Capitol Hill Blue Forums Political Issues Politics In General Will the US Default?

Will the US default? I don't think so. Anyone have any opinions? IMO- It is an important issue.

I think that the Reeps will have to cave as the votes for a clean CR and deficit cap increase continue to ratchet up in the House.

Actually, I think that we will.... Unless some option like the 14th amendment or the trillion dollar coin is invoked. Both of which are crossing the Rubicon sort of bad choices with enormous potential but as yet vague consequences

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When people play at brinksmanship, there is always some risk of sliding over the brink. Especially when all sides are convinced that the other side must back down

I think that Obama and the Democrats cannot back down without setting the stage for the next set of demands when the debt limit again becomes and issue.

House Republicans seem to be governed by people who take pride in placing "principle" above pragmatism. They have backed themselves into a place where they "have to get something."

People are starting to rationalize that the problem is being exaggerated.... so there is not such urgency to get things resolved.

It seems to me that we are facing an excrement vs fan moment

I just hope our Representatives get their act together before random strangers start burning their offices or homes, or start taking shots at them. In any game of brinksmanship, you have to know your opponent very well so you can guess how he will react when pushed to his limit. Or beyond his limit.

The problem in this game, is that the people who are getting hurt are not just the guys across the aisle in the House. There are all sorts of people out there in the general population who are being injured, and some of them are armed and have very poor impulse control.

It's ironic that Tea Party-types are the people who most often promote the idea that Government should fear the righteous anger of The People, since I think they are the most likely targets!

Made me laugh and frown at the same time. I'm convinced that we're headed for a technical default...don't see how the Republicans find a way out of this mess before the deadline, don't see why the Democrats or Obama would give them an opening.

For the Dems: Why throw the Republicans a life raft just for the good of the nation? Obama's done running for office, and Democrats know a default could make the Republican party VERY unpopular in the next election.

For the Repubs: How can we survive a primary challenge if we don't extract a concession? The next "tea party" candidate is just going to paint me as inept if we don't get *something*...

I see no way for both sides to win.

Not in the short term, Jason. But in the long run this could well be the death knell for the Republican Party as we know it. And that would be a good thing.

I say this because I feel comfortable among people here who I consider to be family.

I am finding it very very difficult to maintain civil composure and proper anger management at this stage of the game because a default on the national debt will very much change life forever for my wife and I.

Truth be told, Karen makes more money than I do at this point.
At 56, and as a recent re-transplant back to L.A. I knew this anyway, because L.A. is a young man's town.
Oh, the wolf won't ever darken our door but the idea was to rent any old hovel while we look for a permanent house to purchase, and the timing was supposed to coincide with the lull in the real estate market and the dip in interest rates.

With the spate of medical bills we've racked up, despite our VA coverage, it was tough keeping a spotless credit rating however and so for the last two years we've been going all out to raise Karen's credit score to a level where we would qualify for a decent enough loan to get a home that's worthwhile.

Next month her VA disability pension may not be there, but the bills will still be there anyway, so dipping into the savings will be necessary to keep the rent paid, keep the mortgage paid on the house in Texas, keep the lights on.

But, if something unexpected happens between now and then, something's going to go unpaid, and naturally that will sink Karen's credit score back into the doldrums.

Meanwhile interest rates will skyrocket, lending will dry up and a whole raft of other problems will combine to screw our chances forever, and then we'll be stuck being permanent renters in the most expensive rental housing market in the country.

That wasn't our plan.

So, while a few Tea Party extremists play football with my wife's health, her pocketbook, and her sense of well being and security, I am entering a state of slow burn.

Karen's not. She hit her boiling point about nine days ago.
Threatening my wife's health and sense of well being might be hazardous to the health of a lot of lawmakers were I not the stable and thoughtful person I imagine myself to be...

But I'm running out of that patience, and I wonder if I can hold my temper. At least I'm three thousand miles away from Washington and in a part of the country where Tea Party sightings are relatively rare.

I just figure between her MS and my son's five radiation related heart defects, the two of them have given way more than their pound of flesh and they do not deserve to have Ted Cruz and John Boehner slicing off more to munch on while they "support our troops".

Perhaps it's a good thing that neither of them get to my neck of the woods very often.
As I said, I am finding it very difficult to maintain civil composure anymore...now it's personal.

Not really. I still believe that liberals need conservatives, and conservatives need liberals.
The problem isn't the death of the Republican Party, because they stopped being conservative the moment they ran out of useful ideas, ran out things that conservatives are good at.

The problem is, we have also run out of moderates on both sides, at least in the leadership department.

Obama isn't a liberal, not by any stretch of the imagination.
This country has moved so far to the right that even Ike Eisenhower is considered a far left commie lover.
Go figure.

Just when I got over the guffaws and cat calls surrounding my last attempt to state that "we are now in uncharted territory" I find myself wanting to utter those words again, along with Lily Tomlin's famous bromide:


The kind of nonsense we're witnessing here over the debt default is almost a carbon copy of the Johnny Rebs threatening not to pay the bills for The Civil War, which is the reason WHY Section Four of the 14th Amendment was written in the first place.

Much of the recent national debt, about four trillion I believe, is for two wars which were put on the credit card.
Take away that and you have a modest increase in the debt.
And that's just what the extremists think they're going to do, welch on the invoice and walk out the door screaming that they are "taking our country back".

(Ooops, forgot to add the twenty-seven exclamation points)
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yeah, taste the FREE-DUMB fellas.

The death of real actual true conservatism isn't the paradise you might be led to believe. Liberals are good at a lot of things, they're dreamers, explorers, innovators, multiculturalists, and they believe in a fair shot at the opportunities that make this country so wonderful.

Conservatives are good at watching purse strings, trimming waste and ensuring a moral outlook on the path we tread. Change "for the hell of it" is anathema to a conservative and, sometimes that is a wise approach to take.

But the philosophical "bank account" where all those good things about conservatives are stored has been empty for a while because, just like our Social Security trust fund, it got raided and all there is in there right now are some old Alex Jones cassettes and a John Birch Society pamphlet which has some sticky pages next to the centerfold page of Charles and David Koch in the nude.

So, by all means, let the GOP die a miserable death, but I would like to see some thoughtful and reasonable conservativism return to America. I might be liberal (moderately so) but I always welcome input from the other side.

It is stultifying to live in an environment that resembles a liberal echo chamber sometimes.

No.

That makes two who believe that the US won't default. "They" may be crazy, but "they" are not stupid. It would be a major "screw the pooch" moment for Uncle Sam.