Associated Press
Over the weekend, the Treasury Department officially took the $1 trillion platinum coin idea off the table. It was a fun thought experiment, and I continue to believe it was a public debate worth having, but when it comes to resolving the Republicans' looming debt-ceiling crisis, it's apparently time to move on from the coin gambit.
Now, there are a few other exotic schemes out there, but all available evidence suggests there will be no workaround. As White House Press Secretary Jay Carney told reporters on Thursday, "[T]here is no plan B. There is no backup plan. There is Congress's responsibility to pay the bills of the United States."
In other words, either congressional Republicans do their duty and meet their obligations or they don't. Those are the options.
In the larger context, I saw a fair amount of chatter on this over the weekend, with many on the left suggesting the Obama White House has given up its leverage by rejecting the coin option. Is the criticism fair? That depends a bit on one's perspective. There are basically two schools of thought.
1. Obama disarmed a month before a critical standoff: By ruling out the escape hatch, President Obama and his administration have shifted the leverage in the GOP's favor. Even if the White House never intended to actually mint the coin, leaving open that possibility made Republicans nervous, and told GOP leaders that the president had the option of acting unilaterally if they pushed the fight too far. Now, that's no longer possible, and the result is more power in Republican hands.
2. Obama has ratcheted up the pressure on the GOP: By rejecting the coin stunt early on, the president has actually strengthened the White House's negotiating position. The coin idea wasn't Obama's escape hatch; it was the Republicans' -- it meant they could screw around endlessly, knowing that, when push came to shove, Obama would act and save the nation from default without Congress having to be responsible in the slightest.
Since these two contradict each other, they can't both be right. And though I was initially inclined to believe the former over the latter, I'm beginning to change my mind.
We talked last week about a House Republican pushing a proposal to rule out the coin option, but did you notice how many GOP leaders endorsed his bill? The answer is zero -- they ignored it. And it's worth appreciating why.
The protestations notwithstanding, the coin proposal actually looked pretty good from a Republican perspective. They don't want a default, but they don't want to raise the debt ceiling. If Obama minted the coin -- or more accurately, if he ordered Treasury to mint the coin -- the GOP would get everything it wants: a resolution to the crisis, a satisfactory conclusion without so much as a floor vote, and an off-the-wall scheme they'd use to criticize the White House as reckless and irresponsible for a long while.
Over the weekend, with the administration scuttling the coin idea altogether, Republicans suddenly find themselves right back where they were -- with all the pressure squarely on their shoulders. They started the debt-ceiling crisis, and now it's on them to resolve it, one way or the other. If GOP policymakers want to avoid a global economic catastrophe of their own making, they'll have to come to their senses before it's too late.
Like it or not, there is no escape hatch; there is no pressure valve; there is no gimmick that can save the day at the last minute. Republicans can either do the right thing or the wrong thing. They can either hurt Americans or come to their senses. There are plenty of remaining questions -- does the GOP want a default; do they understand the severe consequences of their actions -- but asking what Obama will do to prevent the Republican crisis is no longer one of them.
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The GOP either will DO THE RIGHT THING OR jump off the cliff. I'm glad the President has put it squarely on their shoulders.
The GOP is doing the right thing. It's about time we see what requires borrowing to fund, and demonstrate how much money is really required, that will never be paid back.
Anyone buying a bond is operating on the greater fool theory. Hopefully the US can still borrow enough to redeem the bond you have. At some point the music stops.
Annie Oakley: How then can you explain the continuing unprecedented demand to buy our bonds? So much actual truth has to be ignored to get to your "point"...
That coin trick might have been useful last year but this year Repubs get called.
Shooter
So you are in favor of our credit rating being downgraded? of the world economy crashing to the point where our currency is worthless and no one will do business with us?
This isn't like Monopoly the "Music"doesn't stop because our currency is backed by taxes that are backed by our population and our ability to produce goods and services...in short we CAN'T run of money.
