John Boehner: Speaker of the House of Stubborn Hypocrisy

Not raising the debt ceiling will have catastrophic effects on the market.

Let me reiterate.

NOT RAISING THE DEBT CEILING WILL HAVE CATASTROPHIC EFFECTS ON THE MARKET.

Good.

Before we stave off the worst effects of having the most powerful nation in the world default on its financial obligations, a vote must pass the conservative-led House of Representatives, led by the affable John Boehner. The House has become so ideologically-driven that it now has the honor of being the "stubborn ass" of Congress. This title was formerly given to the Senate. The title changed hands after deficit hawks (Coburn, et al) showed that they are willing to consider "revenues" as a way to reduce the deficit over time.

Extreme conservatives, taking the House hostage, completely fail to see the forest for the trees. Political wrangling and negotiation over how to reduce the deficit should not play a role in raising the debt ceiling. Unfortunately, Speaker of the House Boehner (Chief Stubborn Ass) and Majority Leader Eric Cantor (Co-Lead Stubborn Ass) have connected deficit reduction with increasing the debt ceiling. Because I assume Cantor and Boehner are not completely ignorant (I have my doubts), I can only conclude that they have learned from their ultra-conservative colleagues about the value of brinksmanship.

Not only have Boehner and Cantor proved that the conservative perspective is completely myopic, but they have also vastly skewed the political playing field to the right, making any compromise inherently partisan. In other words, they have gotten used to Obama's compromises so much that the ideological center is on the political right. This was emphasized by Boehner's recent remarks going into deficit discussions. He said that a "balanced approach" that "most Americans want" is where the President and the left get a debt ceiling vote and the right gets massive program cuts without tax reform or raising "revenues."

They will not consider raising revenues because it is a job-killing move and will slow our recovery. The problem with that language is that it is a boilerplate excuse used by the Republican party to kill anything they don't like. I distinctly remember hearing "job-killing" about the healthcare bill, the financial reform bill, regulation of independent contractors in Iraq/Afghanistan, the energy bill, the transportation bill and a plethora of others.

Even worse is the hypocrisy inherent in their ideological-rigidity. They will not consider any form of revenues or tax reform because it might translate to some sort of higher cost to businesses over time (emphasis is on "maybe" as the tax code hasn't really been reformed). This will lead to higher unemployment because businesses will not be willing to hire more workers. But, they are more than willing to cut the budgets of many government agencies who employ people and offer guidance and financial support for the same businesses. This means less taxes to the government coffers, higher deficits, higher unemployment (which is not offset by the private sector) and less support for businesses. They fail to see how cutting indiscriminately has the potential to increase the deficit and unemployment. Unfortunately, when this does occur, their response to is blame the president and/or the stimulus.

This is not a compromise. This is political brinksmanship. While the president should be used to this kind of horse trading, he should not tolerate it when the health of the market is at stake.