Apr 18, 2023·edited Apr 18, 2023Liked by Robert Reich
I agree, Bob. Raising the debt limit is not negotiable. PERIOD. Discussions about the debt limit should be completely separate from talks concerning the annual budget and budget deficit. We can not be held hostage by Republicans who want to conflate debt with deficits. Simply irresponsible!
The American people have to realize that this subversive terrorist organization called the Republican Party cares nothing about fiscal responsibility or any other of our national interests. Making sure the current Democratic administration fails always takes priority over our national interests.
Republicans are the ultimate not invented here folks. If they cant take credit for it they dont want it. The current proposed "cuts" are sickening since republicans always attack the poor for later tax cuts for the rich. Its getting blood from a stone and they and their big donor constiuents dont care. Why would they? They never interface with the trully desperate in their lives.
As the new book by Desmond (2023) makes clear, it is about "POVERTY, by America." Desmond calls for Poverty Abolition, like in Abolitionists rising up (as they did against Slavery), to abolish American Poverty. The Scandinavian
Countries did so after WWII ... American Poverty Abolitionists need to step up and do it.
The debt ceiling is a constant source of concern for this country. Not being from the political arena I to worry about what would happen if the payment went into default. Question: who do we owe money to and how much to each do we owe. What exactly would take place if we did hold off on a payment? Besides us who would feel the pinch from not receiving their money? What countries have we aided for one reason or another then charged nothing for our assistance regardless of the expense to this country. Who helped rebuild Europe after WWII, who comes to the aid of other Democracies with military help when the occasion arises. Yes we have been called the world's sheriff but at what cost? Maybe it's time to balance the books and have those who we have borrowed money from credit the accounts for our past assistance. Who comes to the aid of any country in need of help from a national disaster, without a question as to how we will be repaid. The national debt isn't an account that we just keep paying on even as we incur more indebtedness. It's an unsustainable situation, and sooner or later something will have to happen which will involve the United States reneging on our responsibility to pay. When you get a sliver in your foot, it's an annoyance and you just sort of live with but as time goes on it becomes more and more painful until finally it becomes infected. Prior to the onset of gaseous gangrene the decision to remove the foreign object is made, no matter how painful the extraction process is you know the removal is mandatory. At what point do we face the fact that the national debt has to be handled in a manner other than just bleeding out annual payments to other countries that in many ways owe us money that they never intend to repay.
No small wonder that this terrorist organization (as you so aptly refer to it) finds favor with the Russian oligarchy. And Jake Tapper agrees with the negotiation strategy that balks at raising the deadbeat ceiling.
If McCarthy would promise to support eliminating all of the tac breaks the the GOP gave to large Corporations and the rich, right now then that would be leadership but he cant say that because he is a leader in name only!!!
Al someone should stand up and say hey Mr. Fake Speaker of the House,,McCarthy what the hell is you plan,,,you ain't got none your just full of hot air.
You're right on the money Al, there is a real lack of leadership in Washington. Most of our illustrious leaders are bought and paid for. They are more interested in being reelected and keeping the special interests happy than making difficult decisions that might not be popular but would actually be the right decision for our nation.
Refusing to raise the debt is a way to forcefully question the full faith and credit of the United States. Arguably that is unconstitutional (article IV, section 1).
Paul, yes, and when in the past few decades have Republicans cared about the Constitution? They regularly "rewrite" it to try to match it to their personal beliefs and the money they want to accumulate for themselves and their donors. They even appoint judges and justices who will go along with whatever nonsense Republicans can come up with, even citing pre-United States biased men to support their specious arguments. When the media is on board with them, it is hard to fight the nonsense, but we have to anyway.
I find myself regularly yelling into the void at the tv even when I'm watching PBS NewsHour which I always thought was tell it like it is reporting although with a liberal lean. Their "both sidedness" reporting is irritating but at least there's Johnathan Capehart to counter David Brooks on Fridays to set the record straight. I get infuriated when they have financial analysts talking about the economy and inflation and not a single one is talking about monopolies, price fixing and corporations price gouging under the guise of inflation just because they can. I did hear an NPR Planet Money story recently about tacit collusion in the ice cream world. https://www.npr.org/2023/02/17/1157773622/the-team-at-planet-money-has-the-scoop-on-tacit-collusion
Eileen, I became frustrated with "News Hour" too because the fake balancing act got to me after a while. I am now reading a book that explains how journalist bias or media owner bias gets translated into what "seems" to be balance when it is often using the "integrity" of the source to push or let slide through the personal leanings of those involved. The book is "What the Fact, Finding the Truth in All the Noise" by Seema Yasmin. The "blanace" even in reputable sources is actually giving certain viewpoints far more weight than they deserve, as though an equal number of experts/scientists/analysts support both sides or all sides of an argument. They rarely do, so when giving them equal time gives the side with the least factual support a rating as though it is the truth. We the People need to demand more of our media and on a regular basis. We the People also need to see just how much we are being manipulated and shaped as those who have power and those who run our media want us to be. The current example Prof. Reich presented today is a good example. There may be two sides putting words out there, but only one is true and honest. There is no legitimate negotiation over the debt ceiling since it is money we already owe and that we must pay back. There are no deals to be made, no playing with the lives of poor and disadvantaged people. In fact, there should be no debt ceiling at all. Debt is debt and it is time Republicans start acting like adults who have responsibilities to do the job they were hired for. They need to work if they are to be paid, and they are right now, not working very hard, probably not as hard as the poor people they are trying to remove from public support.
Beautifully stated, Ruth. News should be all about the truth and reported with the proper perspective. It should never be about equally balancing all perspectives.
Well said Ruth... increasingly i see the media we all consume, CNN, NYT, PBS as the real enemy here. Their message is controlled by the advertisers or donors and not by what is in the best interest of those consuming it.
It has always seemed strange to me that while the Constitution makes it extremely difficult to enact amendments, with buy-in from Congress and the states, somehow these nine unelected judges on the Supreme Court can warp its meaning on a whim. It takes only five of them to agree on even radical changes.
Arguably, the power to declare legislation unconstitutional is not a power that the Constitution gives to the Court. The Court itself declared it had that right in the 1803 ruling in Marbury v Madison. I've heart that Thomas Jefferson was quite upset by the ruling.
What we can do to influence the mainstream media is use our voices to introduce a fresh idea into the national narrative: Remove and Replace Speaker McCarthy.
Let me explain. It's clear that there will never be 218 Republican votes to raise the debt ceiling. Therefore, an alliance of mainstream Republicans and Democrats will have to form a bipartisan majority to do it. When that happens they should also use the power of their majority to remove McCarthy as Speaker via a motion to vacate the chair. Electing a new moderate Republican Speaker who owes nothing to the MAGA extremists would marginalize that obstructionist minority faction, and would likely prevent a government shutdown in the Fall as well.
How do we introduce this idea to the MSM? It's called citizen activism -- good old-fashioned personal contact in the form of phone calls, emails, letters-in-envelopes, social media, anything you can think of -- all directed at select writers, TV personalities, and Members of the House of Representatives.