Just admit it you honestly have no idea how this system works do you?
Lebowsky, the great demand for our bonds is from us. Not the rest of the world.
Now, think about that. The treasury prints a bond, gives to the Fed, and the Fed electronically adds the bond amount to the Treasury checkbook. For you and me that is writing a check for deposit, from the account you're going to deposit it in.
I am essentially writing IOU's to myself. The US is writing IOU's to itself. This is Treasury saying to the Fed, give me lot's of money and I'll give you these IOU's.
Oh and by the way, Don't expect those IOU's to be good for anything. If you want to cash an IOU I'll just write another IOU. This is called printing money. I'm not sure, but I believe the real world is buying less and less of our bonds, not more.
Annie Oakley: Demand is demand, last time I checked. I realize simple facts like these do rain on your ideaology parade, but worry not my friend, you have the House Republicans ready and willing to carry your water...
Dragoon, see above for how money gets made.
Yes income taxes pay the interest on the debt. Currently it takes about half of all the personal Fed income tax. In Japan it takes every penny of the Fed income tax and more. The question is no longer "will the debt be repaid"? It's whether the interest can be paid.
It's also true that we can't run out of money. Even as we speak the Fed is printing up $85 billion a month. What we CAN run out of, is faith in the dollar. The interesting part of your post is the economic wealth we produce. That translates to higher taxes
Currently the printing presses are pumping out a trillion dollars this year. There's no reason the dollar has to be the world's reserve currency. And now that the printing presses are on full display both here and Japan, the prudent person might wonder what will happen if they stop. Hmmmm.
Any questions?
"Any questions?"
How about "Are you kidding?"
Repugs don't know how to govern. They are useless at this point. So are your comments.
Shooter
Currency is a relativistic mathematical construct like time and triangles with only three sides...they exist only in the abstract and not in present reality. We are not borrowing against anything other than our own collective ability to produce.
Your argument is essentially for anarchy and the disestablishment of human society and culture. Now we have had this conversation often enough for me to know your answer already and you can go on about "Galt" all you want but just like communism in real human culture that economic model doesn't work.
In the whole of human history it never has and never will. It is nothing more than a pyramid scheme designed to fool the simple minded with easy and fallacious logic.
Your argument is essentially for anarchy and the disestablishment of human society and culture.
??? I don't think being financially responsible is the end of the world. You wouldn't accept this kind of BS in your personal life, why should we accept this kind of dishonesty from our Govt? At some point the left will have to acknowledge that Govt has made promises it can't keep and the beneficiaries of those promises are going to suffer. It's just a question of when.
Annie Oakley: Why do you feel we have to surrender to our healthcare costs? Seriously. It's so astounding to see the chest thumping American Exceptionalism crowd wave the white flag on taking care of senior citizens. Social security is perfectly fine with tiny tweaks, but Medicare needs a little work we can safely say. It's not like we have not solved problems before. You want to hang millions out to dry instead of making it better, and that is a combination of capitulation sprinkled with billionaire envy...
Keep in mind, kids, that moron who calls itself Shooter242 is a troll. It doesn't even believe the bull@!$%# it shovels. You're only encouraging it to troll more by feeding it the attention it craves. So kindly stop giving it a reason to stink up this forum with its trolling.
TL;DR - *YOU* guys are the problem because you feed the troll. Cut it out.
I have always thought that "just saying no" was a good move for the nation.
The Presidency would be strengthened if Obama used the 14th amendment option, but that isn't good for the balance of powers between the branches of government. "Just saying no means" the Republicans own the issue. If the nation's full, faith and credit are reduced to shambles, the Republicans will pay a steep political price. Boehner and McConnell both know future of their party is on the line. They are already making quite signals that they want to make one or both of the coming fights the focus.
But guess what - they don't give a sh!t what happens to the US or the global economy.
Ok, feeling cynical and depressed this morning. If you see evidence to the contrary, please feel free to point it out to me.
