The Govenrment Shutdown and Giving the American People What They Want

As the GOP battle to repeal, replace, defund or delay the Affordable Care Act, AKA ObamaCare, we hear one Republican after another saying they are only doing what the American people want.  We hear it over and over like a drum beat; "the American people do not want this...blah blah blah".  In one of the latest WSJ/NBC polls 38% of respondents say the law is a good idea versus 43% who say it’s a bad idea.  So, Republicans are listening to and supporting an entire 43% of the American people.  

How admirable of them. 

What I want to know is why are they not listening to and supporting the American people when it comes to passing some common sense laws requiring stiffer background checks on ALL gun purchases?  A Quinnipiac University poll taken Sept. 23-29, 2013 found that 89% of the American people polled support requiring background checks for ALL gun purchases.  This includes 82% of the Republicans, 95% of Democrats and 89% of Independents.  In addition, 74% of NRA members also support universal background checks.

Obviously, the Republicans are having an issue with what I like to call SHL or Selective Hearing Loss.  They will shut the government down for 43% of "the American people" who do not like ObamaCare, but do not hear the 90% of those same American people who want universal background checks.  

Yeah, it's all about what the American people want.

Understanding the Debt Ceiling Crisis

When I read Facebook posts and tweets about the debt ceiling it is clear that there are still many people that do not realize what the debt ceiling really is.  This explains why they do not also understand the consequences of default.  Here is a quick Economics 101 explanation.  According to the U.S. Department of the Treasury website: 

     "The debt limit is the total amount of money that the United States government is authorized to borrow to meet its existing legal obligations, including Social Security and Medicare benefits, military salaries, interest on the national debt, tax refunds, and other payments. The debt limit does not authorize new spending commitments. It simply allows the government to finance existing legal obligations that Congresses and presidents of both parties have made in the past."  

Simply put, raising the debt limit - or ceiling - allows the Federal Government to pay the bills that were created by a budget that was already passed.  I cannot emphasize that enough.  This does not allow the Government to spend more money.  In other words, they all got together and said we are going to fund programs that cost $X but we only have $Y to pay for them so we will just borrow the additional money.  In effect, we are putting the needed revenues on the Government credit card.  This is called deficit spending.  Now the time has come to borrow the money to pay for those programs; to pay our credit card bill that has come due.  Again; this is money that has already been authorized and spent.  However, now the Republicans are saying they will not allow that to happen.  They will not allow the Government to borrow that money to pay those bills.  Again; they already agreed to spend it.  What would happen to your credit if you refused to pay your credit card bill?  Now imagine that your credit card is the basis for the world economy.  

We already saw our credit rating take a hit from AAA to AA status in 2011 when the Republicans took the country to the brink of default before President Obama caved to their demands.  To be fair, the President has agreed to sit down and discuss spending - and new revenues - but not while the GOP is holding the full faith and credit of the United States hostage to get their way.  This is not the way we do things in America.  At least it's not the way we are supposed to do things but more and more this is becoming the case with the GOP.  This is not just a debt limit fight this time but a fight for the very way our democracy is supposed to function.  

Stand firm Mr. President.