I represent a network of ordinary citizens who have been opposed to Kevin McCarthy becoming Speaker since early last December, and we've been working to see him replaced ever since. We are urging both moderate Republicans and Democratic leaders to take this step. (Learn more at https://www.FeathersOfHope.net)
It's a big ask, so we need influential media personalities to devote a TV segment, or a newspaper column, or a Substack post to the subject in order to build public support. Politicians want to know that voters have their backs before they do something so bold.
I've personally written to Dr. Reich 3 times asking that he devote a post on this site discussing this proposal. At https://www.FeathersOfHope.net you can find contact info for both media and 17 House Members we are trying to influence.
If you want to actually do something, not just talk about it, join us!
I add your name to both Roberts and Heathers as a recipient of the “Nobel Peace of Mind Prize”.
I do not speak for others, but reading your very solid proposals both energize me and blow me away with dread. This is because at 77 and with Chronic Lyme I do not pretend to be an activist. In my heart but not in my body. I want to thank you again for the very real opportunities you are presenting to the American public to help guide them in becoming a use to our country.
You and they are our heroes. I hope our vision isn’t so blinded by dread that we can’t move forward. Every once in a lifetime just one conviction of a criminal helps us believe in our system. And I am talking about the “Cartels” of shameless , unaccountable , criminals who are spreading in so many directions in our society that even the DOJ or the Supreme Court hasn’t truly stood up for America or American citizens who want Change for a decent government.
I know this does not help in any way. But until we know how embedded this criminalization in all our societal structures is we cannot in truth go forward. Wearing out the citizenship works for those who need to have power by tyranny.
Robert and Heather are both heroes of mine, as is Jessica Craven (ChopWoodCarryWater.substack.com) and Jay Kuo (statuskuo.substack.com). But I wouldn't begin to equate my efforts with theirs. They are royalty and I'm just a worker bee.
But I will repeat what I've often said before: "We are the activists who knock on doors, make phone calls, distribute literature, sit through endless meetings, march in the street, write letters, register voters, and also bring in the pizzas, mop the floors and turn out the lights at the end of the day. We are the blood that flows through the veins of our system of government, bringing oxygen to all who speak reverently of liberty and justice for all."
We also want to contact writers and broadcasters to get people talking about this proposal (especially RobertReich@substack.net who endorsed the idea in January). Also, we need to make follow-up calls in a week or so to remind the House Members. Most of us who've done this kind of work before know that you have to keep at it. Persistence promotes persuasion.
I like your thinking Jerry. The fly in the ointment is "minority". Nationwide the MAGA movement is a minority. Maybe even in the Republican party as a whole. But in THIS House of Representatives, among the elected Republicans they are a majority. You may be able to get an alliance of minority Republicans and a majority of Democrats; but when it comes to renaming a Speaker of the House you'll be back where we were in January 2023. You will probably succeed in getting rid of McCarthy; but his replacement will be from even worse maggots. Think Gaetz, Jordan, or even Greene.
All members of the House vote for Speaker, not just Republicans. The fly in the ointment last January, when this also could have been done, is the Democrats voting as a bloc for Hakeem Jeffries for Speaker.
At the time, that made some sense since there was a new Democratic leadership team and the party needed to demonstrate its united support for them. That was then, this is now.
There are 435 members of the House of Representatives. Best guess is that about 40 are hard-core MAGA, and about 100 are allies. The 75-80 remaining Republicans are more or less moderate. Like the Democrats, they voted with their party on the first days of the new 118th Congress. Many represent swing districts, and some are personally contemptuous of the extremists who attack moderates as RINO's. There's also lingering resentment from senior Members who were passed over for plum committee assignments which were traded away by McCarthy in exchange for their votes (e.g., Jordan, Greene).
It's extremely unlikely that there would be 218 votes today for any of the radicals, especially Gaetz who even refused to vote for McCarthy in January. A bipartisan majority that has enough votes to pass a debt limit increase would also have enough votes to pass a motion to vacate and to elect a moderate Republican Speaker.
Frankly, the bigger problem may be getting Democrats on board, which is why we're contacting all the new and old Members of Democratic leadership as well as Republican moderates.
Agreed. Except for the number of maggots. I think it is closer to 140. But you are still correct. If you could get the Republicans to agree on a non-maggot, a person of reasonable intellect and IF the maggots would also agree on that person, and Hakeem Jeffries rallied the Democrats to support this person. that would be great. but there's still that big IF. (:-)
We don't need the MAGA's to agree. A bipartisan majority needs only 218 votes total out of 435. The whole point of replacing McCarthy is to marginalize the MAGA faction.
The dept ceiling should never be questioned. This money already appropriated by congress. This is the same as you not paying your bills after you my made an agreement to purchase that product. The difference is that the U.S. government can pay any agreement that congress has obligated the govrnment to pay.
We are being held hostage by American so called” information “ forums calling themselves the media.
Every time the so called “major news outlets” tell their employees to put out false information they step into the shoes of those willing to hijack facts
I personally can’t read or watch most of the “anchors” blathering without any education at all. Do they not want to know anything? Morons really are without depth. One must feel sorry for them. But national and international information outlets that continue to spit out crap need to be held accountable. Are we truly this bored?
Do we truly feel so suffocated by the fumes of idiocy that we can’t get to the gas masks of the facts!?!?
Every day I try to rise above my feeling that a black cloud is hanging over me, following me, ready at any moment to drown us with venom.
My only savior is reading Robert and Heather. These two are National treasures and should be awarded the Nobel Peace of mind prize”!
The fact is, if the Republicans were so worried about reducing the deficit, they wouldn't keep passing tax cuts funded by fairy tales. They always cut taxes (twice under Reagan, twice under Bush, again under Trump), don't reduce spending on the programs they vilify but their base enjoys and then count on the very thing they mocked President Obama about for budgets to balance: hope.
If the gentleman from California and his allies are so worried about debt and deficits, they would use basic math, pass tax rates and spending when they control the houses that balances and not have to borrow and drive up debts when their fictional trickle-down funding never materializes. They ran up the debt spectacularly, so now Speaker McCarthy has to agree to sign the check for the credit card bill he and his went crazy running up. I'm so sick of seeing these hacks claim to be spending hawks: neither Reagan, Bush 43 nor Trump ever offered or achieved a balanced budget.
As for news media, it's amazing to see the pretzel logic and backward bending to provide false equivalency for Republicans incapable of doing basic math. They created woefully imbalanced budgets and now hold the nation hostage over paying the debts they ran up.
The Trump administration added a whopping $7 trillion to the national debt!
The Republicans have shown us over and over that they have no idea how to govern!
TRUMP’S ELECTION WAS GROUND ZERO!