Depression , the reaction of enduring obdurate savants
I tend to agree that they don't care about the economy here or abroad but they do care about their own personal careers. This may make them hesitate to bring everything crashing down with their fingerprints on the rubble.
Thieir financial backers sure care...
If you think about it, there are two better fights coming up where the President has to engage. Sequestration and the fast approaching CR are both places the Republicans can try to wring out real concessions without taking the world economy over the cliff.
My guess is that except for the tea party caucus, they really don't want to fight because they really don't want to be responsible for trashing the senior saftey net. Once seniors figure out they are well and truly after them, then the Republican party might see its declining base decline even faster. What is going on is what happens when you give unelected radio jocks and TV moguls control of your party.
The force of unelected celebrity nihilists on the Republican mindset is staggering .
Eh, Obama's going to be attacked either way. The GOP hive mindset is a little like the flow set - if Obama does A, attack him by claiming X, if Obama does B attack him by claiming Y, if Obama does C, attack him by claiming Z, if Obama does nothing, attack him for failure to lead.
As damaging as this mind set is, what I find even more damaging is the apparent acceptance, by both political parties, by the media, by many Americans, that this is all par for the course. That this level of obstruction, eh, both sides do it and always have. It's the few people who dare to say "No it's not normal, AT ALL" whose voices need to be amplified but sadly never are. People like Mann and Ornstein, and yeah, not to suck up but Steve Benen too. Everyone seems to understand that if this is "normal" then it's a new normal, something that may have been coming down the pike but it wasn't always this way, not when they were decent amounts of conservative Dems AND moderate Republicans who could be counted on to not just march in step to their party platform.
At the risk of mixing a crapload of metaphors, the modern GOP is a chicken-and-egg-Frankenstein-creature scenario, whereby the party leaders whip the base into a frenzy for party purity, and the base in turn punishes anyone who doesn't match the GOP "purity test," so the leaders in turn have to prove their loyalty to the base while also ostensibly acting like the leaders they're supposed to be, which only makes the base demand MORE purity and MORE primary punishment to those who fail the "purity test," which puts pressure on the leaders to kiss the base's collective ass even more, and no one knows who is the mad doctor and who is the creature because they're all dressed like the townspeople brandishing torches and pitchforks and demanding the head of the monster who walks freely among them.
Wow! Clutch those pearls any harder and they may disintegrate.
Everyone needs to stand up to these political kamikaze terrorists. Say NO. Don't give an inch. We out number them. Make the Grand Old Obstructionists extinct.
I favor the latter. As Carney said, the GOP has 2 choices - pay the bills for money already spent, or default. NO wiggle room, put up or shut up.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't both options unconstitutional? As I understand it, Congress has to pay their bills. Isn't that the whole argument - that Obama will be forced to use the 14th Amendment to pay, then the R's will fuss about him overreaching his powers, then the RWNJ's will pontificate & clutch their pearls about the socialist Muslim who just proved that he wants to "ruin America" and become a dictator for life? (I think I hit on most of their talking points.)
A) Give in to mindless brinkmanship
B) Pay no mind to mindlessness
C) B
I tend to agree- Obama is pushing the Republicans to do what they're obligated to do and is, thankfully, refusing to bail their sorry asses out yet again.
The Republicans went into the 'fiscal cliff' thinking that Obama was going to (as he had before) ride to the rescue with a plan they would pass in a moment, but spend months haranguing the president for on Faux news.
After years of that bulls**t, it is good to see Obama use the bully pulpit of the Presidency to force the issues back where they belong- on the idiots who drove us into this ditch to begin with.
It's time they face up to WHAT THEY HAVE DONE. Also... I have said it many times before... If you hate gevernment... DON'T "WORK" THERE! They are clueless, destructive and dangerous.
The time is now. Reveal these terrorists and don't back down.
Well no matter what happens Obama still has the authority of the office. Congress has the power of the purse and he has the power of the pen.
If the republicans want to play kiddy games they can and the President can just Veto or decline to sign anything that comes out of Congress.
