Tea Party Debt

The squabble over the statutory debt limit in the United States is a truly miserable game played at the expense of public employees. There has always been a perennial fight over the occasional raising of this limit, but this time the Republicans, now controlled by the ultra-right wing tea party, intend to ruthlessly exploit their increased power in Congress. They intend to force the government into bankruptcy in order to achieve their goal of permanent cuts, mainly in governmental social services.

That’s a bold approach for many reasons: First, the precarious financial situation in which the United States finds itself can be traced back to the Republican era under George W. Bush. Second, the Republicans have far fewer solutions ready to tame the deficit. Republicans reject out of hand the elimination of tax breaks for the wealthiest as they do any further economy-strengthening legislation. The only thing they have to offer is a continuous stirring up of negative feelings against a federal government that they say cannot take on any more debt and a warning for the government to stay out of the private sector economy.

Whether that calculation will fly will probably depend on whether public opinion rejects the crash-course the Republicans have set or whether Republicans are able to continue brewing their own little tea party without obstruction.