MITCH McCONNELL PROVES THAT HE REALLY IS THE "GRIM REAPER"

 

                                          …Yes sirree, here’s the "Grim Reaper"

 

The nation’s debt ceiling is usually a bipartisan issue, but not this time

 

Hysteria is usually a totally manufactured reality in Washington. But when it comes to the increasingly vocal worry that Congress will not raise the debt ceiling, the hysteria is real and warranted. This is no exercise in wonkery. All of us, and the global economy will be in for a world of hurt if Congress fails to act.

“My advice to this Democratic government, the president, the House and Senate: Don’t play Russian roulette with our economy,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said last week. “Step up and raise the debt ceiling and cover all that you’ve been engaged in all year long.”

Now that sounds fine.  If he really meant it, he would make sure the decision was made on a bipartisan basis.  But what he is saying is that the democrats, that have a 1 vote leadership in the Senate, McConnell wants the Democrats to do the deed without allowing any help from the Senate’s GOP members.

That’s not how any of this works.  As House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) wrote to House Democrats last weekend, “The debt limit is a shared responsibility, and I urge Congress to come together, in that spirit, on a bipartisan basis as it has in the past to protect the full faith and credit of the United States.”

This bipartisanship is crucial, as it’s usually how any move on the debt ceiling proceeds.  This off course, makes McConnell’s statement ridiculous, especially considering that just two days before, he declared that Democrats “will not get Senate Republicans’ help with raising the debt limit.”

Also contrary to McConnell’s irresponsible and stupid statements, raising the debt ceiling is not giving Congress a blank check for future spending. It is an increase in the legal limit on how much the federal government can borrow to pay for what it has already bought.

Think of it like this: You and a group of friends have stuffed yourselves silly at swank restaurants all month. You plunk down your credit card every time the check comes. Your treat. But when your statement arrives, you’re informed that you’ve gone over your spending limit, and you must pay the balance by the due date. You ask for an increase in your limit to cover the expense. The bank says no. Now you’re delaying payment on other bills and rummaging in couches and coat pockets for whatever money you might have to cover the expense.

According to a report released by the Bipartisan Policy Center (BPC) on Friday, that due date, or “X date,” the day the U.S. government crashes through the debt ceiling, is somewhere between Oct. 15 and Nov. 4.  The real-world consequences of that happening are that nothing gets paid, including Social Security payments and all the nations bills.

The BPC estimates that between Oct. 15 and Nov. 15, the Treasury Department would have $666 billion in bills to pay but only $401 billion on hand to pay them. As the charts show, if the United States paid the interest on Treasury securities, federal salaries, Social Security benefits, etc., it could end up leaving unemployment insurance, military retirement benefits and pandemic relief for state and local governments unpaid.

To put a finer point on the hell that awaits: If Oct. 15 is indeed the day borrowing authority runs out, the U.S. government could have only $27 billion to pay $43 billion in bills due that day. That $16 billion running cash deficit would balloon to $277 billion by Nov. 15 if action isn’t taken.

And if Mitch McConnell, the self-describing “grim reaper”, the Senate Minority Leader will be the cause for one of the world’s worst financial crisis ever induced by a single person in the US Senate.

Mitch McConnell’s legacy will cost the United States and all of our allies, plus some of our adversaries some of the worst financial issues ever experienced.

And all because one Republican leaders wants to make a an irresponsible point.

It just goes to show how bad the GOP has declined as a US political party.

Copyright G. Ater 2021