Touche.
Up 2% on the day!
O snap that’s scary
Looking at the Rupar thread, it seems like the GOP is setting up to impeach Biden if he tries to invoke the 14th or any other executive-led workaround.
I’m surprised they’ve been so restrained, I thought for sure Biden would have been impeached 4 or 5 times by now.
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The Biden impeachment over “out of control spending” seems like exactly the moment Yachtin’ Joe Manchin switches parties.
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What’s the downside to doing this? Like he says a deal is unlikely (IMO shouldn’t even be a “negotiation”) so just invoke the 14th now. The Republicans will obviously whine, probably say Biden should be impeached for not “negotiating,” but all that type of shit will happen regardless. Cowardly Dems will whimper against the idea like “Oh no, what about when the big bad Republicans do this themselves, they’re going to retaliate for this later!” blah blah shut up Chris Coons. Fox, CNN, etc will probably run stories like “Is Biden intentionally crashing the economy” or some such nonsense but that won’t get traction if nothing happens. I’m sure Ol’ Joe is bound to norms here though. Can’t go against those norms. It’s not normal.
https://twitter.com/whstancil/status/1653970617253675008
This is something fun that I didn’t realize: Once a Treasury security reaches the maturity date, the security becomes nontransferable. So if the U.S. defaults and fails to pay, not only does the holder not get paid, they also can’t sell the security to anyone else. Very cool. From Peter Coy’s newsletter:
The Treasury Market Practices Group has a seven-page contingency plan, updated most recently in December 2021, that is coordinated with SIFMA’s. “It should be emphasized that the practices described here, if implemented, would only modestly reduce, not eliminate, the operational difficulties posed by untimely payments on Treasury debt,” the plan says.
A key part of the plan is changing the operation of the Fedwire Securities Service, which buyers and sellers of Treasury securities use to transfer securities. It’s ordinarily open until 7 p.m. Eastern time on weekdays. When a Treasury security reaches its maturity date, the person who receives the principal is the one who held it as of 7 p.m. the day before, when the Fedwire Securities Service closed. The security becomes frozen — or nontransferable — at that time. This strict rule avoids confusion over who is entitled to be paid.
The rule that works well in ordinary times would be disastrous in case of a default. Every Treasury that reached maturity would become frozen, meaning it could not be sold or used as collateral for a loan. Treasury securities are the building blocks of Wall Street, so freezing maturing ones would disrupt how high finance is conducted. That would soon spill over to the real economy.
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Leave it to America to find the perfect dumb policy with zero redeeming qualities where everyone looks like an idiot and nobody wins.
Honestly, the debt ceiling is maybe the most American thing ever.
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It used to be apple pie.
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Nothing should be on the table. Force them to take it to court.
In context, the Texas Republican expressed confidence that Democrats would see the 14th Amendment solution as “radical” and “a bridge too far.”
But Roy added, “They know that if they go down that road with this 14th Amendment argument, we will blow crap up. I’m serious — it will be just open warfare in terms of what we’re going to deal with on the spending front if these SOBs try to go down this completely … unconstitutional and stupid road.”
Right off the bat, it’s worth noting the breathtaking irony of seeing a far-right congressman complain about “radical” tactics while he and his party are deliberately pushing the nation toward a first-ever default as part of a hostage crisis Republicans are imposing on the country.
It’s also rather amusing to see Roy describe honoring the text of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution as “unconstitutional.”
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They’ve shot so many hostages they don’t understand where their leverage has gone.
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Govt should just raise money by selling some more Supreme Court seats
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Biden needs to offer them nothing and do a tour around the country blasting them at every possible moment. Go to NASA and give a speech about how things are going to get shut down soon because every time there is a Democratic president the Republican congress decides to start fucking around with the debt ceiling. Start giving warnings that the National Parks will be closed during summer vacation so people have advanced time to cancel their rode trips. Remind the public what happened in 2011 over this nonsense.
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The Freedom Caucus is leading Biden to water.
https://twitter.com/mattyglesias/status/1659270456682192906?s=20
If we only had a wheelbarrow, that would be something.
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