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Thursday, June 23, 2011

Sabotaging America, Ctd

June 23rd, 2011

A couple of weeks ago, I commented on an article by Robert Parry and made the supposition that the GOP may well be attempting to directly sabotage our country's economy. 

Yesterday, Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer (NY) had the nerve to suggest this publicly. The process continues. Ezra Klein notes that Rep. Eric Cantor's (R-VA) departure from the debt-limit talks today is not just irresponsible, it is also dangerous. Frankly, I think Klein is easy on the man, but his conclusion is clear and correct.

From WaPo:
"...if you had to write a plausible scenario for how America defaults on its debt, or at least seriously spooks the market, this is how it would start. After insisting on using the debt limit as leverage for a budget deal, the Republican leadership finds they can’t actually strike a deficit-reduction deal, but nor can they go back on their promise to vote against any increase in the debt limit that isn’t accompanied by a deficit-reduction deal. What follows is a lot of jockeying and fingerpointing, a short-term increase or two, and eventually, a market panic.

Cantor is putting personal power before country here, and in a very dangerous way. If Boehner actually does manage to cut a decent deal despite Cantor’s effort to throw him under the bus, he may not hold on as leader of his party, but unlike Cantor, he’ll deserve to. For better or worse, this is when we learn whether anyone on the Republican Party’s leadership team is actually prepared to lead."


When we look back years from now, this may be one the most important moments in our history. And one of its most devastating. No foreign enemy has ever put the United States in a position of defaulting on its obligations. The GOP now has.

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