Republican voters don’t want any part of a Republican party that looks anything like it did before 2016. Trump’s administration was a culmination of forty years of Republican attempts to get rid of taxes and regulations by insisting that anyone calling for business regulation and a basic social safety net was a socialist who wanted to redistribute tax dollars from hardworking white men to minorities and women. But the racism, sexism, and religion in that formula used to be the quieter undertones of the call for small government. Now, though, the party is openly embracing the replacement of democracy with a strong government that would make white Christian nationalism the law of the land.
A 'Strong ' Government with weak, oppressed slaves who have no rights and very little security, living in a police state with limited education and pretend voting, if any voting at all.
At this rate we might find ourselves a Russian satellite before we know it. Thanks Laura for that picture. The fact is we need to see that. We need to understand that. We need to oppose that and we need to do something about that.
We need to vote blue in 2024 and well beyond for every office from dog catcher to president.
“...with limited education” being the keystone! From that, one adds greed, self-interest, intolerance, mistrust, discrimination & exclusion and you have the Arch of Anarchy right there!
I disagree, they can’t even be “good citizens”! They have have no idea how to govern and they don’t give a flying rats ass! They want chaos so ppl don’t realize how rich they are getting!
True Marg K J ; They rule by chaos and distraction! All those balls in the air at once, committing crimes simultaneously and constantly, with a snail for 'justice'!
And remember, the Republican's mantra is that "government is the problem" which gives them a powerful incentive to govern poorly. I also agree with those that say Republicans don't have the competence to govern well even if they wanted to.
They do not know how to govern. They do not know how to work . They know how to lie , to waste their employers money , and to carve out insidiously damaging narrative. They are ( they prove it every day as tho’ proud of their ignorance), they are brazen criminals and hopelessly ignorant.
Is that who you want representing you to the world.?
They do know how to raise the debt level however and they have a lot of practice in doing so. It gives them something to complain about when a Democratic administration takes over.
Robert, I must disagree. Governing in a democracy requires lawmakers to take into account the needs of the people, all the people, not just the rich ones who will help those lawmakers become richer and their donations increase. Republicans have deliberately put up for office people who are inept and who want the power more than the work. Republicans may have a general idea of what it means to govern, but they don't use that knowledge except to help them figure out what they can stand against and what level of sabotage they may try to use. This debt ceiling insanity on the part of Republican leaders is part ignorance and a bigger part cruelty because the targeted people are poor and in other ways disadvantaged, of course. Kevvy McCarthy does not want to negotiate, just to "own the libs." He wouldn't know how to negotiate if it came up and bit him. The media whining their balance, are playing bad parent to Kevvy and the rest of the Republican toddler-adults.
Old story. Not raising the debt limit is like refusing to pay debts you've already made. It's pathetic. And as mentioned above Republicans don't care for fiscal responsibility at all, in my eyes they build huge deficits on purpose to have a means to extort Democrats once they ein the presidency.
What skills at governance are needed when only the name of a lobbyist is needed when voting up or down on a Bill. "Wait what? Who is backing it? Rich company lobbyist number 2? Oh yeah hes a donor. I approve of this Bill"
Everything is to their liking they dont need to make any changes save for more tiny adjustments to the less taxes more benefits to wealthy and corporations. All of their dog whistle issues are intended to be low cost high visibility. Its lip service made manifest.
Well yes they know exactly how to govern as fascists under the arm of the Catholic pope and the Evangelical nut cases. No I'm not disparaging Catholics or evangelicals but I am talking about their leaders who have a dictatorial personality problem.
Our government has to remain functionally agnostic. Favoritism for one religion is discrimination on all the others. Dennis Praguer who has gone off the conservative deep end had a good book called Think a second time (he should practice what he preaches). What he describes in there is that there are things that are generally considered immoral and other things that one religion would consider immoral but the group does not. Something that a religion considers immoral but not the group should be considered unholy but not immoral. Government should be based on what we altogether consider immoral, NOT what some consider unholy. In thay way we can have consensis amoungst agnostics, catholics, judaism, muslims, evangelicals.l, etc.
Whomever. Just because one religion is batsh*t crazy doesnt mean we have to adapt what it considers unholy as law.
They DO govern and THAT is the problem! Consider the fact that Mitch McConnell has governed as if he were President with veto power over the House, the Senate and the President. Our Constitution has permitted him and his rabid right-wing cronies that astronomical power. Our Constitution permits that because its time and its authors were men (alas poor white male supremacists, we've known them well) of good will (alas good will, we thought it would prevail) and good faith (alas faith in the decency and good will of human beings, it died for lack of sustenance). So the DO govern but only out of their single-minded and loathsome lust for power and riches for themselves. They do not govern their own base, ugly, destructive and just plain stupid impulses and for that, the rest of us suffer.
In case the rest of you don't read your fellow citizens' yard signs or garage banners and pickup truck flags, you might not know that a favorite slogan of the so-called MAGA mob is "Make liberals cry."
Well, in some of us, those MAGA midget-minded fascists are getting their wish; we are crying, but the tears are for our country. The question is, why isn't every American crying.
If Kevin McCarthy REALLY wants to avert default on the debt ceiling and the fiscal calamity that it will bring down on the nation, he’d round up the mere half-dozen of the most moderate members of his caucus needed, the ones who genuinely despise the radicals leading him around by a ring in his nose, and join with the Democrats to raise the ceiling (since the bill cannot be brought to the House floor without the Speaker’s assent).
But McCarthy is interested only in being Speaker — much in the way that George W. Bush wanted to be elected president without much enthusiasm for actually BEING president once the Supreme Court, acting in an arena in which it actually had no legal authority, handed him the presidency — not in serving the interests of the nation or, for the most part, his own constituents.
Your last paragraph applies to Tweedledum as well. He had no interest in actually governing other than easing oligarchic taxes (It costs a lot to be rich, y’know) while talking big on the world stage that position afforded him.
"If the mainstream media gets the debt ceiling wrong, how do we expect most Americans to get it right?"
By telling the truth: the national debt is NOT the same things as the deficit. Apparently, Jake Tapper et al haven't understood this. The debt includes the deficit, of course, but it also includes money Americans owe other Americans, so it's a nebulous concept that includes stuff like economic activity - so it can be a sign of economic activity.
The only thing you have to know is that throughout the 19th Century, at the peak of its wealth and power, Great Britain had a national debt that ran 150% of GDP, that's quite a bit higher than current US national debt. Yes, the Victorians ran a huge national debt, but kept their deficit under control.
The national debt is NOT a big deal. It's really depressing that this is even a news item. The "debt ceiling" is an artificial concept that goes up automatically because of inflation. It should be scrapped.
The problem is it's not understood by anyone what it actually IS, so it's kept as the useful scare tactic for manipulating the public as they need to. Nobody seems to have any way or DESIRE to get the public to understand what the real situation is, and those huge numbers are too useful to get rid of !
We’re not talking about the “national debt”, whatever that may be. We’re talking about the federal debt, which is the amount the federal government owes to various creditors.
Excellent post, but it also shows once again the urgent necessity for every elected Democrat to be all over all media explaining, elaborating, INFORMING the public.
