Why Help in a Crisis, When You Can Manufacture Your Own?

He forced House GOPers to vote to end Medicare as we know it, which turned out to be as spectacularly unpopular as conventional wisdom said it would be.  Now fresh on the heels of that disaster, freshman Speaker of the House John Banal is freshly threatening to hold the full faith and credit of the United States hostage to his impossible demands.

Banal announced to a Wall Street audience on Monday that his GOPers won't vote to raise the U.S. debt ceiling unless Dems and President Obama agree to budget cuts--not in the mere billions--but in the trillions. Such cuts would inevitably involve Medicare and/or Social Security.  Dealing with those programs has befuddled policymakers of both parties for decades.  But Banal demands that this be done in the next few weeks, or he'll turn the United States of America into the biggest deadbeat on the planet.

Of course he will not even discuss revenue increases: restoring sane tax rates on the rich or withdrawing arm-twisted handouts to oil companies now soaking Americans for every cent they can get at the pump.

There are only a few conclusions to make from this.  First, that Banal is a deeply stupid man.  Even if it's a bluff or "tactic," his threat is apt to panic already nervous markets.  And if he is not a deeply stupid man, then his intent is to cause economic havoc for possible political advantage, which makes him evil as well as stupid.

photo from CBS News

Meanwhile, add the Midwest to the regions requiring federal assistance because of extreme weather, as record flooding proceeds--including the highest flood crest in the history of the Mississippi River.  Why deal with an actual crisis when you can manufacture one, and be its star?