According to Republicans, we absolutely must reduce the deficit. "Americans are left to wonder: Could we one day find ourselves at the epicenter of [a debt crisis like Greece's]?" asks Rep. Paul Ryan. "Could a European-style debt crisis one day happen right here in the U.S.? The answer is undoubtedly 'yes.' And the sad truth is that inaction by policymakers to change our fiscal course is hastening this day of reckoning."Of course, in order for the US to suffer a debt crisis like they have in Greece, the rest of the world would have to go insane and begin to hate their money. Everyone would have to cash in all their bonds at once, regardless of maturity. For bondholders as a whole, this would result in taking a loss of billions of dollars. So those holding the most bonds would have to have a damned good reason to do it. This would only happen if everyone had some reason to believe that the bonds were worthless -- which, of course, no one does. Ryan's "day of reckoning" is fearmongering. There is no imminent run on America's bank. In fact, if there were, it would be irresponsible of Ryan to talk like this, since it would only serve to weaken confidence in the solvency of his own government. The fact that he feels comfortable issuing the warning so publicly is proof enough that he doesn't believe it. Then again, I suppose it's possible that he does think it's true and he's just an unhelpful idiot. Go ahead and pick whichever explanation suits you best; whether he believes his own nightmare scenario isn't relevant to this discussion.
What is relevant is a simple question; "If the deficit is the problem, what are you going to do about it?" Up until now, Republicans have felt safe offering sham alternatives to Democratic solutions. The GOP hasn't had to come up with anything that would actually work, since their opposition to most legislation has been a matter of political strategy; oppose everything, make Washington completely dysfunctional, then run against a dysfunctional congress by blaming everything on Democrats. It hasn't been especially good for the country, but it's good for the Republican Party and that's what really counts...[CLICK TO READ FULL POST]