This should be the Democratic talking points in response to all questions/ misinformation about the republican created “debt crisis”. Reich is so clear and strong. And start all responses by saying Rubbish! Or Baloney!😝
Republican donors hold the key cards. They don’t want the GOP to tank the economy and send their bottom lines into free fall. That’s why Dems have always been able to count on calling their bluffs to this point. Without huge billionaire and corporate donors, the GOP has NO nationwide leverage to keep power in the future.
Let’s do an end-around on this GOP game of chicken. Why don’t Dems in the Senate introduce a bill to eliminate the debt ceiling forever? It has never acted as anything but a political leverage tool since its inception. Force the House Republicans to vote against our nation’s solvency and see how their next elections turn out.
William Sterr ; The media also can profit from misinformation. Unsurprisingly, media are owned by very wealthy interests who usually side with the Republicans ; the party of grifters, cheaters and Supreme Court Stackers. the party of liars and election stealers. The party of Citizens United and dirty, often foreign money. The party that hates Democracy!
Regrettably, much of the electorate are unaware that Republicans, who campaign, and falsely claim they will govern, on a promise of fiscal responsibility, under a Democratic administration, conflate voting to raise the debt ceiling with spending money we don’t have. As media coverage indicates, we’ve done a lousy job of explaining 1) the immediate domestic and global consequences of the U.S. defaulting on its loan payments and 2) that raising the debt ceiling doesn’t give the government permission to borrow more money; it gives the government permission to pay back the money we’ve already borrowed.
As with other issues, I believe much of the responsibility rests with us to press our public representatives to drive this message home. Along these same lines, I believe it’s long past due that we recall Lincoln’s thoughts on “public sentiment,” which he advised “is everything,” further noting that “With it, nothing can fail; against it, nothing can succeed….”
Barbara you said a very understandable mouthful for us to commit to memory so we can spread the truth as often as possible to as many as possible “ we’ve done a lousy job of explaining 1) the immediate domestic and global consequences of the U.S. defaulting on its loan payments and 2) that raising the debt ceiling doesn’t give the government permission to borrow more money; it gives the government permission to pay back the money we’ve already borrowed.” Thank you.
Of course, The very wealthy's minions want to argue that it's the working class and the Democrats who are responsible for the 'debt ceiling'. The Republicans will try to use this to 'win' in 2024. Everybody 'knows' that "It's the economy, stupid" ; That lazy non-thinking knee jerk cop out brings the party that is raping our country back into power to rape it some more. The modest, urgently needed infrastructure bill passed by President Biden was overdue, and not really enough. The glaring reality of tRump's tax cuts for the billionaires are hardly mentioned, like 'Senior' justice Clarence Thomas' undeclared gifts from a Nazi loving benefactor. I hope Biden and the Democrats don't cave on this one. Instead of illegitimate investigations into Alvin Bragg, there should be an investigation into where George Santos' campaign money came from and the other three 'Congress members' he shared the dark money with, who also have questionable resumes. Was Congress stolen?
This is the fight over the debt ceiling: Republicans
want to tackle the deficit by CUTTING SPENDING on:
medicare/medicaid, affordable healthcare & social security( although I haven’t been able to figure out
exactly why social security has anything to do with
spending since it’s funded separately from the budget.)
In other words, the gop insists on making average Americans pay down the deficit by taking away our medicare/medicaid, affordable care, social security, SNAP nutritional supplements & school lunches, which to me, are the most basic necessities of life.
Democrats want to tackle the deficit, not by cutting spending, but by bringing in more money. We can do that by making corporations & the rich pay their taxes instead of sheltering income and using tax loopholes that are only available to wealthy people & corporations.
It’s important to note that republicans cater to big business, corporations & the wealthy because they
get huge campaign donations from them and for all we know, also get free vacations on luxury yachts.In other words, it’s preferable to republicans to force us to give up basic necessities of life so they can keep collecting huge campaign donations and free vacations or whatever, from corporations and rich people.
That’s it. Does that seem fair to you, because it doesn’t seem fair to me. The purpose of a democratic government isn’t to cater to the rich.
Although the republican party has been catering
to the rich for a decade or two, it has finally become
frighteningly obvious that’s what they’re doing--at our expense.
Susan Garrity Benton : Add everything you said to the taking away of basic rights, like health care for women and girls, and other oppression to discourage and demoralize voters, and that is the 'right's' strategy to 'win'. The female sex is the majority in this country. Majority rules!?
The current GOP are masters of disinformation, and the rest of us are terrible at counter arguments, or even getting the media to help out in positive ways. Are we doomed to this pyrric situation forever? I think if the GOP is successful, and our economy and our global credit suffer, the repercussions will be huge, and maybe will even finally indermine all the awful legislation that has been pushed through by the current GOP. Raising the "debt limit", more properly called the "deadbeat limit", as you say, Mr. Reich, is, indeed, imperative.
An article on exactly what would take place with the Treasury in default would be helpful. Readers need to know their money market accounts are held in treasuries and the global collapse that would follow.
Shouldn't we be expecting the current administration to be all over the media telling the truth??!
Why is the reporting on Biden about a jolly trip to Ireland, tears shed, overwrought hoopla - and malarkey! and meanwhile, back here at the ranch, all hell continues to break loose.
I saw Jamal Bowman on MSNBC tonight and was VERY impressed with him and was not previously much aware of him. That man has leadership qualities and the Democratic Party needs people with leadership qualities, attention to real issues and spines!
It's a good thing that you, at least, are calling out the media on their imputation of moral equivalence. Maybe we need a book on false equivalences and unjustified neutralities. Meanwhile, Scientific American brought out an excellent special issue "Truth vs Lies" in Fall 2022. Maybe someone should ask them to publish the material as a book, as Scientfiic American have done in the past with material from the magazine. Perhaps they should invite you as a special additional contributor on Political Economy!
I agree, Bob. Raising the debt limit is not negotiable. PERIOD. Discussions about the debt limit should be completely separate from talks concerning the annual budget and budget deficit. We can not be held hostage by Republicans who want to conflate debt with deficits. Simply irresponsible!
The American people have to realize that this subversive terrorist organization called the Republican Party cares nothing about fiscal responsibility or any other of our national interests. Making sure the current Democratic administration fails always takes priority over our national interests.
Republicans are the ultimate not invented here folks. If they cant take credit for it they dont want it. The current proposed "cuts" are sickening since republicans always attack the poor for later tax cuts for the rich. Its getting blood from a stone and they and their big donor constiuents dont care. Why would they? They never interface with the trully desperate in their lives.
The poor held hostage and the GOP makes sure that there will always be more hostages.
As the new book by Desmond (2023) makes clear, it is about "POVERTY, by America." Desmond calls for Poverty Abolition, like in Abolitionists rising up (as they did against Slavery), to abolish American Poverty. The Scandinavian
Countries did so after WWII ... American Poverty Abolitionists need to step up and do it.
