Debt limit breach no big deal, some GOP lawmakers say

[Eugene]

Source: USA Today

Debt limit breach no big deal, some GOP lawmakers say

Gregory Korte and Susan Davis, USA TODAY 9:29 a.m. EDT October 8, 2013

Everyone agrees that the nation is coming up against the $16.7
trillion debt ceiling. The debate is over when that will happen, and
what comes next.

WASHINGTON — Republican lawmakers are voicing increasing skepticism about dire warnings that failing to raise the debt ceiling would result in catastrophic default.

"I would dispel the rumor that is going around that you hear on every newscast, that if we don't raise the debt ceiling, we will default on our debt," said Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., Monday on CBS This Morning. "We won't. We'll continue to pay our interest."

Coburn and other Republicans argue that the Treasury Department could prioritize interest payments while delaying others. The House has passed a bill requiring the Treasury to do just that.

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Read more: http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2013/10/07/debt-limit-denial/2937087/

[Wounded Bear]

1. I remember similar comments by Republicans under Reagan...

about surviving a nuclear war while they were escalating Cold War tensions.

[Gothmog]

2. The GOP idiots are wrong about the debt ceiling

According to an expert at Morgan Stanley, Jack Lew will have to decide which law he is going to break. http://www.businessinsider.com/morgan-stanley-economist-if-we-breach-the-debt-ceiling-jack-lew-must-decide-which-law-to-break-2013-10

If the Treasury is unwilling to stretch the definition of extraordinary measures, on the day that the Federal Reserve predicts that the Treasury will run out of cash in its account and the Treasury is bound by the debt ceiling, it suspends all payments and awaits instructions from the Treasury. As a result, the government’s principal economic officials will face the prospect of violating one of these three laws:

1. The Second Liberty Bond Act of 1917 that establishes the debt ceiling;

2. The Federal Reserve Act that prohibits the Fed from lending directly to the Treasury; or,

3. The 14th Amendment of the Constitution that holds that the debt of the United States government, lawfully issued, will not be questioned.

They have to break a law. At the end of the day, officials will avoid violating the Constitution by indicating that they have been given inconsistent instructions and are obeying the one with the most important precedent.

Basically in Reinhart's formulation, Lew will opt to break the debt ceiling law, citing constitutional obligations to continue servicing the debt.

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/morgan-stanley-economist-if-we-breach-the-debt-ceiling-jack-lew-must-decide-which-law-to-break-2013-10#ixzz2h5HfOYfQ

The concept that one can default on certain obligations is simply wrong

[sakabatou]

3. "Kill the economy of the world? That's fine."

-House Republicans

[blkmusclmachine]

4. Remember this from the Tea Party/GOPee, 2012:

LET HIM DIE!

LET HIM DIE!

LET HIM DIE!