The Coming US Debt Default

[Grifman]

The idea that the US has to independently approve debt fir which spending has already been approved is absurd. And even more absurd is the fact that Democrats could fix this now and yet refuse to. And even more absurd is that the totally non-serious people in the Republican Party are totally willing to burn it all down for dubious ideological reasons. The country is run by morons.

[El Guapo]

Yup. I will also say that most of us on here spend a lot of time complaining about the Republican Party, and deservedly so, but...goddamn it this is such political malpractice, and so many people will needlessly suffer for lack of a quick fix that Democrats could do, that it's just infuriating.

Th only other thing is that there is kind of one other escape hatch that Marshall doesn't mention, which is the trillion dollar treasury coin. It's crazy, but I kind of think that there's a non-trivial chance that it happens because it may be the most sensible option given the alternatives of global economic collapse or surrender on all policy issues.

[malchior]

I don't know if I 100% support the conclusion but I strongly, strongly suspect this bit of malpractice comes down to two assholes: one from West Virginia and one from Arizona. The rest of the folks don't want to highlight the inaction because they know they can't act and instead are preparing to blame the Republicans.

In any case, I simply can't care anymore. This country is a dysfunctional shit show. Whatever needs to happen to speed it along to whatever node means people realize it isn't going to get better is about all I care about at this point. Something bad is going to happen. The people in charge are the same people who got us here. Their replacements are even worse. Why we think they'll do better in the future is a mystery. Let's get it over with.

[Carpet_pissr]

I don't know if I 100% support the conclusion but I strongly, strongly suspect this bit of malpractice comes down to two assholes: one from West Virginia and one from Arizona. The rest of the folks don't want to highlight the inaction because they know they can't act and instead are preparing to blame the Republicans.

In any case, I simply can't care anymore. This country is a dysfunctional shit show. Whatever needs to happen to speed it along to whatever node means people realize it isn't going to get better is about all I care about at this point. Something bad is going to happen. The people in charge are the same people who got us here. Their replacements are even worse. Why we think they'll do better in the future is a mystery. Let's get it over with.

So you're saying there's still hope? YES!!!

[Zarathud]

It comes down to the collapse of the regular legislative order. Spending and budgets used to be passed by committees in regular votes early in the fiscal year, and deals could be made with particular politicians on the other side.

That no longer exists — Republicans will vote against funding for their OWN districts because Democrats passed it. And then brag to constituents who aren’t paying attention. Democrats can’t all agree so Manchin and Sinema grandstand over deficits even though Republicans do much worse by constantly cutting tax revenues.

[Pyperkub]

It comes down to the collapse of the regular legislative order. Spending and budgets used to be passed by committees in regular votes early in the fiscal year, and deals could be made with particular politicians on the other side.

That no longer exists — Republicans will vote against funding for their OWN districts because Democrats passed it. And then brag to constituents who aren’t paying attention. Democrats can’t all agree so Manchin and Sinema grandstand over deficits even though Republicans do much worse by constantly cutting tax revenues.

And Republicans constantly do Big Government things w/o paying for them. (Medicare Part D, NCLB, Homeland Security/Surveillance State + Afghan/Iraq Wars, Covid stimulus - both parties guilty here, etc.). But the constant slashing of taxes and then using that as an excuse to try to cut (or privatize for the grift) Medicare/Social Security, while also running up huge deficits is a major problem.