A MetaEcon, here, as in Metaeconomics... Bing or Google it, you might like it!
The debt ceiling is a constant source of concern for this country. Not being from the political arena I to worry about what would happen if the payment went into default. Question: who do we owe money to and how much to each do we owe. What exactly would take place if we did hold off on a payment? Besides us who would feel the pinch from not receiving their money? What countries have we aided for one reason or another then charged nothing for our assistance regardless of the expense to this country. Who helped rebuild Europe after WWII, who comes to the aid of other Democracies with military help when the occasion arises. Yes we have been called the world's sheriff but at what cost? Maybe it's time to balance the books and have those who we have borrowed money from credit the accounts for our past assistance. Who comes to the aid of any country in need of help from a national disaster, without a question as to how we will be repaid. The national debt isn't an account that we just keep paying on even as we incur more indebtedness. It's an unsustainable situation, and sooner or later something will have to happen which will involve the United States reneging on our responsibility to pay. When you get a sliver in your foot, it's an annoyance and you just sort of live with but as time goes on it becomes more and more painful until finally it becomes infected. Prior to the onset of gaseous gangrene the decision to remove the foreign object is made, no matter how painful the extraction process is you know the removal is mandatory. At what point do we face the fact that the national debt has to be handled in a manner other than just bleeding out annual payments to other countries that in many ways owe us money that they never intend to repay.
What cuts? I’ve seen no budget from the right.
True. Oppositional defiancy does not count as a budget.
No small wonder that this terrorist organization (as you so aptly refer to it) finds favor with the Russian oligarchy. And Jake Tapper agrees with the negotiation strategy that balks at raising the deadbeat ceiling.
If McCarthy would promise to support eliminating all of the tac breaks the the GOP gave to large Corporations and the rich, right now then that would be leadership but he cant say that because he is a leader in name only!!!
Al someone should stand up and say hey Mr. Fake Speaker of the House,,McCarthy what the hell is you plan,,,you ain't got none your just full of hot air.
You're right on the money Al, there is a real lack of leadership in Washington. Most of our illustrious leaders are bought and paid for. They are more interested in being reelected and keeping the special interests happy than making difficult decisions that might not be popular but would actually be the right decision for our nation.
Refusing to raise the debt is a way to forcefully question the full faith and credit of the United States. Arguably that is unconstitutional (article IV, section 1).
Paul, yes, and when in the past few decades have Republicans cared about the Constitution? They regularly "rewrite" it to try to match it to their personal beliefs and the money they want to accumulate for themselves and their donors. They even appoint judges and justices who will go along with whatever nonsense Republicans can come up with, even citing pre-United States biased men to support their specious arguments. When the media is on board with them, it is hard to fight the nonsense, but we have to anyway.
I find myself regularly yelling into the void at the tv even when I'm watching PBS NewsHour which I always thought was tell it like it is reporting although with a liberal lean. Their "both sidedness" reporting is irritating but at least there's Johnathan Capehart to counter David Brooks on Fridays to set the record straight. I get infuriated when they have financial analysts talking about the economy and inflation and not a single one is talking about monopolies, price fixing and corporations price gouging under the guise of inflation just because they can. I did hear an NPR Planet Money story recently about tacit collusion in the ice cream world. https://www.npr.org/2023/02/17/1157773622/the-team-at-planet-money-has-the-scoop-on-tacit-collusion
Eileen, I became frustrated with "News Hour" too because the fake balancing act got to me after a while. I am now reading a book that explains how journalist bias or media owner bias gets translated into what "seems" to be balance when it is often using the "integrity" of the source to push or let slide through the personal leanings of those involved. The book is "What the Fact, Finding the Truth in All the Noise" by Seema Yasmin. The "blanace" even in reputable sources is actually giving certain viewpoints far more weight than they deserve, as though an equal number of experts/scientists/analysts support both sides or all sides of an argument. They rarely do, so when giving them equal time gives the side with the least factual support a rating as though it is the truth. We the People need to demand more of our media and on a regular basis. We the People also need to see just how much we are being manipulated and shaped as those who have power and those who run our media want us to be. The current example Prof. Reich presented today is a good example. There may be two sides putting words out there, but only one is true and honest. There is no legitimate negotiation over the debt ceiling since it is money we already owe and that we must pay back. There are no deals to be made, no playing with the lives of poor and disadvantaged people. In fact, there should be no debt ceiling at all. Debt is debt and it is time Republicans start acting like adults who have responsibilities to do the job they were hired for. They need to work if they are to be paid, and they are right now, not working very hard, probably not as hard as the poor people they are trying to remove from public support.
Beautifully stated, Ruth. News should be all about the truth and reported with the proper perspective. It should never be about equally balancing all perspectives.
Well said Ruth... increasingly i see the media we all consume, CNN, NYT, PBS as the real enemy here. Their message is controlled by the advertisers or donors and not by what is in the best interest of those consuming it.
I guarantee you, most of those you speak of do not know what the Constitution says. Period.
We are surrounded by uneducated cartel bullies. That is all.
It has always seemed strange to me that while the Constitution makes it extremely difficult to enact amendments, with buy-in from Congress and the states, somehow these nine unelected judges on the Supreme Court can warp its meaning on a whim. It takes only five of them to agree on even radical changes.
Arguably, the power to declare legislation unconstitutional is not a power that the Constitution gives to the Court. The Court itself declared it had that right in the 1803 ruling in Marbury v Madison. I've heart that Thomas Jefferson was quite upset by the ruling.
And yet, what do we do about holding the MSM accountable for the false equivalence-style reporting? That seems to be the nut here.
What we can do to influence the mainstream media is use our voices to introduce a fresh idea into the national narrative: Remove and Replace Speaker McCarthy.
Let me explain. It's clear that there will never be 218 Republican votes to raise the debt ceiling. Therefore, an alliance of mainstream Republicans and Democrats will have to form a bipartisan majority to do it. When that happens they should also use the power of their majority to remove McCarthy as Speaker via a motion to vacate the chair. Electing a new moderate Republican Speaker who owes nothing to the MAGA extremists would marginalize that obstructionist minority faction, and would likely prevent a government shutdown in the Fall as well.
How do we introduce this idea to the MSM? It's called citizen activism -- good old-fashioned personal contact in the form of phone calls, emails, letters-in-envelopes, social media, anything you can think of -- all directed at select writers, TV personalities, and Members of the House of Representatives.
I represent a network of ordinary citizens who have been opposed to Kevin McCarthy becoming Speaker since early last December, and we've been working to see him replaced ever since. We are urging both moderate Republicans and Democratic leaders to take this step. (Learn more at https://www.FeathersOfHope.net)
It's a big ask, so we need influential media personalities to devote a TV segment, or a newspaper column, or a Substack post to the subject in order to build public support. Politicians want to know that voters have their backs before they do something so bold.
I've personally written to Dr. Reich 3 times asking that he devote a post on this site discussing this proposal. At https://www.FeathersOfHope.net you can find contact info for both media and 17 House Members we are trying to influence.
