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howard's avatar

Ok, it's sinking in. What's the problem? In specific, concrete terms, not that it's icky.

And rating agencies are irrelevant to what the government pays in interest; what's relevant is the gop seeding doubt that the full faith and credit of the US has any meaning.

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Robert Jaffee's avatar

Fair enough, but the rating agencies, while they donтАЩt necessarily have an effect on our interest rates, the way they do with corporations, they do serve as a harbinger of things to come. The markets will eventually act if we donтАЩt get our shit together.

The US is the reserve currency of the world. All commodities trade in dollars because of the dollars stability. With a dysfunctional government, unable to pass a yearly budget, the world pays attention, and will eventually require a different reserve currency, or a currency based on many countries, instead of ours.

Should that occur, are economic standing in the world diminishes.

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howard's avatar

Which is to say, the issue right now is not the scale of the deficit per se but rather the total irresponsibility of the authoritarian party in the house.

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Robert Jaffee's avatar

Agreed...:)

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Mike Lew's avatar

That's it 110%. The idea that our national debt isn't sacred hurts our national security more than any perceived lack of naval vessels.

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