From the winner of the Spelunker of the Year Trophy, 1995-1996.
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said Friday that the upcoming showdown over the debt ceiling isn’t a political winner for House Republicans, dubbing it a “dead loser.”
“They’ve got to find, in the House, a totally new strategy,” Gingrich said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.” “Everybody’s now talking about, ‘Oh, here comes the debt ceiling.’ I think that’s, frankly, a dead loser. Because in the end you know it’s gonna happen. The whole national financial system is going to come in to Washington and on television and say: ‘Oh my God, this will be a gigantic heart attack, the entire economy of the world will collapse. You guys will be held responsible.’ And they’ll cave.” [Politico]
Within grasp, yes. Unlikely however. There is little evidence that, while working people hold all the cards, they would actually take advantage of this.
Republicans who want to get some Democrat votes during the next election will want to cave, of course. These will be the ones who didn’t learn from Romney–who lost not because of the Democrats, but because of Republicans who didn’t show up.
Smart Republicans who want to get the *Republican* vote big time will bring the gears of government to a grinding halt and hold it hostage until some fiscal discipline is agreed to.
Imagine what the US would look like if people woke up one day and found that life goes on even though all the EPA, DOE, etc. offices are closed. This is within the grasp of those who would reach for it.
And roll on, its going to tip. Unless you get the deficit to zero, its going to go tits up.
Who gets the blame them?
Who gets the pain?
It’s the latter that’s the interesting one. It’s the people who depend most on, or who trusted the state the most that will be screwed.