If you want to actually do something, not just talk about it, join us!
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Dear Jerry,
I add your name to both Roberts and Heathers as a recipient of the “Nobel Peace of Mind Prize”.
I do not speak for others, but reading your very solid proposals both energize me and blow me away with dread. This is because at 77 and with Chronic Lyme I do not pretend to be an activist. In my heart but not in my body. I want to thank you again for the very real opportunities you are presenting to the American public to help guide them in becoming a use to our country.
You and they are our heroes. I hope our vision isn’t so blinded by dread that we can’t move forward. Every once in a lifetime just one conviction of a criminal helps us believe in our system. And I am talking about the “Cartels” of shameless , unaccountable , criminals who are spreading in so many directions in our society that even the DOJ or the Supreme Court hasn’t truly stood up for America or American citizens who want Change for a decent government.
I know this does not help in any way. But until we know how embedded this criminalization in all our societal structures is we cannot in truth go forward. Wearing out the citizenship works for those who need to have power by tyranny.
Thank you Jean.
Robert and Heather are both heroes of mine, as is Jessica Craven (ChopWoodCarryWater.substack.com) and Jay Kuo (statuskuo.substack.com). But I wouldn't begin to equate my efforts with theirs. They are royalty and I'm just a worker bee.
But I will repeat what I've often said before: "We are the activists who knock on doors, make phone calls, distribute literature, sit through endless meetings, march in the street, write letters, register voters, and also bring in the pizzas, mop the floors and turn out the lights at the end of the day. We are the blood that flows through the veins of our system of government, bringing oxygen to all who speak reverently of liberty and justice for all."
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Done! Made the calls with the phone numbers you provided on your http://www.FeathersOfHope.net site.
Thanks for your support!
We also want to contact writers and broadcasters to get people talking about this proposal (especially RobertReich@substack.net who endorsed the idea in January). Also, we need to make follow-up calls in a week or so to remind the House Members. Most of us who've done this kind of work before know that you have to keep at it. Persistence promotes persuasion.
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I like your thinking Jerry. The fly in the ointment is "minority". Nationwide the MAGA movement is a minority. Maybe even in the Republican party as a whole. But in THIS House of Representatives, among the elected Republicans they are a majority. You may be able to get an alliance of minority Republicans and a majority of Democrats; but when it comes to renaming a Speaker of the House you'll be back where we were in January 2023. You will probably succeed in getting rid of McCarthy; but his replacement will be from even worse maggots. Think Gaetz, Jordan, or even Greene.
All members of the House vote for Speaker, not just Republicans. The fly in the ointment last January, when this also could have been done, is the Democrats voting as a bloc for Hakeem Jeffries for Speaker.
At the time, that made some sense since there was a new Democratic leadership team and the party needed to demonstrate its united support for them. That was then, this is now.
There are 435 members of the House of Representatives. Best guess is that about 40 are hard-core MAGA, and about 100 are allies. The 75-80 remaining Republicans are more or less moderate. Like the Democrats, they voted with their party on the first days of the new 118th Congress. Many represent swing districts, and some are personally contemptuous of the extremists who attack moderates as RINO's. There's also lingering resentment from senior Members who were passed over for plum committee assignments which were traded away by McCarthy in exchange for their votes (e.g., Jordan, Greene).
It's extremely unlikely that there would be 218 votes today for any of the radicals, especially Gaetz who even refused to vote for McCarthy in January. A bipartisan majority that has enough votes to pass a debt limit increase would also have enough votes to pass a motion to vacate and to elect a moderate Republican Speaker.
Frankly, the bigger problem may be getting Democrats on board, which is why we're contacting all the new and old Members of Democratic leadership as well as Republican moderates.
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Agreed. Except for the number of maggots. I think it is closer to 140. But you are still correct. If you could get the Republicans to agree on a non-maggot, a person of reasonable intellect and IF the maggots would also agree on that person, and Hakeem Jeffries rallied the Democrats to support this person. that would be great. but there's still that big IF. (:-)
We don't need the MAGA's to agree. A bipartisan majority needs only 218 votes total out of 435. The whole point of replacing McCarthy is to marginalize the MAGA faction.
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The dept ceiling should never be questioned. This money already appropriated by congress. This is the same as you not paying your bills after you my made an agreement to purchase that product. The difference is that the U.S. government can pay any agreement that congress has obligated the govrnment to pay.
I agree as well, Mr. Johnson. Not simply irresponsible but compounded with willful ignorance as well.
We are being held hostage by American so called” information “ forums calling themselves the media.
Every time the so called “major news outlets” tell their employees to put out false information they step into the shoes of those willing to hijack facts
I personally can’t read or watch most of the “anchors” blathering without any education at all. Do they not want to know anything? Morons really are without depth. One must feel sorry for them. But national and international information outlets that continue to spit out crap need to be held accountable. Are we truly this bored?
Do we truly feel so suffocated by the fumes of idiocy that we can’t get to the gas masks of the facts!?!?
Every day I try to rise above my feeling that a black cloud is hanging over me, following me, ready at any moment to drown us with venom.
My only savior is reading Robert and Heather. These two are National treasures and should be awarded the Nobel Peace of mind prize”!
The fact is, if the Republicans were so worried about reducing the deficit, they wouldn't keep passing tax cuts funded by fairy tales. They always cut taxes (twice under Reagan, twice under Bush, again under Trump), don't reduce spending on the programs they vilify but their base enjoys and then count on the very thing they mocked President Obama about for budgets to balance: hope.
If the gentleman from California and his allies are so worried about debt and deficits, they would use basic math, pass tax rates and spending when they control the houses that balances and not have to borrow and drive up debts when their fictional trickle-down funding never materializes. They ran up the debt spectacularly, so now Speaker McCarthy has to agree to sign the check for the credit card bill he and his went crazy running up. I'm so sick of seeing these hacks claim to be spending hawks: neither Reagan, Bush 43 nor Trump ever offered or achieved a balanced budget.
As for news media, it's amazing to see the pretzel logic and backward bending to provide false equivalency for Republicans incapable of doing basic math. They created woefully imbalanced budgets and now hold the nation hostage over paying the debts they ran up.
The Trump administration added a whopping $7 trillion to the national debt!
The Republicans have shown us over and over that they have no idea how to govern!
TRUMP’S ELECTION WAS GROUND ZERO!
Republican voters don’t want any part of a Republican party that looks anything like it did before 2016. Trump’s administration was a culmination of forty years of Republican attempts to get rid of taxes and regulations by insisting that anyone calling for business regulation and a basic social safety net was a socialist who wanted to redistribute tax dollars from hardworking white men to minorities and women. But the racism, sexism, and religion in that formula used to be the quieter undertones of the call for small government. Now, though, the party is openly embracing the replacement of democracy with a strong government that would make white Christian nationalism the law of the land.
A 'Strong ' Government with weak, oppressed slaves who have no rights and very little security, living in a police state with limited education and pretend voting, if any voting at all.
