Someone wrote about the efficacy of this some time ago. It seems that George Soros agrees (is it the apocalypse?), albeit from an additional set of reasons.
Greek Bankruptcy
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Category Archives: political economy
Debt Default Redux
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D, NV) continuing his meme of refusing to negotiate, says
We not only have a shutdown, but we have the full faith and credit of our nation before us in a week or ten days[.]
Never mind that this could have been settled much earlier in the year, but for Democrats’ and President Barack Obama’s intransigence:
Reid and other Democrats blocked numerous attempts…to approve House-passed bills reopening portions of the government.
And there’s that whole “Presidential” series of “veto threats against GOP spending bills” thing. The “GOP” part is the kicker.
In the end, it’s clear that, having gotten the government shutdown for which the Democrats have fought so hard, they’re now bent on default.
Again, I ask, why? I also ask against this backdrop: from Section 8 of our Constitution we have
The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States….
Paying the national debt isn’t just one of only three purposes for which the Federal government is permitted to “lay and collect Taxes;” it’s the first purpose.
And from the 14th Amendment we have
The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned.
The Federal government collects in tax revenue roughly 10 times the amount of money required to make the payments on the national debt as they come due. Suggesting that that’s in danger, that debt default is a risk, is dishonest.
Debt Default
One of President Barack Obama’s reasons for refusing to negotiate his demand to raise the debt ceiling centers on his premise that the debt ceiling is about existing debt obligations, not future ones. He’s right, in a limited way. What he chooses to elide in that, though, is that existing debt exists because of past spending exceeding past revenues: see, for instance, his Stimulus Bill in 2009; his trillion-dollar deficit budget offerings in each year of his administration; the Democrat-run Senate’s refusal even to consider a budget until this year, with that budget offer containing billions of dollars in deficit; and the government’s continued spending in excess of revenue, even in the absence of a budget.
Of course spending reductions need to be part of the present debt ceiling raise negotiations—that’s the only way to reduce/eliminate future borrowing (and on the side, to reduce/eliminate the need for future debt ceiling raises).
There’re plenty of Federal revenues coming in with which to pay the Federal government’s borrowings and to keep those debts current. That was the case in 2011, when the Obama administration and Senate Democrats tried to mislead us about debt “default,” and it’s the case today, even though we’re two years further into Obama’s failed recovery.
The Democrats in this government threatening default if the Republicans and Conservatives don’t agree to lift it without spending limits are
a) deliberately dishonest in their misleading claims about “default”
b) breathtakingly ignorant about meaning of defaulting on borrowings
c) holding our economy—and us Americans who exist within it—hostage against their getting their own way
Or all three.
But Obama, his Senate Majority Leader, and the latter’s seconds and deputies all refuse to negotiate. Again.
Be More Like Europe?
European railway companies must give partial refunds to passengers who are significantly delayed by bad weather, natural disasters, or strikes after a ruling by the European Court of Justice (ECJ).
Now, trains must pay for acts of Nature and of God.
It might be good business to do such things, but things that are good business do not, of necessity, make good law. Look for the price of train tickets to spike. And too many folks will wonder why.
This Is
…what President Barack Obama and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D, UT) and other Democrats want to shut down our government in order to protect:
California: 58,000 will lose their plans under Obamacare. …exodus from the…state’s Obamacare exchange: Aetna, UnitedHealth, Anthem Blue Cross (which left the Obamacare exchange for small businesses,t too)
54% of Californians expect to lose their coverage….
Missouri: Patients of the state’s largest hospital system—13 hospitals—will not be covered by the largest insurer on Obamacare exchanges, Anthem BlueCross BlueShield. Anthem’s 79,000 Missouri patients may seek subsidies on Obamacare’s exchanges, but they won’t be able to see any doctors in the BJC HealthCare system.
Connecticut: Aetna…won’t offer insurance on the Obamacare exchange: “We believe the modification to the rates filed by Aetna will not allow us to collect enough premiums to cover the cost of the plans and meet the service expectations of our customers.”
Maryland: Aetna and (recently purchased)…canceled plans to offer insurance in the [Obamacare] exchange when state officials wouldn’t allow them to charge premiums high enough to cover costs.
South Carolina: Medical Mutual of Ohio left SC entirely in July due to Obamacare’s “vast and quite complex” new regulations.
New York: Aetna pulled out of New York’s exchange…to keep their plans “financially viable.”
New Jersey: Aetna won’t be a part of the [Obamacare] exchange.
Iowa: Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield…decided not to offer plans in the Obamacare exchange.
Wisconsin: United Healthcare and Humana [will not offer] insurance on Obamacare exchanges.
Georgia: Medical Mutual of Ohio, Aetna, and Coventry left due to Obamacare regulations.
More than a million-and-a-quarter insurees and potential insurees are affected by this Democratic Party action.