As we hurtle toward financial Armageddon, it feels sad and poignant to read that the space shuttle program has completed its final mission and will now be shut down.
“A permanent marker will be placed on the runway to indicate the final resting spot of the space shuttle program,” the news story says. They might as well add “America RIP.”
The first moon landing happened just a few weeks after my high school graduation, so I remember it well. Then, it seemed there was nothing America couldn’t do. Now, as the lemmings continue their lunatic efforts to drown government in a bathtub, America can’t do anything.
Here’s another news story that metaphorically captures our current predicament. Some bleeping fools visiting Yosemite National Park ignored warning signs and climbed over a guard rail to wade in a river, and shortly thereafter were swept over a 317-foot waterfall to their presumed deaths. Their bodies haven’t been recovered, but the Park Service says that’s often the case when people go over that waterfall. They were all in their 20s.
(One member of the same group who managed to not get swept over the falls was wading around carrying his seven-year-old daughter, who witnesses say was screaming in terror. The guy found his daughter’s terror amusing. I hope law enforcement figures out who this guy is and at least cites him for endangering a child.)
The three waders who were killed were “goofing around” in the water, lost their footing on wet rocks and slipped into the current. Witnesses say their faces reflected absolute terror as they went over the falls. This is tragic, but I couldn’t help but think — did it not occur to them this could happen? Did they think the warning signs were just kidding, and the barriers were just for ambiance?
In Washington, House Republicans have formed a suicide squad and are refusing to even consider any deal on the debt ceiling issue that includes revenue increases, or any deal, period. This is in spite of the fact that a group formed of some of the nation’s wealthiest citizens is begging the House to raise their taxes rather than default.
This group is making the mistake of citing patriotism as their motivation for wanting their taxes raised. Foolish, foolish wealthy people. Patriotism is just a pretty word to wingnuts. The truth is (and they no doubt realize this) that they are likely to take a bigger hit in the long run if the nation defaults. And that’s what they ought to be telling the bleeping fools goofing around in Congress.
However, many reports say that House Republicans have been subjected to many many briefings explaining the consequences of default, and it has not mattered. No matter how dire the warnings that their goofing around could have catastrophic consequences, the House Republicans either don’t believe the warnings, or they do believe the warnings but think that, somehow, going over the falls will be to their advantage.
And why wouldn’t they think that? They’ve gotten away with such shenanigans in the past, such as with the stimulus package. The President let himself be blackmailed into weakening his own legislation, and when the stimulus did not deliver a big splashy, tangible improvement, the Republicans got away with persuading the nation that the package hadn’t worked at all, even though it did.
They’ve also gotten away with continuing to scare the nation about the “failure” of “Obamacare,” even though (well, because) most of the legislation hasn’t even kicked in yet, so it can’t possibly have failed yet. Now they are blaming the high unemployment on health care reform. Seriously.
Anyway — Nate Silver is saying that no one would win the “blame game” if the nation defaults. However, he is inclined to think the House Republicans would be hurt the most.
People who say otherwise argue that, historically, presidents get the blame for a bad economy, whether it was their fault or not. The economy is very complicated, and generally effects of particular policies are not immediately felt or well understood by the public. But as Nate says, nothing like the possible default has ever happened before, and at least some of the effects will be dramatic and immediate.
The stock market could drop by thousands of points. Some major corporations, particularly in the financial services sector, might go under. Although the consequences might take some time to filter through the broader economy, there would nevertheless be a number of immediate and extremely visible effects. Many voters would feel as though they had perfectly reasonable grounds to connect the dots.
So there you have it. No amount of warnings will persuade some people. They won’t realize the mistake they’ve made until they are going over the falls.
I still hold out some hope that sometime next week, as the stock market plummets in anticipation of default, some parts of the suicide pact will realize that the death thing is really, really bad after all and will change their minds. I also hope someone in the White House is preparing a legal justification for the constitutional option, if it comes to that. But at this point I don’t think a deal is possible.