At this rate we might find ourselves a Russian satellite before we know it. Thanks Laura for that picture. The fact is we need to see that. We need to understand that. We need to oppose that and we need to do something about that.
We need to vote blue in 2024 and well beyond for every office from dog catcher to president.
“...with limited education” being the keystone! From that, one adds greed, self-interest, intolerance, mistrust, discrimination & exclusion and you have the Arch of Anarchy right there!
Keith, did you mean to credit Heather Cox Richardson for that last paragraph?
Absolutely , Thank You for reminding me. HRC is a great historian.
I noticed that too!
This is HCR's--from her post today. Please site and credit her.
Au contraire. The republicans know exactly how to govern, they're just choosing not to.
I disagree, they can’t even be “good citizens”! They have have no idea how to govern and they don’t give a flying rats ass! They want chaos so ppl don’t realize how rich they are getting!
True Marg K J ; They rule by chaos and distraction! All those balls in the air at once, committing crimes simultaneously and constantly, with a snail for 'justice'!
And remember, the Republican's mantra is that "government is the problem" which gives them a powerful incentive to govern poorly. I also agree with those that say Republicans don't have the competence to govern well even if they wanted to.
They do not know how to govern. They do not know how to work . They know how to lie , to waste their employers money , and to carve out insidiously damaging narrative. They are ( they prove it every day as tho’ proud of their ignorance), they are brazen criminals and hopelessly ignorant.
Is that who you want representing you to the world.?
They do know how to raise the debt level however and they have a lot of practice in doing so. It gives them something to complain about when a Democratic administration takes over.
Robert, I must disagree. Governing in a democracy requires lawmakers to take into account the needs of the people, all the people, not just the rich ones who will help those lawmakers become richer and their donations increase. Republicans have deliberately put up for office people who are inept and who want the power more than the work. Republicans may have a general idea of what it means to govern, but they don't use that knowledge except to help them figure out what they can stand against and what level of sabotage they may try to use. This debt ceiling insanity on the part of Republican leaders is part ignorance and a bigger part cruelty because the targeted people are poor and in other ways disadvantaged, of course. Kevvy McCarthy does not want to negotiate, just to "own the libs." He wouldn't know how to negotiate if it came up and bit him. The media whining their balance, are playing bad parent to Kevvy and the rest of the Republican toddler-adults.
Old story. Not raising the debt limit is like refusing to pay debts you've already made. It's pathetic. And as mentioned above Republicans don't care for fiscal responsibility at all, in my eyes they build huge deficits on purpose to have a means to extort Democrats once they ein the presidency.
What skills at governance are needed when only the name of a lobbyist is needed when voting up or down on a Bill. "Wait what? Who is backing it? Rich company lobbyist number 2? Oh yeah hes a donor. I approve of this Bill"
Everything is to their liking they dont need to make any changes save for more tiny adjustments to the less taxes more benefits to wealthy and corporations. All of their dog whistle issues are intended to be low cost high visibility. Its lip service made manifest.
Well yes they know exactly how to govern as fascists under the arm of the Catholic pope and the Evangelical nut cases. No I'm not disparaging Catholics or evangelicals but I am talking about their leaders who have a dictatorial personality problem.
Our government has to remain functionally agnostic. Favoritism for one religion is discrimination on all the others. Dennis Praguer who has gone off the conservative deep end had a good book called Think a second time (he should practice what he preaches). What he describes in there is that there are things that are generally considered immoral and other things that one religion would consider immoral but the group does not. Something that a religion considers immoral but not the group should be considered unholy but not immoral. Government should be based on what we altogether consider immoral, NOT what some consider unholy. In thay way we can have consensis amoungst agnostics, catholics, judaism, muslims, evangelicals.l, etc.
Whomever. Just because one religion is batsh*t crazy doesnt mean we have to adapt what it considers unholy as law.
They DO govern and THAT is the problem! Consider the fact that Mitch McConnell has governed as if he were President with veto power over the House, the Senate and the President. Our Constitution has permitted him and his rabid right-wing cronies that astronomical power. Our Constitution permits that because its time and its authors were men (alas poor white male supremacists, we've known them well) of good will (alas good will, we thought it would prevail) and good faith (alas faith in the decency and good will of human beings, it died for lack of sustenance). So the DO govern but only out of their single-minded and loathsome lust for power and riches for themselves. They do not govern their own base, ugly, destructive and just plain stupid impulses and for that, the rest of us suffer.
In case the rest of you don't read your fellow citizens' yard signs or garage banners and pickup truck flags, you might not know that a favorite slogan of the so-called MAGA mob is "Make liberals cry."
Well, in some of us, those MAGA midget-minded fascists are getting their wish; we are crying, but the tears are for our country. The question is, why isn't every American crying.
If Kevin McCarthy REALLY wants to avert default on the debt ceiling and the fiscal calamity that it will bring down on the nation, he’d round up the mere half-dozen of the most moderate members of his caucus needed, the ones who genuinely despise the radicals leading him around by a ring in his nose, and join with the Democrats to raise the ceiling (since the bill cannot be brought to the House floor without the Speaker’s assent).
But McCarthy is interested only in being Speaker — much in the way that George W. Bush wanted to be elected president without much enthusiasm for actually BEING president once the Supreme Court, acting in an arena in which it actually had no legal authority, handed him the presidency — not in serving the interests of the nation or, for the most part, his own constituents.
Your last paragraph applies to Tweedledum as well. He had no interest in actually governing other than easing oligarchic taxes (It costs a lot to be rich, y’know) while talking big on the world stage that position afforded him.
"If the mainstream media gets the debt ceiling wrong, how do we expect most Americans to get it right?"
By telling the truth: the national debt is NOT the same things as the deficit. Apparently, Jake Tapper et al haven't understood this. The debt includes the deficit, of course, but it also includes money Americans owe other Americans, so it's a nebulous concept that includes stuff like economic activity - so it can be a sign of economic activity.
The only thing you have to know is that throughout the 19th Century, at the peak of its wealth and power, Great Britain had a national debt that ran 150% of GDP, that's quite a bit higher than current US national debt. Yes, the Victorians ran a huge national debt, but kept their deficit under control.
The national debt is NOT a big deal. It's really depressing that this is even a news item. The "debt ceiling" is an artificial concept that goes up automatically because of inflation. It should be scrapped.
The problem is it's not understood by anyone what it actually IS, so it's kept as the useful scare tactic for manipulating the public as they need to. Nobody seems to have any way or DESIRE to get the public to understand what the real situation is, and those huge numbers are too useful to get rid of !
Senate Democrats say their House counterparts should start working on a procedural maneuver known as a discharge petition as an emergency backup plan in case McCarthy continues to dig in his heels. However, Jeffries is not on board. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/07/us/politics/debt-ceiling-discharge-petition.html
Motions to Discharge Generally Under rule XV clause 2, a Member may file with the Clerk a motion (normally called a discharge petition) to discharge a committee from the consideration of a public bill or resolution that was referred to the committee 30 days prior thereto. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GPO-HPRACTICE-108/html/GPO-HPRACTICE-108-20.htm#:~:text=The%20Discharge%20Rule%3B%20Motions%20to%20Discharge%20Generally%20Under%20rule%20XV,committee%2030%20days%20prior%20thereto.
