With a likely permanent downgrade in Americans’ quality of life just around the corner, all eyes and ears are focused on the debt ceiling/default showdown.
The weekend kicked off last Thursday with Treasury Secretary Jack Lew warning Congress of the “potentially catastrophic” dangers of the United States defaulting on its payments.?Lew told the Senate Finance Committee:
“If interest rates rose, it would have a real impact on American households.? The stock market, including investments in retirement accounts, could tumble, and it could become more expensive for Americans to buy a car, own a home, and open a small business.?These additional costs of borrowing could not easily be undone and our actions would impact Americans for generations to come.”
No doubt the rest of the world will feel the dire ramifications of a U.S. default for generations to come, as well.
Friday showed signs of hope, however, as President Obama met and spoke with Senate Republicans and House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) to see if a compromise of some sort could be reached in order to end the government shutdown that has put?hundreds of thousands out of work and put the economy at further risk.? While both sides once again agreed that?the important thing was to “keep talking” and negotiations were expected to carry on throughout the weekend, talks were cut short when Republicans and Democrats were not able to agree on the length and terms for a deal.
Republicans in both the House and the Senate made separate proposals to avoid default, but only through means that would change the Affordable Care Act and seek to further cut the deficit.? One such proposal that received a bit of backing was brought forth by Sen. Susan Collins ( R.-Maine), seeking to raise the debt ceiling and reopen the government in exchange for replacing a medical device tax contingent of Obamacare.
The president’s response on Friday was consistent, if nothing else,as he is willing to negotiate on anything, even healthcare, but only after the government is reopened.? As of Saturday morning, America’s chances for an agreement rest in the hands of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky).??Reid said:
?I hope that our coming together gives some solace to the American people. This hasn’t happened until now.?
As Reid and McConnell began their negotiations, Boehner and Obama kept the heat and pressure up in the press like boxers before the big bout.
Speaker Boehner stated in a conference that Obama had dismissed his offer and was quoted by Rep. Greg Walden (R-Ore.) as saying:
“?The Senate needs to hold tough… The President now isn’t negotiating with us.”
Obama responded in a weekly radio address:
“It doesn’t have to be this way. It’s not supposed to be this way… Manufacturing crises to extract massive concessions isn’t how our democracy works, and we have to stop it. Politics is a battle of ideas, but you advance those ideas through elections and legislation ? not extortion.”
Sunday wrapped up the weekend with lawmakers still impotent in negotiations.? Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid opened the sessions stating:
?”Americans want Congress to compromise.”
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell underlined a bipartisan plan that may fund the government at current levels for six months, raising the debt ceiling through the end of January.? Progress seemed, if for a moment, possible, if not likely, only to spiral back to a stalemate once Reid stated that any deal must include a limber attitude toward spending cuts that went into effect earlier this year at the beginning of the sequester.
Republicans have called Democrats’ stance adamant, to put it kindly, and claim that it comes as a slap in the face to underlying problems with the spending.? Some Tea Party Republicans have gone so far as to suggest America defaulting on its payments would not be so bad, that it is being inflated as “fear-mongering” media.? Treasury Secretary Jack Lew scorned such talk last Thursday as ignorance, and one might add, arrogance, as well.? A default would lead the world into “uncharted territory,” he said. Lew continued:
“It will not work smoothly.? It will be chaos.”
The latest polls all show Republicans in the doldrums.? NBC News/Wall Street Journal found that 53% of Americans find the GOP responsible for the current government shutdown.? Discontent with the political process is at an all-time high.? A recent Gallup Poll found only 18% of Americans are satisfied with the governing of the nation. Gallup said
“This is the lowest government satisfaction rating in Gallup’s history of asking the question, dating back to 1971.”
America defaults in three days.? Three days until… who knows?? It’s anybody’s guess.? If a compromised is failed to be achieved by Thursday, the government will start juggling its payments to try to keep up and running as long as possible, but it is a dangerous precedent–one that’s never been breached before.? International Monetary Fund chief, Christine Lagarde, warned of the vast ripple effect a default could have on the U.S. and world economy while on NBC’s Meet the Press.?Lagarde?said:
?If there is that degree of disruption, that lack of certainty, that lack of trust in the U.S. signature, it would mean massive disruption the world over, and we would be at risk of tipping, yet again, into recession.?
Three days, yet the wayward Tea Party’s grip remains like the bog of eternal stench on each discussion and potential compromise.
How much is too much, America?? Where do we draw the line in this economic, corporate coup d’?tat?? When do we recognize the invasion this country is currently under?? When do we begin to earnestly talk out loud about treason, corporate personhood, and a separation of corporation and state?
If the government can’t do it, let the people show them how.? Look to Detroit for a good start.
Edited by SS
