It now seems clear that the far-right Republican members of the self-described “Hell, No Caucus” are willing to drive the nation into another recession just to prove how intransigent they can be against resetting the federal debt limit. If they don’t wake up quickly, it will be too late to avert the painful consequences of their misguided views on the economy and economic justice.
Their my-way-or-the-highway antics and know-nothing myopia – it’s their party that ran up the lion’s share of the federal debt, and it’s the super wealthy who have benefited so richly from that debt – are already generating economic backlash.
Markets started moving against the dollar Wednesday even before credit rating agencies warned Washington that they were considering downgrading the government’s top Aaa bond rating. If Republicans force a historic default on national debt, it’s America’s middle class that will bear the brunt of the tea party kickback on the debt limit.
If the Republican right wing kills the Treasury’s ability to borrow, the riptide is sure to batter consumers and dry up the discretionary spending that keeps the economy lubricated. As the dollar declines and recession sets in, prices for oil and necessary imports will rise. That will kill consumer spending and new jobs, drive up unemployment, increase cost to government for unemployment insurance, and prompt more mortgage foreclosures and public health care costs.
The irony of this incredibly witless stage act is staggering. It boils down to this: The GOP’s right wing is demanding deep cuts in core entitlement programs – chiefly Medicare, Social Security and Medicaid, the backbone of middle-class security financed through withholding taxes on the middle class – because their icons, Reagan, Bush I and Bush II, dug the nation into shackling debt. They also forbid any offsetting increases in revenue to address the debt.