I’m resigned to America's debt ceiling not being raised. America will default on her debt. Our credit rating will tumble, and the dollar will take a running jump toward losing it dominance among currencies. China and the Chinese stand to gain as the makers of the world’s future high-value currency.
America will transfer an additional trillion dollars to lenders’ hands to pay for her preexisting debt, because of the fall of America’s credit rating. This will make it more expensive for America to raise money. Obviously, we could have used this wealth for better purposes.
I became resigned when I saw House speaker John Boehner respond to president Barack Obama’s televised speech on July 25.
It reminded me of something that happened in 2000: the Camp David summit between Palestinian Liberation Organization head Yasser Arafat and Israel’s president Ehud Barak. To win peace, leftist Israeli president Barak made painful concessions. But Arafat rejected the best deal by far ever offered by Israeli negotiators. At the time, some people expressed that Arafat was perfectly happy to reject any deal, because refusal to compromise would win him the admiration of his constituency among the Palestinians. So peace floated into the ether, and Arafat let it float away.
John Boehner is playing Yasser Arafat in these negotiations. If the debt ceiling is not raised, because he insists on getting everything he wants and conceding nothing, Boehner becomes beloved of the hard-core Republicans who would hold the debt ceiling hostage to prevail in their position that only a minority of Americans share. Their position is that the long-term debt should be overcome solely with budget cuts, not with additional taxes on the wealthy. Republicans reject a ratio of budget cuts to new revenue of 83% to 17%. The new taxes would fall on the rich, who have benefitted disproportionately in increased income in recent years. Some of these very wealthy persons pay taxes at a lower rate than their secretaries.
So the government becomes dysfunctional.
Of course, Boehner wants it both ways. He won’t compromise, but he blames Obama for the coming debacle. This is from a party that lost all credibility when they proclaimed that the Health Care Reform Act had death panels. (Will someone please show me the death panels in that legislation? Because what was claimed to be death panels was only a provision (now removed) paying Medicaid doctors for doing what they otherwise would do for free: counsel elderly patients about advance directives for end-of-life decisions. That’s no death panel. If the death panel is something else, would someone please point it out?)
As Boehner blamed Obama in his speech, he told his story that there was almost an agreement, but Obama changed the terms of the agreement, and the summit fizzled (actually, Boehner walked out). I don’t believe him. I’m predisposed to disbelieve Republicans in Congress after the death-panel lies. And I watched Boehner closely as he told this particular story. I saw a glint in his eye as he told it.
That told me that Boehner is not only Yasser Arafat; he is also Lord of Facts. He arrogates to himself a godlike power to create facts in his own image.
This upsets me deeply. I shouldn’t be shocked; this is only a worse incarnation of what I’ve seen before. It’s playing politics with our future; it’s lying to play politics.
Maybe this is the moment of America’s final decline. Maybe this is the moment where ideologues in the minority rob America of her economic recovery and start the slide to a weak, dysfunctional republic. It sickens me. It disgusts me. It literally robs me of sleep.
The Republicans act as if they believe that when America capsizes, only Democrats will get wet. That won’t be the case.
A metaphor: in Greek mythology, Cassandra was the daughter of Trojan King Priam and Queen Hecuba. Apollo empowered her to see the future, but, when she wasn’t sufficiently grateful (in a particular way), he cursed her with the fact that nobody would believe her. She foresaw the fall of Troy, but she couldn’t convince anyone that her prophecy would come to pass.
I feel like Cassandra. Never in politics have I felt so frustrated. I foresee disaster brought about by corrupt practices. If Republicans are going to wreck the economy, let them at least be honest about their willingness to do so. House Majority Whip Eric Cantor was at least so honest when he said that the Republicans would not compromise on the budget, because they believe that agreeing to raise the debt ceiling was their compromise.
Remember that, and lay blame accordingly.
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