JUST DUMB: Elizabeth Warren DESTROYS Kevin McCarthy over debt limit comments
Well, Republicans are back to threatening the national and the global economies again. It’s one of their favorite activities, only beaten out, perhaps, by minority voter suppression, telling women what to do, and inviting insurrection.
Yes, gear up ladies and gents, because it’s time for another debt ceiling showdown!
That’s when we all have the fun of watching the Republicans pretend to be the “reasonable” and “responsible” party while threatening to send the stock market, the bond market, and every single retirement account into chaos.
For our own good, of course! Because nothing teaches a person to change their behavior like shooting them in the head.
Of course, we’ve been through this rodeo before.
President Biden, perhaps learning from Obama’s deft handling of the GOP-created crisis during his administration, has stated that, although Kevin McCarthy is welcome to come to the White House to discuss concerns over spending, the president will not negotiate on the debt ceiling.
Basically, he’s pulling a Michael Corleone:
This is a prudent approach.
There is a reason we don’t negotiate with terrorists (or at least shouldn’t) and this situation should be treated no differently: Republican brinksmanship should be met with resolve.
That’s how Obama embarrassed the GOP and made its leaders give up on the debt ceiling as a bargaining chip for a while.
McCarthy is an even weaker speaker than John Boehner was, and there’s no reason to give him so much as an inch.
Yet McCarthy, at the mercy of the hardliners in his party, is making the same nonsensical arguments his party has made before, pretending that:
a) the US economy operates in the same way as a family’s budget (it doesn’t);
b) that the national debt is akin to a credit card (it isn’t, since the government has much more control over rates and can print money);
c) that Democrats are free spenders, even though Republicans are the ones giving away billions upon billions to the rich and corporations; and
d) that refusing to raise the debt ceiling translates to responsible spending instead of what it actually is: agreeing to pay for the things Congress has already spent on.
The debt ceiling grew out of World War I. Rather than have to approve each spending measure by the Treasury, Congress passed a law saying that the department could spend up to $5 billion as it saw fit for the war effort.
Eventually, Congress put all outstanding debts under the Treasury’s domain, and although Treasury began managing daily government borrowing and spending, Congress never removed the limit provision, instead just raising the amount when needed.
Mind you that all of the money that is going into our debt is money that Congress approves in one form or another, which is the only way the federal government appropriates our tax dollars.
Refusing to raise the debt ceiling isn’t throwing away our credit cards (or threatening to do so), as many Republicans imply, but more like throwing away the bill and refusing to pay it.
Such an act could have profound consequences for our national credit.
Yet McCarthy continues to make this false argument, as seen here (don’t worry – it’s less than a minute – I wouldn’t torture you with a long McCarthy segment):
“If you had a child and you gave them a credit card, and they kept hitting the limit—you wouldn't just keep increasing it. You'd first see what are you spending your money on? How can we cut items out?" – @SpeakerMcCarthy on the federal debt limit and cutting spending pic.twitter.com/tmhiFdJadF
— House Republicans (@HouseGOP) January 19, 2023
Now, you’re probably wondering some things, like:
Why doesn’t Kevin McCarthy, the speaker of the House, have even an elementary understanding of economics?
And second: How come he never finished puberty? He sounds like a middle-schooler who gets all of his opinions from a dad who gets all of his opinions from right-wing radio.
Well, Senator Elizabeth Warren noticed the same thing (the first part – no comment from her on why McCarthy never finished puberty).
She tweeted:
This might be the dumbest analogy I’ve ever heard. Raising the debt ceiling would not authorize new spending. It would let the U.S. pay the bills that Kevin McCarthy and Donald Trump ALREADY ran up with tax breaks for billionaires and giant corporations. https://t.co/vlFvNj1Oia
— Elizabeth Warren (@ewarren) January 21, 2023
Don’t hold back, Senator Warren – tell us how you really feel.
Yes, Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren essentially just called an argument from the speaker “dumb,” implying that he himself is dumb.
In fairness to McCarthy, though, he may just be playing dumb, like Lt. Columbo.
Though, unlike Columbo, he won’t solve anything, and he has nothing but his own self-interest at heart.
To deconstruct McCarthy’s analogy just a bit, let’s start by keeping in mind that, as mentioned earlier, Congress controls the purse strings AND spends the money.
Therefore, who would be the parent in his example and who’s the child? Makes no sense.
Also, raising the debt ceiling allows us to pay for things we already bought. A better analogy might be to ask what would happen if you stopped paying your bills.
More to the point: a family not paying their bills – as foolish as that would be – would not have national reverberations and potentially cost someone else their retirement funds (though, considering what Republicans are looking to do to social security, I doubt that’s much of a concern to them).
Warren understands economics about as well as anybody.
It’s just unfortunate that Senator Warren has to explain the basics to her Republican counterparts as if they’re kindergarteners who don’t understand that you have to pay for the lollipop you ate.
Follow Ross as he continues to “go after the bastards” on Twitter by clicking @RossRosenfeld. He also bakes.
