and some even believe gibberish that it was all FDR's fault. And yes, people have also just plain forgotten. Even the youngest members of "the greatest generation" are well into their 80's and 90's now and are not the ones running the country anymore, so the reminders of that time in America are becoming few and far between.

It's too bad that it may actually have to take another catastrophe like what happened in 1929 and the 1930's before Americans finally wake up again.

Is that what it's going to take?

[cosmicone]

19. Look at the comments at the bottom of that article

People are not as stupid as media leads us to believe.

[True_Blue]

20. Wouldn't be that bad? For who?

The families that depends on that income to meet their monthly bills? The Social Security and Medicaid recipients? Veterans, Armed Forces ...etc?

[sofa king]

21. I feel like I know this by heart.

So here's what's happening:

* The Republicans are trying to tank the economy again prior to next year's elections. This time they are further financially backed by the wealthiest Americans, because they do not want the expiration of their tax cuts to reflect positively in the economy.

* Since they failed egregiously last time, this time they are trying to tie the additional anchor of a government shutdown to the debt ceiling fight. (Once the debt ceiling is involved, Wall Street can work in collusion with the GOP, as they did last time, to destabilize the country's financial rating.)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_federal_government_credit-rating_downgrade

* They think that this will provide them some leverage in the inevitable closed-door meeting that's going to settle the matter, probably the moment that the default looms.

Last time this happened, I predicted, half a year in advance, that the shutdown/debt ceiling fight would activate the President's superpowers, and the fight would end shortly after that. And, in fact, the Republicans came out from the woodshed declaring victory... and endorsing the President's plan.

http://journals.democraticunderground.com/sofa%20king/100

So we'll see.

The bottom line here is that Republicans are making people miserable to extract a concession from the people which makes the people die penniless and sooner. They've shut down the government in time of war, which is scraping the wall of treason. And, they don't have a plan of their own and won't have one because those mooks simply can't do the math, or don't dare do it because it would outline the extent of the greed and hypocrisy.

So you can bet we Democrats will be shooting that barrel of ducks for the next year, and if everything breaks our way, we'll flip the House, approach a supermajority in the Senate, and instantly chase out two or three corrupt Supreme Court justices who wouldn't survive an impeachment. That's a big wish list, but this President has never thought small--and he usually gets what he wants, eventually.

[Javaman]

22. when have the repukes ever been correct when making these types of predictions?

never.

[Turbineguy]

25. Well, it's true

that just because they have shit for brains doesn't mean they are always wrong. I've worked with a number of dangerous idiots and most of the time they were lucky.

[NoOneMan]

26. Well, its a theory

I guess you don't know until you try.


But Im confident theyll announce the pre-agreed upon austerity compromise within a few days

[Arkana]

27. Wow, they're dismally stupid.

I sincerely hope the President has the stones to save the rest of the country from the ruin they would drive us into.

[SDjack]

28. Well, if defaulting is not important, then it's not worth doing. nt

[NCagainstMcCrony]

29. Thinking

Just another example of how being republican is so much easier than thinking.

[Roland99]

31. "I will gladly pay you Tuesday for an (assault rifle) today"

[LibertyLover]

32. And I'm sure that Dr. Yoho's creditors immediately

went away, perfectly happy with being told they would be paid 'someday'. What I want to know is: how did Dr. Yoho treat clients who might have told him the same thing - 'gosh doc, I can't pay you now for saving Bessie, but I'll pay you someday.'?

[MatthewStLouis]

34. Yes, they are in denial. But that's how they live.

They all have the "I've got mine, so screw you!" attitude. Never thinking of the future, never thinking of anyone or anything outside of themselves.

[ConcernedCanuk]

35. The World has a different take on it.

.
.
.

I read many news sources that are either not allowed, or discouraged on DU - so I'm not gonna post where I read them from.

Tired of having a jury/host block/delete/hide a post because it's an unacceptable source here.

Yeah, I'm skirting that "do not whine about DU thing"

but I'll take a chance.

Anyhow, I read Japan's papers, China's papers, India's papers, Russia's papers, etc.,

Because right or not -

I WANNA KNOW WHAT THE REST OF THE WORLD THINKS!

And the rest of the World, from what I read?

Thinks the USA is in big doo-doo.

As do I.

CC

[olddad56]

36. some of these idiots are just trying to save face so that the idiots that voted for them...

will do so again. These people were not elected by people who care about our nation.

[jmowreader]

38. Does Dr. Yoho know what "contract" means?

In my business, if I called Flint Ink and told them "I'm not going to pay you when I agreed to but I will someday," they would tell me to have fun trying to print with no ink.

The strange thing is, the GOP has been screaming about the Chinese calling their loans in and the US becoming Greece for years. Why are the people warning us about this being the ones that will make it happen?

[Skittles]

39. is that veterinarian the same one who compared lady parts to animal parts?

or am I just getting my f***ing idiots mixed up???