Rachel Maddow Explains How House Republicans Are About to Destroy The Economy

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On MSNBC today, Rachel Maddow explained how House Republicans are about to destroy the economy with their insistence that Obamacare be defunded.

Video:

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Transcript:

MITCHELL:The reason people aren’t seized with this, they always work it out. There’s always a Christmas deadline, they will extend it by 30 days, 60 days, so people don’t seem to be focusing on this yet. The debt ceiling is where the rubber meets the road. Jack Lew says earlier in October they run out of cash. it’s a cash flow problem. If things are attached to that debt ceiling and we start looking at another downgrading of the US economy, that’s really serious stuff. That’s your 401(k).

MADDOW: That’s stuff that doesn’t get reversed even if retroactively fixed. when we had a credit downgrade as a nation, minor and controversial one, that’s something that has consequences in a way that takes years, maybe decades to grow out of. You look back at the way Ronald Reagan inveighed in the ’80s against messing with the debt ceiling. Really messing with it? Just taking Reagan’s arguments alone about the harm to the nation ought to be convincing to anybody on any part of the political spectrum as long as you love this country and as long as you don’t want to wantonly inflict harm that’s very hard to grow out of. The shutdown thing, I believe that’s going to happen. I realize that’s not a conventionally held view. I think the shutdown will happen and when we get close to the debt ceiling having shut down government we’ll be in a crisis mode. That will be an adult moment for the nation.

There is a lot of talk about the politics of this situation, but messing with the debt ceiling is dangerous because it is directly screwing with the entire economy. People could see their retirement accounts, which are just starting to rebuild after the last Republican caused economic collapse, get wiped out again. People aren’t taking this seriously yet, because a sort of crisis conditioning that has taken hold in this country.

The Republican have created and caused so many crisis that the American people have become desensitized when a new one pops up. People assume that Republicans will eventually back down, and they probably will, but their lack of leadership and direction could tank the economy before this is resolved. The longer House Republicans take to get their act together, the greater the risk for the American people.

Not all Republicans want to go down this path, but the House is in chaos. There is no leadership. Nobody on the Republican side listens to Boehner or Cantor. There is no unity, and absolutely no urgency to do what is right.

When the government shutdown in 1995, the economy suffered a 1% temporary drop in GDP. Combine that temporary drop with the economic impact of not raising the debt ceiling, and it will be a devastating body blow to the working men and women of this country.

While we have been distracted by the Ted Cruz circus and Obamacare, Republicans are this close to destroying our economy.

It’s time to buckle up and pay attention, because things are about to get bumpy.

Jason Easley

Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.

Awards and  Professional Memberships

Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association