He also has the power of the military and while he can't just order base closures he can order the Pentagon to come up with a base realignment plan that shifts personnel out of particularly problematic districts.
That is a threat that congress would take very very seriously because without the people the local economy would disintegrate.
That is some class A brinkmanship you are offering up today as a response to the same . What was that saying about "An eye for an eye" leading into the peace of the blind .
This is the thing about it. As much as I hate to offer obstruction for obstruction you have to look at it not just in short term tactics but long term strategy.
Obama needs to consider the ability of the country to be governable and right now we are being held hostage by a bunch of tea party hijackers and wealth wing of the GOP. They need to be dragged back to reality kicking and screaming if necessary.
With the Congressional districts gerrymandered the way they are I don't see that happening without any pressure being directly applied to the base.
I don't see it as poking them in the eye as dragging them into the light of the 21st century.
Even voters in gerrymandered districts want to stay employed. It is time to make them own the candidate they elect. Elections have consequences.
The thing about gerrymandered districts is that a lot of them are changing color due to the increase in minority voters and younger voters. I suspect that in a generation, a lot of them will have changed from red to blue. Whether or not we can survive as a nation until that happens is another story.
Obama:
"You ran up these bills, and you will have to pay them. How is entirely up to you. I will be here for the next four years. In two years, you may not. How you deal with 2014 is entirely up to you.."
All the deficit is not the fault of the President. Congress has to appropriate all money. Article I Section 8 of the constitution says "The Congress shall have Power to lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Impost and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States....". So, it is the responsibility of the Congress to provide the monies for the executive branch to carry out the will of the Congress.
The congress holds the purse strings. These are bills for spending the congress has already passed. And in case you haven't noticed, the president is president for the next four years. You need a civics class.
For what it's worth, I agree that (b) is true: this does ratchet up pressure on the GOP, by taking away their escape hatch.
The question is, is that worth the risk that they'll fail to raise the ceiling anyway?
It's a pretty damned big risk. And the losers wouldn't be either Congress or the President, but our economy and the many people who would be harmed by the effect of Congress' failure to raise the ceiling.
In the inside-the-Beltway discussions, the millions of unemployed people have dropped off everyone's radar. Their hard times have ceased to matter to too many of the players in D.C.
The people who would bear the brunt of the GOP's failure to pass a debt ceiling extension (who would be a lot of those same people, plus a whole bunch of others) have apparently become equally invisible. Their hardships would be Acceptable Collateral Damage, apparently, since all that matters in our stunted discourse is which of our government's alpha males makes the other blink - or not.
-Emerson, Lake, and Palmer
I think that is one of the most difficult dilemmas about most issues these days: what is good for the country in the long run is to force a change in the irresponsibility of the current Republican party, but in the short run the ways of doing that require allowing real harm to come to real Americans. you can't ever get to the long run good without doing short run harm.
Put differently, Republicans have formed a habit of politics by hostage taking. Their goals and policy objectives would be very bad for the country, so the Democrats have two horrible choices: give in and accede to policies that harm the country (likely more medium and long term), or don't give in and let them shoot the hostage -- the American economy (an immediate harm). Democrats who care more about governing and good government, that is, they care more about the hostage, are forever negotiating from a position of weakness because in a hostage situation the actor who cares the least has the most leverage. No one wants to see this hostage harmed, but we also know that negotiating with hostage takers encourages future hostage taking.
As difficult as it is, as harmful as it is, if anything is ever going to change the Democrats may have to allow the Republicans to inflict short term harm on working class American families -- and pray that everyone understands who the real guilty party is. I'm not sure in the long run it makes much difference to the families who will be economically wiped out by daring Republicans to collapse the economy: paying the Republicans' ransom will destroy those families through a thousand cuts anyway. The odds are better that you dare the Republicans to shoot and someone on their own side brings them to their senses before they do it (Wall Street, most likely).
