They Lost, however...
Nobody won, either
posted about 11 years ago
In a negotiation, there is give and take between both parties. When one party makes unilateral demands and threatens the other party, it's called extortion.
- Defund Obamacare
- Delay Obamacare
- Delay Individual mandate
- Deny coverage to President, Cabinet, and congressional staff
- Deny birth control coverage
- Reduce federal employee pensions
- Expand oil drilling on public lands
- Lower restrictions on coal-fired power plants
- Rescind EPA coal-ash regulations
- Block net neutrality
- Tort reform
- Tax gifts to the wealthy
- Repeal Medical Device Tax
- Approve Keystone Pipeline
- Means-testing for Medicare
- Change rules on Debt ceiling
They got nothing. Zilch. Zero. Zip. Nada. They lost and, along the way, made people hate them, some 75% of the adult populace.
Since they lost, does that mean everyone else won?
The recent government Shutdown wasted $24B in direct costs.
$700 billion has historical resonance. It is the yearly revenue for Social Security withholding and, not coincidentally, the 2008 bailout figure suggested by the extant head of the treasury. It is a liquid asset not unlike laundered drug money.
The Macroeconomic Advisors LLC press release lays out the damage in charts and numbers. Their full report PDF also has some predicted effects of a default, not the least of which is a 1% increase in unemployment in the first quarter afterwards.
We still have a tattered system of checks and balances in place, so all is not immediately lost.
(edited about 11 years ago)
