Crying Shame: Boehner Doubles Down

Paul Krugman’s words are particularly relevant to todays’ news.  He said that, regarding our fiscal health,

One answer is simple accountability. People who advocated budget-busting policies during the Bush years shouldn’t be allowed to pass themselves off as deficit hawks; people who praised Ireland as a role model shouldn’t be giving lectures on responsible government (Paul Krugman).

For his full commentary, please refer to his NY Times column.  The debt-ceiling crisis looms.  Soon the US will reach or exceed the legal debt limit.  The common sense AND fiscally prudent thing to do would be to raise it.  The full faith and credit of the US Treasury is at stake.  Who wouldn’t behave responsibly?  In an America where TeaPublicans are holding the nation hostage, do not hold your breath. They’ve spread the simplistic story that the economy is like the “family check book.” Mythology, story-telling, and ignorance inserts itself into thinking processes.  Good luck with that. Should the country default on its obligations the crisis could be so intense that Teahadists may take down both our own economy and that of the world along with them.  They are holding the Congress and us hostage for trillions in cuts NOW.

Today, anyone hoping for reason to prevail in the trumped-up, faux urgent deficit reduction hi-jinks got shut down once again. Speaker Boehner will not be the adult in the room of Republicans. In an article at Politifact and in footage aired on MSNBC, Boehner rants,  determined to mess with the American people.  Little do many of them know the dire consequences should Boehner prevail.  Here’s the latest from WAPO:

And for the first time, he signaled that Republicans would come to the negotiating table with the expectation that the White House and Senate Democrats be prepared to discuss major reductions in federal spending – and enact them immediately. That’s a sharp shift from Republicans who just last week talked of finding “commonality” on less-ambitious measures.

It just doesn’t seem to get better.  Maybe in 2012.  But that’s not soon enough when our economy and jobs are at stake.