From John King, USA (CNN statist) to Shepard Smith (FoxNews statist), to Fareed Sakaria (all-round Zombie), to Larry Kudlow: all are agreed that the chief danger to the US economy comes from the debt debate, and not the actual debt.
Causality has been turned on its head in all but one of the Newsspeak-dominated TV programs. Thus it is alleged that the downgrade of America’s credit rating is what will cause the country’s economic downfall, when it is the reverse. First came an economic collapse. Assorted indices are catching up.
Ask yourself this: If the US Treasury was flush with cash—and on a sound footing—would a downgrade of its credit outlook by Standard & Poor’s or Moody’s cause the country to go off the economic cliff? Economic reality dictates an economic demotion—a flight from US Treasuries and the dollar and a concomitant rise in interest rates, because, what do you know? The US is broke.
The latest wheeling and dealing is here.
In this preordained, dead-end debate, default is another fudge factor:
“Federal tax revenues vary by month, but should total around $2 trillion to $2.5 trillion for FY 2011– an average of perhaps $180 billion per month. So clearly the federal government has sufficient tax revenue to make interest payments to our creditors. For now, those interest payments represent about 12 percent of the total federal budget.”
UPDATED I: BASTARDS LOWER THE BAR. The dead-end debt debate reaches a new low. The newsspeak in circulation (and native gullibility, and I’m being charitable) has ensured that Americans now believe that the political stand-off, and not the spiraling spending, is what will seal the country’s economic fate.
The next step?
The players—the people who fund this orgy are at work—arrive at a Grand Compromise to loud fanfare, their own. This “compromise” is truly Orwellian: you make a huge deal about cutting spending just a wee bit more than the rise in the debt ceiling which you’ve okayed.
How far astray from the original goal of slashing the debt have the politicians led a willing people? Well, at least everyone now knows what the S & P is.
Read about the upcoming symbolic vote on Boehner’s plan.
UPDATE II: “DEFAULT BY INFLATION.” As I said above, the natural laws of economics do not obey the (positive) laws politicians make, whatever these creatures ask you to believe. Warns Ron Paul:
“Default is coming. The only argument that’s going on now is how to default, not send the checks out or just print the money. In all countries our size, they always print the money,” Paul said.
“They’re going to raise the debt limit, and then they’re going to print the money, and then they’ll default by inflation, and that’s much more dangerous than facing up to the facts of what’s happening today.”