The Speaker and the Debt Ceiling Problem

The GOP will come together with the Democrats and raise the debt ceiling. This will happen in spite of whatever words that are uttered to the contrary.

Speaker Boehner rattled his saber in a speech to the New York Economic Club, emphatically stating that the ceiling won’t be raised without cuts of trillions. The Speaker is playing a game of chicken with the Democrats and his party’s Wall Street benefactors, in order to curry favor with the Tea Party folks, which the GOP needs badly in 2012. He and the GOP leadership will, in fact, get cuts, but no where near what they are demanding right now.

The ominous words aside, Boehner and the GOP leadership know full well that to even come close to the deadline without raising the debt ceiling will not only tank the US economy in a way that will make the mess of 2008 look like a walk in the park, but  would also  likely sink the entire world economy for an extended period of time.

The Speaker is playing to what comics call a “tough room.” He has to appease the Tea Party and their black and white approach to the debt, while reassuring the financial sector and our debt holders around the world that we will do the adult thing and raise the debt ceiling in a timely manner. The Tea Party came out today with a statement that any GOP Congressperson who votes to raise the debt ceiling will get a zero rating, and any that vote against an increase will get 100%. Tough room, indeed.