Playing Chicken with the Economy

Andrew Sullivan has an excellent screed on current Republican tactics in the face of the looming debt crisis. Here, as Sullivan would say, is the money quote

This is brinksmanship with all of our lives, our money, our core financial stability and future growth. It is an outrageously reckless way to run a government. And Cantor’s refusal to take any personal responsibility for the result of these talks is of a piece with the record of this shallow, callow fanatic who has the gall to call himself a conservative, even as he launches a wrecking ball at the very fabric of the American and global economy.

Tell it, Brother.

When the Going Gets Tough, Republicans … Quit

So what is it about Republicans in the 21st Century? Why do they quit?

Alaska’s Shame, The Quitter, famously bailed on the Alaska governorship. Never mind that oath of office. Never mind the folks who voted for her. The going got tough. She quit.

Now, far more seriously, U.S. House majority leader, Eric Cantor, Republican of Virginia, has quit the debt ceiling negotiations chaired by Vice President Joe Biden. The talks are at an impasse, according to reports, and undoubtedly difficult. So, when it got tough, Rep. Cantor quit. There’s a pattern here.

The impending debt ceiling crisis is every bit as serious as the financial crisis that triggered the present recession. It has the potential to make the U.S. a permanent second class nation, one whose promises cannot be trusted and whose currency is unsound. A default in payment of U.S. debt instruments would echo through the U.S. economy – and the world economy – for a very long time.

Some years ago, Steve Moore, cartoonist for “In the Bleachers,” had a classic: A group of runners, under a banner announcing the “Underachievers Marathon,” ready to start. A hundred feet ahead of them was the “Quit” line. Faced with a crisis, House Majority leader Cantor has quit. Not exactly Lincoln-like, eh?