waaay back in 2011, the last time republicans in the house took the debt ceiling hostage and threatened to kill the economy unless they got what they wanted, i noted that the republican's threat was actually empty:
this time, however, the president isn't acting as much like captain caveman. the debt ceiling deadline is fast approaching and the white house is just refusing to bargain. i may have been disappointed that it ruled out the platinum coin, but i do appreciate that obama's attitude is much much different than it was in 2011. and look, it might actually be paying off! this, my friends, is the business community picking up the string. and these are signs that the GOP is starting to cave.
for weeks, i have been watching this whole spectacle over the debt ceiling with a bit of embarrassment. but in the back of my mind i have been reassured that actual default is unlikely. that this attempt by the republican party to hold the full faith and credit of the united states hostage to extract spending cuts from the democrats is ultimately a bluff. the financial industry and chamber of commerce, the people who fund and really pull the strings of the GOP, will not tolerate a default. so as long as the president could hold out long enough, the other side would ultimately crumble, taking whatever best deal they can get.a few weeks later, after captain caveman continued to act as if the republicans really would piss in their own pot, i started to despair:
i used to believe that, when push comes to shove, the big money people who really pull the strings of our politicians, would step in and make sure that a default doesn't actually happen. but what the fuck is taking them so long? pull the string already!and, of course they never did pull that string. the president caved in and we had the stupid super-committee/sequester deal, the thing that created half of the dreaded "fiscal cliff". so now we got through that, the GOP is trying to start all over and do it again.
this time, however, the president isn't acting as much like captain caveman. the debt ceiling deadline is fast approaching and the white house is just refusing to bargain. i may have been disappointed that it ruled out the platinum coin, but i do appreciate that obama's attitude is much much different than it was in 2011. and look, it might actually be paying off! this, my friends, is the business community picking up the string. and these are signs that the GOP is starting to cave.