One of the uncomfortable truths about being human is that we can't prevent every disaster. You do the best you can, and if someone is dead set on driving into the side of a cliff, you just get as many passengers as you can out first.
So maybe they don't raise the ceiling and the economy takes it in the shorts. Not much question of whose fingerprints are on that then, is there? In the long run, maybe we end up with a wiser electorate.
One of the uncomfortable truths about being human is that we can't prevent every disaster.
But we should try to prevent the biggest ones. If the GOP wants to shut the government down on March 27, that's their business. But that's a conventional weapon. Refusing to raise the debt ceiling is a nuke.
if i were satisfied as to the amount of steel in obama's backbone, and if i believed that the present majority party in the house of representatives was generally composed of sane, logical people, i'd prefer option 2, but i'm a long way from being satisfied or believing.
Every time I see a Republican speaking about the debt ceiling, they float the idea of the "Norquist pressure-valve", increasing the debt ceiling in very small increments that require the White House to repeatedly ask for more, presumably giving up small cuts each time or at least keeping this issue in the forefront and preventing them from pursuing any other agendas for the next two years.
Whatever else you think of Norquist, the fact that he had to abandon his signature issue of tax rate increases in the face of certain defeat, but still remains the party's budget policy czar is impressive. It really speaks to the intellectual bankruptcy of the party.
Corporate shyster America must be factored into this. This credit default b.s. would be very bad for business. They aren't going to stand by pacing and hand wringing hoping the crappy, idiotic, posturing, hostage taking r's will have mercy on them and not trash the economy.
Obama will stand his ground. Let the corporate contingent tell the pouting r's what for. And it's a fine reason for letting EVERYBODY know that the coin is off the table, and it ain't gonna make an appearance to make life easy for the crappy r's or their corporate puppet masters.
Exactly, Steve. Well said.
We all know what the Republicans will do - that isn't the issue. The question is how the rest of the country will react.
If the debt ceiling isn't raised, and Obama uses the coin option, the pressure is on him. The "sensible center" (including the self-proclaimed moderate Democrats) will condemn him for using gimmicks instead of confronting the country's problems etc. The rest of the country won't care, because the bills will keep being paid. Politically it's an awful position to be in.
If the debt ceiling isn't raised, and Obama renounces the coin option, the pressure is on the Republicans. Financial markets will collapse, retired people won't get their SS checks - the country certainly will sit up and take notice. Politically it's a huge win.
Politics ain't beanbag.
I agree generally, but that does still require the Democrats (from Obama to both chambers to the DNC and affiliated issue groups and Governors) to be better at messaging than they traditionally have been.
An apathetic, underinformed public has to be educated to understand that the debt ceiling pertains to spending Congress itself already has done -- they went out and bought a lot of Christmas presents, sent the bills to the Treasury, and now they want to tell Obama he isn't allowed to pay those bills. All Obama is doing is telling Congress if you keep buying things, whether to pay for them or skip out on your bills is entirely your call, and you have to deal with the consequences. But the public has to place the blame, and keep free from blame, the right political actors or it gets us nowhere. That is a lot of faith in Democratic messaging given that it has only seemed to be working in the past 2 years or so out, plus 2 out of the Clinton era, of the last 35.
That's just not true. He will give them cover for backing off the debt ceiling hostage-taking, and it won't be good for the less fortunate.
There is an Option C, which is that The Obomination will cave. History indicates that this is the most likely scenario.
On the days when my depression lifts I remind myself that Obama likely thinks he's suppose to be President of all Americans.
It was a nice fantasy but he should know better by now, lunatics don't recognize the "common good" .
The Republican self-destruction is going to be (is?) messy but I'm willing to stand the pain to get rid of them.
My bet is doesn't cave this time.
perhaps they'll now create a reasoned, mature plan that benefits people beyond themselves
lol. What flavor of kool-aid have you been drinking?
