Debt limit crisis, GOP House brawl

23 November 2010 |permalink | email article

Paul Krugman, the Nobel laureate, writes about raising the legal limit to federal debt which must be raised periodically if the government keeps running deficits.  He notes that the limit will be reached again this spring.  And since not even the most extreme budget hawks think the budget can be balanced immediately, the budget limit must be raised to avoid a government shutdown, and prevent worldwide financial chaos.

Krugman cites former GOP Sen. Alan Simpson, co-chairman of a special commission on deficit reduction, who said Friday: “I can’t wait for the blood bath in April. … When debt limit time comes, they’re going to look around and say,”What in hell do we do now?” Krugman believes it’s one more piece of evidence “that our nation is in much worse shape, much closer to a political breakdown, than most people realize.”

House GOP leaders appear headed for a clash with the chamber’s newly elected members on a vote early next year on government borrowing. Incoming House speaker John Boehner ihas been talking to many Republican freshmen about the need to raise the federal debt ceiling to meet the country’s obligations. “We have to deal with it as adults. Whether we like it or not, the federal government has obligations, and we have to do our part.” But many Tea Party newcomers oppose raising the debt limit because of their concern about federal spending. Boehner has a very tough sell. Add the Tea Party faction led by Sen-elect Rand Paul in the Senate.

Incumbency Matters

Josh Marshall, in an interesting Talking Points Memo, reminds of how seldom elected presidents get denied reelection. By his count, it’s happened just three times in the last century: Jimmy Carter, the first President Bush and Herbert Hoover. Gerald Ford lost, but he was never elected in his own right. Not even as Vice President. He was appointed to the office, after Spiro Agnew resigned. It appears Democratic presidents have a higher survival rate.

What they said

“Only after the sectarian violence erupted in 2006 did it become clear that more security was needed before political progress could continue.” – President George W. Bush, admitting in his memoirs that he waited three years in allowing Iraq to descent, as The New Yorker’s George Packer put it, “into a nightmare of violence.” 

“If I was him, I’d go out on top. Don’t pull a Brett Favre and keep coming out of retirement.” – Wisconsin Gov.-elect Scott Walker on Michael Steele’s future at the Republican National Committee.

“I could care less if someone feels me up.” – Rep. Jim Moran, D-Virginia, on controversial TSA screening procedures.

303