Coming around
by digby
Here’s some more good news, sort of, from Greg Sargent;
Yes, the ground is shifting on the debt ceiling — big time. From the new Washington Post/ABC News poll:
More than eight in 10 — including 80 percent of Republicans — say there will be serious harm to the U.S. economy if the government cannot continue to borrow money to fund its operations and pay its debts after Aug. 2.
That more than eight in ten — it’s actually 82 percent, according to the internals — is up 11 points since early June.
Evidently, the majority of Americans have suddenly, and without warning, stopped listening to budget expert Michele Bachman and have decided instead to believe everyone else from Barack Obama to Warren Buffet to the Pope instead. What good sense.
The Post poll also finds that more trust Obama over the GOP on the debt limit, 48-39, and that a big majority, 62 percent, favor addressing the deficit with a mix of spending cuts and tax increases.
That would be great news if the President’s offer at the moment for “dealing with the deficit” weren’t trillions of dollars in cuts to everything including SS, Medicare and Medicaid in exchange for some measly “revenue enhancements” that won’t even be felt by those who are being asked to make this “shared sacrifice.” (Not that these Very Important Producers won’t scream like little babies if it happens.)
The American people may have come around to the idea that a debt ceiling “deal” should feature spending cuts and tax increases, but I cling to the old fashioned notion that neither of those things make any sense at the moment, especially the spending cuts.(Tax increases on the wealthy could be reasonably done since they are already sitting on a pile of cash they aren’t spending, but for some reason I don’t think that’s what’s going to stick in this deal anyway.)They shouldn’t even be talking about deficit reduction with 9.2% official unemployment and a stillborn recovery.
But yes, it’s still good news that people at least now understand that default on the debt isn’t a good idea. We’re moving that boulder one centimeter at a time.
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