The Debt Ceiling

I've actually called or written my senators and the president urging them NOT to support the bill. (My representative is a far right nut job but I'll try him next.) Why? Because it will TANK the economy, is bad for the country and Obama once again breaks his promises and caves into the most extreme on the far right with a bill that has no rise in revenues for the wealthiest Americans. The economy of a country is NOTHING like the economy of families or businesses- they need not field an Army, look after thousands if not millions after a natural disaster or connect a 3000 mile wide swath of land with roads and other infrastructure. And debt is not always bad! Families go into debt for college, to buy a house or car. Businesses take loans to expand, buy equipment and buildings or to take over other businesses.

Conservative economist Bruce Bartlett of the Reagan administration and liberal Paul Krugman agree that this bill will help kill the struggling recovery we're in! Either the world is going to end because these 2 agree OR they are right. Austerity in Europe has brought the British, Italian and other several other nations economies to a standstill. Contrary to the Merkel government's protests that they would not stimulate their economy, Germany like China and India, has been stimulating its economy at a much higher proportion of its GDP than we ever did- and their economy is growing and thriving! And contrary to Republican obsession over destroying unions, as one of the most unionized nation on the planet. Worst of all, just like the cost of a loan will go up if America hits the debt ceiling, every country that has enforced austerity programs has seen their interest rates rise and in some cases dramatically. But countries that have spent on stimulus- yes it worked or we'd be in worst shape than we are, it just was tooooo small by a factor of 3 or more- have seen their rates hold steady or drop. Even our rates with the half-assed stimulus we did stayed low. Investors know the lessons of the Great Depression, that government spending is the only way to end it. They are rewarding the countries that are NOT doing austerity by investing at low rates because they expect recovery and growing recoveries. But austerity means slowed recoveries and stagnant economies- for that they want a better interest rate to guarantee they get their investment back.

I and my husband voted for Obama. We even became Democrats for the primary to vote for him then- though we are registered Independents. If he signs this bill it will be the last straw. We have both voted in every election and will do so in 2012. BUT we will not cast a vote for president if he is running. If we wanted destructive Far Right economics we would have voted for McCain- though maybe he wouldn't have told the Tea Party to fuck off and done better than Obama has. And if a Republican gets in?! Well he or she can't be much worse than what we have now. And if the new president makes things worse, maybe the general public will wake up as they have in Wisconsin and force the Democrats to do the right thing, while throwing out the worst of the right-wing  nut jobs.