You've heard about the sell-off. Now to all the carrying on about this debt.
So, we're going to kick things off a little bit differently on this show today. Because frankly, in the midst of this debt ceiling hysteria. That's all I can call it. I step back and say you know this is kind of long overdue today.
I've heard so many distortions, so many lies, so little time.
So six days from supposedly doomsday, may I be the first to say no doomsday. So why don't we just all calm down here? And let's be clear:
Let's Be Clear Point No. 1: We will not default if the debt ceiling isn't raised by next week. Now we will default if we willingly miss payments to bond holders next week or any week. That never changes.
Let's Be Clear Point No. 2: Republicans aren't the ones who risk not paying those bond holders in that event. Only the president has the power to pay, or not to pay, those bond holders in that event.
Let's Be Clear Point No. 3: Missing a debt deadline does not mean the government is dead. Taxes will still be coming out of your check, I'm sorry to say. So tax revenues in Washington will be alive and well.
Let's Be Clear Point No. 4: The credit ratings agencies won't give us a pass if we just meet this debt deadline. They'll still cut our debt if there's no real spending restraint attached to that deadline.
Let's Be Clear Point No. 5: We're on the brink of a downgrade not because we're bumping up against a deadline. We are on the brink of a downgrade because of all the spending and deficits that have lead up to this deadline.
Let's Be Clear Point No. 6: You can't say Tea Partiers are holding up this process because they won't budge on taxes and not say the same about liberals holding up this process because they won't budge on spending. Just be fair here.
Let's Be Clear Point No. 7: Democrats can't say Republicans are playing politics, not wanting to raise the debt limit now, but they weren't five years ago, when not a single Democrat voted to raise the debt ceiling back then.
Let's Be Clear Point No. 8: The president can't say he's the adult at the table and not the one pointing fingers and then holding pressers and speeches blaming republicans for acting childish.
Let's Be Clear Point No. 9: You can't say spending isn't the problem, then with a straight face say you worry about whether you can send out 80 million checks to people getting paid by the government, only a small portion of which are Social Security and Medicare checks from the government. That's a lot of checks. That's a lot of government. That's a lot of the problem.
Let's Be Clear Point No. 10: And Mr. President, this one's for you -- you can't say the other side has brought us to the brink on this budget, when your side didn't even offer a budget. Not this year. Not last year. And not the year before last year.
So that my friends is where we stand. Sorry to go on and on. But that is where we stand. That is the real deal. A government deep in debt. Two sides trying to fight it out. Both sides playing politics.
Nothing unusual is holding this process hostage. Business as usual is what is holding this process hostage.
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