Republican extremists WANT to trigger a financial crisis.

[MH1]

Just watching Bloomberg TV for a few minutes (I'm not a regular, I'd normally be at work), and the consensus seemed to be that failing to raise the debt ceiling WILL result in major financial damage and probably another financial crisis.

Then I realized, the Republican* extremists WANT exactly that. Because all they care about is their own power. If the economy crashes this year, by November 2016 many people will be completely oblivious to who caused it, and will blame Obama and the Democrats.

I am going to start planning my financial strategy around expectation that the elected Republican representatives of 2% of this country will cause a financial crash.


* Let's stop letting the Republican Party off the hook by always calling them "Tea Party" republicans or "Tea Party extremists". Until the Republican party disowns them, they ARE the Republican Party.

[wandy]

1. Traditional republicans, teabaggers, John Birchers, libertarians................

Just different devisions of GOP co.
Same snake oil, different label.

[sendero]

2. Perhaps they do..

.... but unlike them I don't think the end result will be to their liking. I think, and the polls show, that Americans are (albeit slowly) waking up to realize that the idea the Republicans are better at managing the budget and the economy than the Dems is a load of horse puckey.

I think that if we have a real crisis it will usher in a New New Deal that will make the New Deal look like fascism.

People are wising up. that is why the polling, already in favor of Dems on the shutdown issue, are already skewing even more in favor of Dems.

The Teahadists live in a bubble where everyone believes the same ridiculous shit. The rest of the country does not.

[MH1]

6. I'm way less optimistic than you.

I know too many people who actually buy into the teahadist worldview. I know too many people who aren't paying close enough attention even now to realize what is going on, and are going around saying the shutdown is the fault of BOTH parties - "both parties are just as bad" nonsense. One really jolting experience was seeing comments on a relatively neutral facebook page where the ones blaming BOTH parties got several times as many "likes" as the comments reasonably pointing out that in this case, it really is the republicans at fault.

Add to that the Republican advantage in gerrymandered districts - Dems have to win by many millions more votes to keep the seats we have, let alone take back the House -and I have no faith at all that we will get our government back to sanity anytime soon.

[BumRushDaShow]

3. The corporate wing of the GOP ain't gonna let that happen.

They may let them take it to the edge, but they are not about to lose their hard-won welfare again. As it is, alot of their subsidies have been frozen since the previously-extended-for-1-year Farm Bill just expired... again....

http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2013/09/30/2703791/farm-bill-extension-expires/

[AlinPA]

4. IMO, that is John Boehner's goal. He is leading the House into causing the credit default.

[Orsino]

5. Not trigger. Build.

What we think of as a crisis is also their end game, with all the money and power in the hands of the few.

[MH1]

7. True, a "financial crisis" to most of us, is just another profit opportunity for those few. nt

[dgibby]

8. Disaster Capitalism in action.

There is a faction in this country that has been working since Regan was in office to effect the financial destruction of this country. It benefits the international globalists to destroy the US economy and level the global playing field.

As for the Tea Party(or as I like to call them, Born Again Birchers), they are useful tools to effect this change, but in the end, will be cast aside by the PTB just like the rest of us.

Case in point: I have a friend who is a member of the Tea Party and the Heritage Foundation. A staunch Catholic, she is a one issue voter (anti-abortion), and gets her news from Fox and right wing hate radio. She cannot be reasoned with when it comes to politics (believe me, I've tried). Her take on the government shutdown? Not a problem for her. She has a nest egg, has been stocking up on food and supplies, figures she can wait it out, and has absolutely NO empathy for anyone else who may be adversly affected. She shows all the signs and symptoms of someone in a cult who has been brainwashed to act against her own best interests.

Unfortunately, she is not alone, which is why a rabid well funded minority of idealogs, who will follow Ted Cruz into the gates of Hell and beyond, has been able to effect a coup and destroyed whatever was left of a representative democracy. I am quite certain that this group will not only keep the government shutdown, but will also crash the US and global economy by reniging on the Debt Ceiling.

As for Ted Cruz, I believe he is THE most dangerous person in America. Why? He is charasmatic and has all the symptoms of a sociopath. He's like an arsonist who sets things on fire just to watch them burn or a snake charmer. He makes Eric Cantor look like a novice when it comes to backstabbing, and that's almost impossible.

I support President Obama and the Dems stand on not negotiating with the hostage takers on the Shutdown and Debt Ceiling. There is much more at stake here than meets the eye, and I think they realize that.

[MH1]

9. Excellent post. I agree with all of it.

One of the most striking and aggravating things to me is that the teahadists I know claim to be devout Christians. But it is a complete waste of time and effort to try to discuss with them how republican policies - like this government shutdown - hurt real people and violate Christian principles. As you said, they have NO empathy for other people. They think "I did ok, if everyone did just like me they'd be ok too, so if they aren't ok it's their own fault." Worse, they think like this even if they AREN'T ok! They are blind to how republican policies hurt even themselves!

[dgibby]

10. Thanks.

It's this kind of thinking that finally drove me out of organized religion. I cannot, for the life of me, reconcile this dicotomy between what they say they believe and what they do. Ugh!