Political Quotes

“I was very encouraged with today's reports that the Republican leadership is planning to teach their Members about how the debt ceiling works. This is a very good sign, especially after the embarrassing first week with 15 votes to elect a Speaker, and the House leadership ending up exactly where it started. Unfortunately, the leadership is hallowed out, but they have empowered the exact same element or any other faction who want to hold the Speaker hostage. But there is a key difference going forward. They are playing games with the full faith and credit of the United States, which is underpinning the global economy. Note, the debt ceiling is not just a way station on the way to a full government shutdown. While government shutdowns have real costs and consequences, the debt ceiling has massive ramifications that you cannot unwind. This game of chicken with the global economy is very much more consequential. You can recover from the shutdown. But the Trump attacks on professionals, for example, drove thousands of people out of government service, and it is going to take years and millions of dollars to repair. These implementations of political slogans have real consequences. In the end, I suspect we will be right where we started. The only way to reduce the deficit, to balance the budget books, is to actually reduce government spending, which they refused to do in the Trump administration when they were in total control of the government.…”