Republicans are trying to usher in another global financial crisis: columnist
House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) has announced some of the policies that he and the GOP members intend to usher in if they take over Congress in November.
Writing for the Washington Post, Catherine Rampell cited polls saying that most expected voters trust Republicans when it comes to economic issues over Democrats.
Thus far, Republicans have pledged to make cuts to Social Security and Medicare. McCarthy also announced that there won't be any support for funding to help Ukraine fight off the Russian invasion. He has also stated that the GOP intends to fight to raise the debt ceiling, which would shut down the government.
"Refusing to raise the debt limit is like going to a restaurant, ordering the lobster and a $500 bottle of wine, and then declaring yourself financially responsible because you skipped out on the check," she wrote.
IN OTHER NEWS: Trump posts ominous message about ridding America of the 'cancer' of 'the danger from within'
"But it’s unclear why they assume Republicans would do any better," she wrote.
Republicans have done nothing but attack Democrats and their policies, Rampell explained. They haven't proposed any actual solutions to the problems they identified.
"The GOP has not said how it would tackle inflation or other major economic challenges, including a recession," she wrote. "This is the party, after all, that had no platform in 2020; and when Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) was asked in January what Republicans would do if they regained the majority, he dodged."
“That is a very good question,” McConnell said, “and I’ll let you know when we take it back.”
ALSO IN THE NEWS: 'Where's the beef?' Special master knocks Trump's lack of evidence on document claims
McConnell thinks that the 2022 election should be a referendum on Biden, but the GOP agenda is nothing more than a blank slate where voters can posit their assumptions.
She noted that the same Americans who say they support the GOP agenda also oppose things within the GOP agenda like thinking that corporations pay too little in taxes, said manypolls. The Republican philosophy is also to cut taxes to the highest wage earners, but Rampell said that doing so is likely to make inflation worse.
Refusing to raise the debt ceiling means that the U.S. Tresury securities won't be as stable, and they're assets under which most other countries view their benchmarks.
"If we default on our debt obligations — or even come close to default — that raises the question of the riskiness of everything else investors buy and can send shockwaves of panic through every other market," she wrote. "Boom, financial crisis."
The last time it happened, the U.S. credit rating was downgraded for the first time in history.
But according to the polls, Rampell said it's clear people living in a context-free world think the GOP stewardship of the economy will be safe.
Read the full column at the Washington Post.
Leave a Comment
Related Post