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Title: "It is the most monumental insanity"
Source:
Salon
URL Source: http://www.salon.com/technology/how ... _tea_party_monumental_insanity
Published: Jan 7, 2011
Author: Andrew Leonard
Post Date: 2011-01-07 22:27:02 by go65
Keywords: None
Views: 2205
Comments: 6
Conservative historian Bruce Bartlett explains why Tea Party thinking on national debt ceiling is "idiotic" Bruce Bartlett is a historian whose résumé includes stints as a domestic policy advisor during the Reagan administration and a Treasury official under George H.W. Bush. He is also the author of the 2006 blockbuster "Impostor: How George W. Bush Bankrupted America and Betrayed the Reagan Legacy." For years, Bartlett has been passionately calling attention to Republican fiscal irresponsibility, and now that the fight over whether to raise the debt ceiling -- and prevent the U.S. government from defaulting on its debts -- is promising to be one of 2011's major political dramas, Salon decided he was the perfect person to bring some clarity to a confusing issue. He spoke with Salon by phone on Wednesday morning. ---- But isn't there a limit to how irresponsibly politicians can act? When the House Republicans rejected the first TARP authorization vote, the reaction in financial markets swiftly changed their minds. Wouldn't the same thing be likely to happen this time around? Perhaps. But do we really want to pay that price? Do we really want to introduce an element of doubt into the financial markets, that a security that is primarily bought because there is assumed to be risk zero risk of default is no longer safe? There is no other security on earth that has that reputation, not even German government bonds. The U.S. Treasury is the gold standard and we have benefited enormously from this fact. Every time there is some disruption in the world financial markets, people flee to quality by buying Treasuries. As a result, we have benefited by not having to pay for the consequences of our own profligacy. Foreign central banks hold trillions of dollars of Treasuries as the backing for their own securities. The minute we introduce an element of doubt into their own minds about whether these debts will be paid, suddenly other alternative investments may start to look better to them, and we will lose market share, which will greatly increase the costs of borrowing over the long term. It's the most monumental insanity that I can even imagine. ------------- But the Obama administration certainly isn't willing to do that. Won't the White House cut some sort of a deal? Of course they're not. I don't think John Boehner is either. The problem is that the Tea Partyers are nuts. That is my point. They are irrational, they are ignorant, they don't know anything about financial markets and they think that they are standing up for God and the balanced budget. I have no doubt that there are enough rational people in the Republican Party together with enough Democrats to have the votes to increase the debt limit. The problem is that as we've seen in this last election, the Tea Party people have shown us that they don't give a crap. Look, for example, at the defeat of Sen. Robert Bennett in Utah. He was one of the most conservative members of the Senate, and he was defeated primarily because he merely co-sponsored a bill with the Democrat Ron Wyden that put out an alternative approach to healthcare reform. This was deemed to be beyond the pale. He was defeated in the Republican primary, and I think this is the concern that every Republican has -- of having someone run against them in the primary who says, This senator or congressman s.o.b. voted to increase the debt limit. They voted to give Obama more money to destroy our country with. I don't think there are very many Republicans that are going to take the risk of allowing that to happen.
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#1. To: brian S, skip intro, jwpegler, buckaroo, lucysmom, (#0)
full interview:
Since January 3, 2011, Republicans have controlled the power of the purse.
BB: Perhaps. But do we really want to pay that price? We will pay that price, regardless. Raising the debt ceiling, is like increasing the max on your own credit cards, when you have no more left. But ALL the credit cards are maxed out, and we can't make the monthly payments... And we're taking cash from one card, to make the minimum payments on another... Raising the debt ceiling, simply kicks the can down the road. When the rest of the world finally pulls the plug on us, we'll be screwed, far worse than what we'll experience now. Better to suffer through the withdrawal pains from nanny-government, now. Putting off the pain, will only increase the magnitude, when we finally "suck up," and take it. But thinking we can magically avoid the pain, is wishful thinking at best, and criminally negligent, at worst.
In the end, the Party would announce that two and two made five, and you would have to believe it. It was inevitable that they should make that claim sooner or later: the logic of their position demanded it. ... The heresy of heresies was common sense. http://libertysflame.com/cgi-bin/readart.cgi?ArtNum=16281&Disp=9#C9 SUMMARY: Socialists refuse to accept reality.
Bye-bye greatest country in the world.
Merchants have no country. The mere spot they stand on does not constitute so strong an attachment as that from which they draw their gains. Thomas Jefferson
Thanks to Democrats and Republicans. Only a bipartisan effort could have destroyed the greatest country in the world. The Bushbots and hObamabots must be so proud of themselves! Keep voting D & R for more of the same.
The Bushbots and hObamabots must be so proud of themselves! Keep voting D & R for more of the same. When the bushbots took over from the clintonistas, the budget was in surplus.
Merchants have no country. The mere spot they stand on does not constitute so strong an attachment as that from which they draw their gains. Thomas Jefferson
You need to grow up, and face reality. In the end, the Party would announce that two and two made five, and you would have to believe it. It was inevitable that they should make that claim sooner or later: the logic of their position demanded it. ... The heresy of heresies was common sense. http://libertysflame.com/cgi-bin/readart.cgi?ArtNum=16281&Disp=9#C9 Inescapable conclusion? Socialists are unable to accept reality. I.e., they're INSANE.
#2. To: go65 (#0)
SALON: ---- But isn't there a limit to how irresponsibly politicians can act? When the House Republicans rejected the first TARP authorization vote, the reaction in financial markets swiftly changed their minds. Wouldn't the same thing be likely to happen this time around?
-- George Orwell, 1984 --
ME: THERE IS NO MORE MONEY.
GO65: There will be no more money when the U.S. dollar has no value, until that time we can keep printing more.
#3. To: Capitalist Eric (#2)
Better to suffer through the withdrawal pains from nanny-government, now. Putting off the pain, will only increase the magnitude, when we finally "suck up," and take it.
#4. To: lucysmom (#3)
Bye-bye greatest country in the world.
#5. To: hondo68 (#4)
Thanks to Democrats and Republicans. Only a bipartisan effort could have destroyed the greatest country in the world.
#6. To: lucysmom (#5)
When the bushbots took over from the clintonistas, the budget was in surplus.
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-- George Orwell, 1984 --
ME: THERE IS NO MORE MONEY.
GO65: There will be no more money when the U.S. dollar has no value, until that time we can keep printing more.
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