Everyone remembers the scene from "It's a Wonderful Life," where Senator Jeff Smith George Bailey tries to handle a mad rush on his S&L after John Boehner Mr. Potter sends the town's economy into a tailspin. Looks like Boehner's about to do the same thing to the entire US economy. We'll know more by dawn's early light and thereafter.
http://newsjunkiepost.com/...
It's just after 3 pm eastern something time (think NYC time) when I saw a link to the NewsJunkies post on Twitter. Here's what I'm reading as I type this:
Unless something drastic happens, and there is no sign of anything drastic happening that can resolve this impasse in a satisfactory manner, the run on the markets will start in Japan. The bomb that Boehner dropped after the American markets closed on Thursday was beginning to send shock waves around the globe by the time the Nikkei opened. At the time of this writing, Asian markets are volatile and trading is choppy because of America’s looming default. There is red across the boards. The US Dollar has already dropped to a four month low against the Yen only half way through the trading day.
As Friday progresses, the absence of any deal on the debt ceiling, and not just any deal, but a responsible deal that reassures the global markets, will cause increasing stress until at some point, when resolution seems unlikely before the end of trading, the trickle that starts in Japan, and grows throughout the European trading day, could very likely become a waterfall. A weak agreement may ebb the flow, slightly, but even a moderate agreement, at this point, will not be able to reverse the market trends developing in the land of the rising sun. If you’re a small fish, it may be time to leave the pond until the sharks finish their frenzy, otherwise you just may become another statistic like all those that lost everything in 2007. On the other hand, if you’re one of those that hates the exploitation and unsustainability of the current financial system, rather than fret as it fails, it may be a good time to thank Speaker Boehner, and the TEA Party, and consider going on the offensive.
God only knows what havoc will ensue in the Asian and European markets by the time you read this post.
I'm the last person to ask about economic trends and make predictions. But I'll make a few observations, you can agree or disagree and wrangle about it all in the comments:
1) Boehner isn't a complete tequila-drinking, bimbo-pawing idiot. He's as eager for Friday afternoon beer-thirty as he ever was, but the scheme to drag the economy into the shitter via the debt-ceiling refusal is working nicely. Two plans are on the table to "save" the economy, neither one ask the Lords and Masters to contribute a goddamned dime, both take whacks at SS, Medicare, and Medicaid. Reid's plan is terrible, Boehner's is catastrophic, and the "cut, cap, and balance" plan that supposedly stakes out the "right wing" position is pretty much hallelujah economic armageddon. This didn't happen by accident. And I didn't come up with this on my own, a bunch of pundits have said the same thing: Boehner and the Tea Party Militia has had the entire debate on their turf. They win no matter what.
2) There are plenty of tea party whackjobs who would be perfectly happy to see the entire economy upend and go smash. They'd giggle in idiot glee at the chaos and rampant suffering, then turn with gaping mouths to the Lords and Masters to Fix It All to their benefit. Doubtful they'd get their wish, but they're like the kid who sets a fire in his locker and whoops it up as the entire building burns to the ground -- and if some of the other kids get caught in the fire, well, he didn't like 'em anyway and it's their own damn fault, somehow or the other.
3) The 14th Amendment solution is questionable at best. The president shouldn't have to exercise this "authority," even if it exists. If he does -- and he might have to in order to prevent a tea party-triggered economic calamity -- then it's a long-term loss for American democracy, as this is a power best reserved for Congress and not given over to the president by executive fiat. But you know what they say, if you can't use your authority wisely, then expect it to be taken away from you and used by someone who will. I'm sure someone in Grover Norquist's basement is giggling over the idea of President Bachmann or President Angle or whoever using this same authority in reverse: refusing to raise the debt ceiling one fine spring morning and triggering yet another economic mudslide.
The only upside I can see to any of this is problematic at best, given the endless wheezing and screaming of the Mighty Wurlitzer: hopefully enough of the American electorate will see the tea party lawmakers for the anarchistic, fanatical idiots they are and vote them the hell out of office as fast as the law allows, before the damage they are doing is truly irreversible.