I agree the Crazy Caucus wants chaos for political gain. But there are still some Republicans, including McCarthy, who know a default must be avoided. The key is getting a bill on the floor so these Republicans can join with the Dems to raise the ceiling. This will require some concessions on spending. Biden will try to roll it into the …
I agree the Crazy Caucus wants chaos for political gain. But there are still some Republicans, including McCarthy, who know a default must be avoided. The key is getting a bill on the floor so these Republicans can join with the Dems to raise the ceiling. This will require some concessions on spending. Biden will try to roll it into the budget discussion rather than tie it to raising the ceiling. But ultimately that’s window dressing.
Getting some control over spending is good policy too. We injected $6 trillion into the economy during COVID. During the Great Recession it was around $2 trillion. Some on the left maintained that, under the unproven Mondern Monetary Theory, the US can spend as much as it wants without consequence. 9% inflation disproved that.
Well, you are partially right. But the problem is that the climate change diaster that awaits us all, relatively soon, will cost many $T more. And if we don't spend that much on solutions we will spend that much and more on cleaning messes
I would be more sanguine if I thought that the people driving this train wreck had actual policy goals -- but I see no evidence of such aims. The only apparent goal of the GOP is to foment whatever political and economic chaos they can to ensure that they take office next election, this time for good.
I suppose you might stretch the notion of "policy" to include "overthrowing electoral democracy and replacing it with a one-party, white grievance oriented kleptocracy in the tradition of what existed in the Solid South from reconstruction to the civil rights era" -- but that would be much the same as saying a drug cartel has a "policy" of promoting the use of addictive drugs.
I agree the Crazy Caucus wants chaos for political gain. But there are still some Republicans, including McCarthy, who know a default must be avoided. The key is getting a bill on the floor so these Republicans can join with the Dems to raise the ceiling. This will require some concessions on spending. Biden will try to roll it into the budget discussion rather than tie it to raising the ceiling. But ultimately that’s window dressing.
Getting some control over spending is good policy too. We injected $6 trillion into the economy during COVID. During the Great Recession it was around $2 trillion. Some on the left maintained that, under the unproven Mondern Monetary Theory, the US can spend as much as it wants without consequence. 9% inflation disproved that.
Well, you are partially right. But the problem is that the climate change diaster that awaits us all, relatively soon, will cost many $T more. And if we don't spend that much on solutions we will spend that much and more on cleaning messes
I would be more sanguine if I thought that the people driving this train wreck had actual policy goals -- but I see no evidence of such aims. The only apparent goal of the GOP is to foment whatever political and economic chaos they can to ensure that they take office next election, this time for good.
I suppose you might stretch the notion of "policy" to include "overthrowing electoral democracy and replacing it with a one-party, white grievance oriented kleptocracy in the tradition of what existed in the Solid South from reconstruction to the civil rights era" -- but that would be much the same as saying a drug cartel has a "policy" of promoting the use of addictive drugs.
You have some good thoughts, we just don't have much time to put them into effect.
Did it? There are economists who argue otherwise--to a greater or lesser degree.