4 ms·

Who cares honestly. It's just brinksmanship by career politicians who love the sport more than they ever loved their country, elected by Americans who aren't mo

Who cares honestly. It's just brinksmanship by career politicians who love the sport more than they ever loved their country, elected by Americans who aren't motivated enough to hold them to account. They're playing their periodic game of debt ceiling chicken in their time off between the usual scheduled programming of squabbling about wedge issues and the consequences of decades of this are of no interest to these people. "Washington is already scheduled to borrow $119 trillion over the next three decades" This isn't even real. Most Americans can't even conceptualize what that number means. If you want some kind of solution or profound spiritual change to the nation, it won't come from this system.

asdigonaio 3y ago
Except that the US functioned for over 200 years without these particular forms of dysfunction. We had lynchings and civil wars and the red scare, but never politicians regularly refusing to pay our bills. The cause is more specific and more recent. The debt has skyrocket thanks largely to Bush-era and Trump-era tax cuts. The GOP claims to want to reduce the deficit and yet constantly opposes any policy that would actually do so. For instance the Inflation Reduction Act is forecast by the CBO to reduce the federal deficit by $90 billion, yet it's supposedly wasteful spending that's going to drive us into default. Government shutdown brinksmanship (too gentle a word) has only ever been carried out by right-wing politicians. In this case it was largely the dumbest and loudest and most extreme, like Matt Gaetz, who were responsible. The Tea Party and its descendants have no use whatsoever for the truth and don't care what damage they have to cause to win. This is a problem solely caused by the lunatics who have taken over the GOP. I won't hear any claims that this is business as usual or that politicians will be politicians. EDIT: Apparently part of the reason is that government shutdowns did not happen prior to 1980 was that, in 1980, the Attorney General issued a new opinion on the consequences of funding lapses. Prior to that funding lapses occurred but did not lead to shutdowns. So this particular form of dysfunction may not have been possible before then, but that doesn't change who is responsible.
- johng 3y ago
  So none of the debt is caused by massive spending packages? Stuff like the "inflation reduction act" that had nothing to do with inflation? 1.24 Trillion for Social Security in 2023? The current admin is still trying to force through student loan forgiveness, which is estimated to cost almost $1T over 10 years. Reckless spending is a bigger factor than tax reduction, IMHO. *https://waysandmeans.house.gov/cbo-confirms-bidens-student-loan-giveaway-costs-taxpayers-nearly-half-a-trillion-this-year/#:~:text=The%20Penn%2DWharton%20Budget%20Model,60%20percent%20of%20income%20distributions https://waysandmeans.house.gov/cbo-confirms-bidens-student-l....

asdigonaio 3y ago

Except that the US functioned for over 200 years without these particular forms of dysfunction. We had lynchings and civil wars and the red scare, but never politicians regularly refusing to pay our bills. The cause is more specific and more recent. The debt has skyrocket thanks largely to Bush-era and Trump-era tax cuts. The GOP claims to want to reduce the deficit and yet constantly opposes any policy that would actually do so. For instance the Inflation Reduction Act is forecast by the CBO to reduce the federal deficit by $90 billion, yet it's supposedly wasteful spending that's going to drive us into default. Government shutdown brinksmanship (too gentle a word) has only ever been carried out by right-wing politicians. In this case it was largely the dumbest and loudest and most extreme, like Matt Gaetz, who were responsible. The Tea Party and its descendants have no use whatsoever for the truth and don't care what damage they have to cause to win. This is a problem solely caused by the lunatics who have taken over the GOP. I won't hear any claims that this is business as usual or that politicians will be politicians. EDIT: Apparently part of the reason is that government shutdowns did not happen prior to 1980 was that, in 1980, the Attorney General issued a new opinion on the consequences of funding lapses. Prior to that funding lapses occurred but did not lead to shutdowns. So this particular form of dysfunction may not have been possible before then, but that doesn't change who is responsible.

johng 3y ago
So none of the debt is caused by massive spending packages? Stuff like the "inflation reduction act" that had nothing to do with inflation? 1.24 Trillion for Social Security in 2023? The current admin is still trying to force through student loan forgiveness, which is estimated to cost almost $1T over 10 years. Reckless spending is a bigger factor than tax reduction, IMHO. *https://waysandmeans.house.gov/cbo-confirms-bidens-student-loan-giveaway-costs-taxpayers-nearly-half-a-trillion-this-year/#:~:text=The%20Penn%2DWharton%20Budget%20Model,60%20percent%20of%20income%20distributions https://waysandmeans.house.gov/cbo-confirms-bidens-student-l....