Or at least you’d think so, listening to the President. He is now on record saying that he can’t guarantee that Social Security checks, veterans’ checks, disability checks, etc… will be able to be sent out on August 3 if Congress can’t resolve its differences over reducing the deficit/raising the country’s debt limit by then. Of course, a statement like that is pure sophistry, scare tactics, and the worst kind of politicking, but also of course, people will believe him.
This kind of crap just pisses me off to no end. And what makes it even worse is that the clown from CBS “News” (I use that term very loosely) didn’t even challenge those lies. It’s like Obama’s staff handed this bozo a list of softball questions and the interviewer is just reading a script.
The fact of the matter is that despite all the doom-doom rhetoric by the President and Tim Geitner, if the debt limit is not increased by August 3, the country will not automatically be in default. The country will not be able to spend more than it takes in, but reaching our debt limit will not suddenly stop all tax receipts. In fact, I will be getting my paycheck tomorrow and again two weeks from tomorrow, and I can guarantee that those checkstubs will show sizable (well, sizable to me anyway) “contributions” to the federal coffers. And millions of other people across the country will see the same thing.
What will happen if the debt limit is not increased and the country is prevented from borrowing more money than we already owe is that the President and Congress will then have to prioritize what gets paid and what does not. So IF those checks don’t go out on August 3 as President Obama has threatened, then guess who bears part of the blame for that… Of course, he’ll say that it’s all the Republicans’ fault.
Meanwhile, closer to home, the state of Minnesota remains mostly shut down because of a budget impasse, but many of the politicians causing the trouble are still accepting pay. This stuff is like comedy. But it’s not funny at all.