2016 Postmortem
Related: About this forumWashington’s ‘Blazing Saddles’ moment
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2013/01/04/washingtons-blazing-saddles-moment/Washingtons Blazing Saddles moment
Posted by Greg Sargent on January 4, 2013 at 4:19 pm
I noted earlier today that when it comes down to it, the White House should act as if the debt ceiling is not Obamas problem, but Congress problem. If Congressional Republicans dont want to raise the debt ceiling, its on them.
Walter Dellinger, the former solicitor general under Bill Clinton, emails me his take on why this is true on the substance, never mind the politics. Its a good one:
If the U.S. defaults on loan obligations because of failure to increase the debt ceiling, every single American would be made somewhat poorer by the dead weight loss to the American economy that this would cause. I dont see why either political party or either branch of government should gain any leverage by threatening economic harm to the United States of America whose financial management is the mutual responsibility of each of them.
The whole thing reminds me of the great moment in Blazing Saddles when Sheriff Bart takes himself hostage by pointing a gun at his own head. The simple townsfolk of Rock Ridge were dumb enough to fall for it. Are we?
snip//
The House GOP is dismissing the White Houses threat not to negotiate. A Boehner spokesman put it this way: Wishful thinking is not a solution. Good luck with this. As of today, Judd Gregg, Newt Gingrich, and the Wall Street Journal editorial board have already given up the game and made it clear that theres no endgame for Republicans in this whole fight.
As Dellinger notes, this is no way to govern a country. Im still not sure whether or how the White House will manage to stick to this approach throughout, but lets hope so: If Republicans want to force a choice between gutting popular entitlements and destroying the economy, let them sink under it. This is their problem.
Turbineguy
(37,295 posts)Harm to the country.
TeamPooka
(24,210 posts)Vincardog
(20,234 posts)need any national Debt? Why not just get rid of the Federal Reserve and let Congress print all the money they pass laws to spend?
babylonsister
(171,036 posts)Former Head of U.S. Mint Says Trillion Dollar Coin is Legal
Philip Diehl, head of the U.S. Mint from 1994-2000, tells Capital New York that the minting of a trillion dollar coin to circumvent a fight over the debt ceiling is perfectly legal.
Diehl was head of the Mint when the law giving authorization for such a move was passed and says, "My understanding of how this all works suggests that this is a viable alternative."
He added: "One of the ironies in this story is that a GOP Congress passed the legislation over the objections of a Democratic Treasury, and now, today, Treasury may well be in a position to use the law as leverage to neutralize the GOP's threat to hold the debt limit hostage."
The Daily Beast has more on the possible tactic.
Amonester
(11,541 posts)It's only missing 28,768 signatures as of now:
we petition the obama administration to:
Direct the United States Mint to make a single platinum trillion dollar coin!
With the creation and Treasury deposit of a new platinum coin with a value of $1 trillion US Dollars, we would avert the absurd-yet-imminent debt ceiling faceoff in Congress in two quick and simple steps! While this may seem like an unnecessarily extreme measure, it is no more absurd than playing political football with the US -- and global -- economy at stake.
Created: Jan 03, 2013
Issues: Economy Learn about Petition Thresholds
Signatures needed by February 02, 2013 to reach goal of 25,000: 20,768
Total signatures on this petition: 4,232
https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/direct-united-states-mint-make-single-platinum-trillion-dollar-coin/8hvJbLl6
(secured)
Thanks for digging it up!
p.s.: Could it be possible to spread it around all Progressive-leaning sites also?
ROBROX
(392 posts)If the GOp failed on this one then the public would know that the GOP is a puppet to big money. The banks and others who live for money would be know by the public as puppets. Iceland escaped all the depression by skipping out on the debts of others.
The world would be so much better without debts to drag down everyone. The could be so much GOOD if money was available to be spent for a GOOD cause.
EVIL, HATE, and TERROR would sure be injured if there were HAPPINESS in the world.
UCmeNdc
(9,600 posts)grantcart
(53,061 posts)Kennah
(14,234 posts)Filibuster Harry
(666 posts)interest rates, reduce our credit rating even further then so be it -- it will be on their heads.
If the Rs really do care about this country then let's discuss more revenue along with cuts so maybe get our credit rating increased instead of decreased. President needs to stand tall on this one and see what the Rs will do.