Robert Reich: EXTORTION POLITICS "In fact, it’s a giant game of highway chicken"

[kpete]

Extortion Politics: Why Won’t American Business Stop the GOP From Threatening to Blow Up The Economy?
TUESDAY, APRIL 19, 2011

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In fact, it’s a giant game of highway chicken, and if one driver doesn’t yield the crash will be catastrophic.

Games of chicken are won by drivers able to convince their opponents they won’t swerve. That gives a strategic advantage to Republicans backed by the Tea Party, who are so convinced government is evil they’ve signaled they’d be willing to risk it.

But this shouldn’t be a matter of political strategy. Disagreement about the nation’s budget should be worked out through the constitutional process of majority votes in Congress, followed by the President’s signature or veto, and Congress’s right to override the veto.

No group of legislators is entitled to threaten to crash the United States economy if its demands aren’t met.

the rest:
http://robertreich.org/post/4748346103