What none of [the Boehner bill’s conservative] critics have is an alternative strategy for achieving anything nearly as fiscally or politically beneficial as Mr. Boehner’s plan. The idea seems to be that if the House GOP refuses to raise the debt ceiling, a default crisis or gradual government shutdown will ensue, and the public will turn en masse against . . . Barack Obama. The Republican House that failed to raise the debt ceiling would somehow escape all blame. Then Democrats would have no choice but to pass a balanced-budget amendment and reform entitlements, and the tea-party Hobbits could return to Middle Earth having defeated Mordor. This is the kind of crack political thinking that turned Sharron Angle and Christine O’Donnell into GOP Senate nominees.
LOL! Of course, the same editorial also claims that Boehner’s plan “may not prevent a U.S. national credit downgrade, but it has a better chance of doing so than Mr. Reid’s” — which is the opposite of what the credit agency folks themselves are reportedly saying. Still, I love the Tolkien reference, and the Tea Party smackdown.
Incidentally, on the rating downgrade issue, Megan McArdle has another must-read.
One nit: S&P has been very clear that their downgrade threat is based both on a debt ceiling measure not being passed and at least $4T of cuts to go along with it. Unsurprisingly, both Republicans and Democrats are incensed with S&P.
Also, I do not agree that Wall Street thinks “over the next ten years, yes, Republicans, we can keep spending this much”. Exhibit A: S&P’s downgrade threat. Exhibit B: the flight to gold and silver (that’s technically not Wall Street, but it represents the very real expectation of “default by inflation”). I do agree that Wall Street isn’t much concerned about Medicare and Social Security liabilities, because those programs are pay-go systems that can and will be slashed when they become too expensive (which incidentally is why I devote a disproportionate amount of my pre-tax income to my 401k and HSA nest eggs).
*shrug* Wall Street Journal is run by people who A. make a lot of money and B. don’t understand why the unwashed masses are upset with 9-10% unemployment (government figures) with up to 20-30% depending on gender, class, race, etc.. I think this last election was the American people expressing their displeasure. I think the next one is going to be a full out fit, with the “Loy Vehicle of Chaos” a distinct possibility. If the problem isn’t solved by the 2014…well, yeah, that’s not going to be pretty.