We’re not talking about the “national debt”, whatever that may be. We’re talking about the federal debt, which is the amount the federal government owes to various creditors.
Excellent post, but it also shows once again the urgent necessity for every elected Democrat to be all over all media explaining, elaborating, INFORMING the public.
This should be the Democratic talking points in response to all questions/ misinformation about the republican created “debt crisis”. Reich is so clear and strong. And start all responses by saying Rubbish! Or Baloney!😝
It really sets the correct tone. 🤓
Isn’t it about time the media loudly chastised the media?
Get Jon Stewart- where’s that pit bull tie-in?
Republican donors hold the key cards. They don’t want the GOP to tank the economy and send their bottom lines into free fall. That’s why Dems have always been able to count on calling their bluffs to this point. Without huge billionaire and corporate donors, the GOP has NO nationwide leverage to keep power in the future.
Let’s do an end-around on this GOP game of chicken. Why don’t Dems in the Senate introduce a bill to eliminate the debt ceiling forever? It has never acted as anything but a political leverage tool since its inception. Force the House Republicans to vote against our nation’s solvency and see how their next elections turn out.
Excellent as always. The media profits from division, so they fuel it.
William Sterr ; The media also can profit from misinformation. Unsurprisingly, media are owned by very wealthy interests who usually side with the Republicans ; the party of grifters, cheaters and Supreme Court Stackers. the party of liars and election stealers. The party of Citizens United and dirty, often foreign money. The party that hates Democracy!
Regrettably, much of the electorate are unaware that Republicans, who campaign, and falsely claim they will govern, on a promise of fiscal responsibility, under a Democratic administration, conflate voting to raise the debt ceiling with spending money we don’t have. As media coverage indicates, we’ve done a lousy job of explaining 1) the immediate domestic and global consequences of the U.S. defaulting on its loan payments and 2) that raising the debt ceiling doesn’t give the government permission to borrow more money; it gives the government permission to pay back the money we’ve already borrowed.
As with other issues, I believe much of the responsibility rests with us to press our public representatives to drive this message home. Along these same lines, I believe it’s long past due that we recall Lincoln’s thoughts on “public sentiment,” which he advised “is everything,” further noting that “With it, nothing can fail; against it, nothing can succeed….”
Hear, hear! Excellent!
Barbara you said a very understandable mouthful for us to commit to memory so we can spread the truth as often as possible to as many as possible “ we’ve done a lousy job of explaining 1) the immediate domestic and global consequences of the U.S. defaulting on its loan payments and 2) that raising the debt ceiling doesn’t give the government permission to borrow more money; it gives the government permission to pay back the money we’ve already borrowed.” Thank you.
Chris, I deeply appreciate knowing the country can count on one more voice to “spread the truth.”
Of course, The very wealthy's minions want to argue that it's the working class and the Democrats who are responsible for the 'debt ceiling'. The Republicans will try to use this to 'win' in 2024. Everybody 'knows' that "It's the economy, stupid" ; That lazy non-thinking knee jerk cop out brings the party that is raping our country back into power to rape it some more. The modest, urgently needed infrastructure bill passed by President Biden was overdue, and not really enough. The glaring reality of tRump's tax cuts for the billionaires are hardly mentioned, like 'Senior' justice Clarence Thomas' undeclared gifts from a Nazi loving benefactor. I hope Biden and the Democrats don't cave on this one. Instead of illegitimate investigations into Alvin Bragg, there should be an investigation into where George Santos' campaign money came from and the other three 'Congress members' he shared the dark money with, who also have questionable resumes. Was Congress stolen?
This is the fight over the debt ceiling: Republicans
want to tackle the deficit by CUTTING SPENDING on:
medicare/medicaid, affordable healthcare & social security( although I haven’t been able to figure out
exactly why social security has anything to do with
spending since it’s funded separately from the budget.)
In other words, the gop insists on making average Americans pay down the deficit by taking away our medicare/medicaid, affordable care, social security, SNAP nutritional supplements & school lunches, which to me, are the most basic necessities of life.
Democrats want to tackle the deficit, not by cutting spending, but by bringing in more money. We can do that by making corporations & the rich pay their taxes instead of sheltering income and using tax loopholes that are only available to wealthy people & corporations.
It’s important to note that republicans cater to big business, corporations & the wealthy because they
get huge campaign donations from them and for all we know, also get free vacations on luxury yachts.In other words, it’s preferable to republicans to force us to give up basic necessities of life so they can keep collecting huge campaign donations and free vacations or whatever, from corporations and rich people.
That’s it. Does that seem fair to you, because it doesn’t seem fair to me. The purpose of a democratic government isn’t to cater to the rich.
Although the republican party has been catering
to the rich for a decade or two, it has finally become
frighteningly obvious that’s what they’re doing--at our expense.
Susan Garrity Benton : Add everything you said to the taking away of basic rights, like health care for women and girls, and other oppression to discourage and demoralize voters, and that is the 'right's' strategy to 'win'. The female sex is the majority in this country. Majority rules!?
The current GOP are masters of disinformation, and the rest of us are terrible at counter arguments, or even getting the media to help out in positive ways. Are we doomed to this pyrric situation forever? I think if the GOP is successful, and our economy and our global credit suffer, the repercussions will be huge, and maybe will even finally indermine all the awful legislation that has been pushed through by the current GOP. Raising the "debt limit", more properly called the "deadbeat limit", as you say, Mr. Reich, is, indeed, imperative.
An article on exactly what would take place with the Treasury in default would be helpful. Readers need to know their money market accounts are held in treasuries and the global collapse that would follow.
https://www.cbpp.org/research/federal-budget/debt-limit-default-is-default-even-under-a-prioritization-scheme
Shouldn't we be expecting the current administration to be all over the media telling the truth??!
Why is the reporting on Biden about a jolly trip to Ireland, tears shed, overwrought hoopla - and malarkey! and meanwhile, back here at the ranch, all hell continues to break loose.
I saw Jamal Bowman on MSNBC tonight and was VERY impressed with him and was not previously much aware of him. That man has leadership qualities and the Democratic Party needs people with leadership qualities, attention to real issues and spines!
The GOP parades its arrogant ignorance as if they had civilized spines and as if they had even a little bit of knowledge. It’s dispiriting.
It's a good thing that you, at least, are calling out the media on their imputation of moral equivalence. Maybe we need a book on false equivalences and unjustified neutralities. Meanwhile, Scientific American brought out an excellent special issue "Truth vs Lies" in Fall 2022. Maybe someone should ask them to publish the material as a book, as Scientfiic American have done in the past with material from the magazine. Perhaps they should invite you as a special additional contributor on Political Economy!