The R-bagsofsht will blame Obama, because lying is their modus operandi, the rich will make zillions "shorting" the economy during a predictable crisis, a la hedge funds. And the poor can either "self-deport" or die.
What percentage of gov spending goes to PERA? Do folks get what they pay in to a pension + interest? or do they get 10,000 times back regardless?
I do not trust the Republicans to do the right thing...too many nut jobs in the Tea Party who do not know a thing about governing this Nation.
I do not understand why Obama will not use the 14th Amendment or declare this a matter of utmost National Security - which it is!! Our National Security depends on us paying our bills and every body in the World needs to know this.
This is losing stanch for the GOP to take. I hope all of the Business Leaders and most of Wall Street comes to the House and beats them over the head with a whiffle ball bat and tell them to stop acting like cry babies!!
Our National Security is in more long term danger if we allow continuing hostage taking over the debt ceiling IMHO. Either we let them own it, or they will continue to do this every time they can.
The Possibilities and Not Hard to See:
Let's refresh the past actions, positions, events, campaigns and every prognostication of Republicans, et al, including enablers, funders and founders of the 'generalized' opposition machinery.
Where in any of these activities and positions etc. have the Republicans ever compromised or stood back from some strongly held position, posturing in front of some irrational, erratic and delusional choice of inflexible ideology?
There are none that when striped of circus atmosphere do anything that peel the onion hiding procrastination, obfuscation and delay. Deep in their strategy and execution is the programmatic integration of all the layers of misdirection possible. Yes and No are never single words, delivered honestly and trust and finality. It is yes-but … and no-but …, and the lengthy fight another day runaround that would prevent the number one and one from ever combining to form a concluding number two.
The Republican brand is to say No, say yes while saying No, and to make it a decadal and lifelong goal of arguing death to a heap of cold ashes.
Yet among the culture of youth (media's step children) where hope is cultivated to spreading eternal from the ruins of one wasted opportunity after another disaster, the slim bitter green sprout brings tattered ruined hopes back from death door. Spring arrives when it needs to start again, but blackened ashen Earth will mark spring each year exactly the shade it was for all the last years.
Now hope again, beg the Republican to come to their senses, to compromise all that they have built, go ahead wave them on to see the very responsibilities that they have chosen as weapons to be used as a balm, flag them high above the patriot graves, and encourage them to again join the people. The people who wanted and then made democracy, to melded a constitutional republic to make democracy work, a nation pledged to laws that they had written themselves against the savagery of the armed mob, against the ease of corruption and above all to make laws that protected them, their livelihood and their way of government. Yet like Patrick Henry modern day Republican opposes the United States Constitution, fearing that it endangered the rights of the States as well as the freedoms of individuals. The Republican path is obscured, with thorny vines, and rapacious poison ivy, slippery rocks, and missing steps, rotting eye logs and upturned nails, but once stripped clean it is just one revolution that does little more than plan for an another revolution. Revolutions unfulfilled have little meaning, but revolutions leading to revolutions into nowhere there are a potential disaster.
Now given that view, why anyone would let Republicans run with a pair of sharp scissors, along a slippery wall, high above the cliff. Yet we do so thinking that they will in their madness come to their senses, to the rational thing, put down the flailing arms and cease speaking in tongues. We do so again and again, thinking the circus not real, the posturing mere acting, the word idle games of scrabble. Of course this does not work, but depending op the mad to see the madness, is fatally hope full.
Now the plan now is to allow Republicans to run free to choose, hoping for rationality, again, but knowing Republicans wish to end government, wish to end civilized social programs, and wish to recruit misled armed camps? Knowing Republicans have ramped to the inflammatory rhetoric. If, if and if the government can be brought down (that's why you need and army). If the economic system can be used to assure the collapse of government it can be done. If lawlessness ensures then it is apparent that food stuffs, fuel, infrastructure can be commandeered by small arms. If even the regular Army is awakened we know that it can only secure major centers, but not the vast economic network. The most significant assets to commandeered is fuel, but used to immobilize the unarmed. If stopped the unarmed locals, will be but prey to the armed (food stuffs you recall). As can see the old civil defense plans of the 1950's are good guide. Once the killing stops, by death or low ammunition, a government of a sort will resume but by then the constitution will be history.
