The Republicans’ extortion politics
Games of chicken are won by drivers able to convince their opponents they won't swerve
Topics: U.S. Economy, War Room, Barack Obama, Paul Ryan, R-Wis., Politics News
House Budget Committee Chairman Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., at podium, declares that he was "disappointed" in President Obama's speech on a federal spending plan, Wednesday, April 13, 2011, during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington. From left are: House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Rep. Dave Camp, R-Mich., Ryan, Republican Conference Chairman Rep. Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas, and House Majority Leader Eric Cantor of Va. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite) (Credit: AP)This originally appeared at Robert Reich’s blog
As the government approaches its borrowing limit of $14.3 trillion, Republicans are seeking political advantage over what conditions should be attached to raising that limit.
This is a scandal — or should be. Raising the debt limit shouldn’t be subject to party politics. Economic extortion should be out of bounds.
It’s bad enough government shutdowns have become an accepted part of political negotiation. But failure to increase the amount the Treasury can borrow would have far graver results.
Not only would the government be unable to issue Social Security or Medicare checks but the United States couldn’t pay interest on its current debt.
We’d go into default. The full faith and credit of the United States would be in jeopardy. Treasury bonds would go into free fall. Interest rates would skyrocket. We, and most of the rest of the world, would fall into financial chaos.
The recovery is still fragile. All this would force us and most of the rest of the world into a deeper recession or worse.
No one in their right mind would threaten this. Yet it’s talked about as if it’s just another aspect of Washington politics — a threat that might be carried out in early July when the Treasury runs out of ways to keep paying our debts.
In fact, it’s a giant game of highway chicken, and if one driver doesn’t yield the crash will be catastrophic.
Games of chicken are won by drivers able to convince their opponents they won’t swerve. That gives a strategic advantage to Republicans backed by the Tea Party, who are so convinced government is evil they’ve signaled they’d be willing to risk it.
But this shouldn’t be a matter of political strategy. Disagreement about the nation’s budget should be worked out through the constitutional process of majority votes in Congress, followed by the President’s signature or veto, and Congress’s right to override the veto.
No group of legislators is entitled to threaten to crash the United States economy if its demands aren’t met.
The biggest surprise is the silence of American business and Wall Street. They have as much if not more to lose as anyone if this game ends in tragedy. Yet the GOP — which big business and Wall Street fund — insists on playing it.
Robert Reich, one of the nation’s leading experts on work and the economy, is Chancellor’s Professor of Public Policy at the Goldman School of Public Policy at the University of California at Berkeley. He has served in three national administrations, most recently as secretary of labor under President Bill Clinton. Time Magazine has named him one of the ten most effective cabinet secretaries of the last century. He has written 13 books, including his latest best-seller, “Aftershock: The Next Economy and America’s Future;” “The Work of Nations,” which has been translated into 22 languages; and his newest, an e-book, “Beyond Outrage.” His syndicated columns, television appearances, and public radio commentaries reach millions of people each week. He is also a founding editor of the American Prospect magazine, and Chairman of the citizen’s group Common Cause. His widely-read blog can be found at www.robertreich.org. More Robert Reich.
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