The U.S. government is having no trouble borrowing to cover its deficit. In fact, its borrowing costs are near historic lows. And even the confrontation over the debt ceiling that looms a few months from now if we do somehow manage to avoid going over the fiscal cliff isn’t really about debt. ...Krugman, NYT
Instead, as Paul Krugman points out, it is about something important (for the right, anyway). And don't think that because they are wobbling, Republicans are no longer dangerous to this democracy.
No, what we’re having is a political crisis, born of the fact that one of our two great political parties has reached the end of a 30-year road. The modern Republican Party’s grand, radical agenda lies in ruins — but the party doesn’t know how to deal with that failure, and it retains enough power to do immense damage as it strikes out in frustration. ...Krugman, NYT
Well, that political party has done one helluva lot of damage already. The infrastructure of this country is collapsing. Part of that is neglect ("give us more wars, cut taxes") and part of that is global warming (climate change "doesn't exist"). The competitive power of America has been sapped (paranoia, "war on terror")
The rest of us, the realists, better get real because we have a big problem ahead.
Republicans have suffered more than an election defeat, they’ve seen the collapse of a decades-long project. And with their grandiose goals now out of reach, they literally have no idea what they want — hence their inability to make specific demands.It’s a dangerous situation. The G.O.P. is lost and rudderless, bitter and angry, but it still controls the House and, therefore, retains the ability to do a lot of harm, as it lashes out in the death throes of the conservative dream.
Our best hope is that business interests will use their influence to limit the damage. But the odds are that the next few years will be very, very ugly. ...Krugman, NYT