To counter balance such a well know scenario, we have only to have more hope and more faith in Republicans, but I challenge you to identify any Republican proposal that sweeps aside their well-known history of fomenting perpetual revolution. The idea of perpetual revolution has been seen and seen as failed, with no end to the bloodletting, and I might add no one take responsibility in any direction.
In most parts of the world, those parts not natural blessed with resources as America, these sorts of political debates are ended sooner than later, but in America it takes a long time to destroy that much natural wealth that sustains our political laziness. We can go four years without attending to the economy, and we can make plans to go for one, two or four more years, without attending to the economy, it even is possible to work against ourselves far longer and further damage the economy. That future is not clear, but that is because whatever it may be it will not look like today, and it seems that things will change vastly, but will we be the architect of that future or be just be satisfied to rebuild shanties from the ruins of shattered mansions.
To avoid making mistakes do nothing, to become better at fixing mistakes, make some, and fixed them while the problems are small, but to ruin everything make no efforts to fix things as they go wrong.
The coin was a great idea. The public buys up coins from the mint quickly. Guess Washington doesn't want to make easy money. Hmmmm Sooo, they will do everything the hard way.
Nobody buys the coin. It is deposited in the Federal Reserve in the same account that tax income is and will be deposited. Then, when a bill comes due, the bill gets paid out of that same account. The receiver of that payment then goes out and spends it, because it is in fact real money.
The same frequently thing happens when you take out a mortgage. When you get a loan, the fed sends the bank the 200K to finance your mortgage. That 200K may not have ever existed until the fed wrote the check. The seller gets a check for 200K, and spends it like real money, because it is real money.
The thing I find really tiring in the fiscal cliff debate and now the debt ceiling debate is all the talk about whose fault it is. Democrats repeatedly justify their actions by exclaiming that the public will blame the Republicans if we go over the fiscal cliff. The Republicans keep maneuvering to avoid that blame.
How about this. Democrats stop worrying about the next election. The Republicans continue to have the upper hand if you keep playing the blame game. And right now they have the upper hand. The President has unilaterally taken Babe Ruth out of the lineup and replaced him Mark Belanger. The coin and the 14th amendment was like having Babe Ruth on your bench, an opportunity to keep the other team "honest", force them to pitch. If they want cuts, fine. Tell us what they are or shut up. Take Ruth off your bench, the only chance you have with Belanger is to bunt.
The only thing that matters to voters is to tell them what you want to do, openly and honestly. When the Republicans throw out false data, challenge them. When the press claims equivalency, challenge it. Demand the truth and tell the truth.
By all credible accounts, the coin will work. Keep it on the table. If that makes the Republicans fold, then the debt ceiling is raised and move on. If they insist on cuts to the poor and the middle class, then just mint it. Let them take it court, in the meantime, the ceiling is not an issue.
The coin will not harm the economy, money is created out of thin air all the time. But the coin is tangible, and by using it, or even threatening it's use a symbolic message would be sent to the Republicans.
http://www.leftinalabama.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=10374
I wonder how long it will take Congress to act once they realize that their paychecks are part of the problem? I'm thinking that they might even work a full workweek once they realize they won't get paid.
Don't consider the gopers to be a single group. They are as splintered as the Democrats ever were what with the Wall St. financiers, the tea party, the blue collar male workers, and some of the christianists. They all have different goals priorities and some of them are at cross purposes with others. When you talk about the gopers, be specific about which group is under consideration and how big it is in comparison with the opposed groups. Even the congressional gopers realize that the primary voters in their districts are the ones they answer to, and Wall St. financial contributors come in second. There are enough wealthy knuckleheads (Koch's, Norcross) to make up for the loss of Wall St. money at the district level.