Bruce Bartlett On Republican Extortion

Eminent Republican Bruce Bartlett (senior policy adviser in Reagan and Bush I administrations, staffer for Congressmen Kemp and Ron Paul) has this to say about the real fiscal cliff:

"Much of what passes for fiscal-cliff concern is actually anxiety about whether Republicans in Congress will force a default on the nation’s debt in pursuit of their radical agenda."

Bartlett goes on to explain:

"In short, the debt limit is a hostage that Republicans are willing to kill or maim in pursuit of their agenda. They have made this clear ever since the debt ceiling debate in 2011, in which the Treasury came very close to defaulting on the debt." In Bartlett's view (and mine) " the debt limit is nuts. It serves no useful purpose to allow members of Congress to vote for vast cuts in taxation and increases in spending and then tell the Treasury it is not permitted to sell bonds to cover the deficits Congress created. To my knowledge, no other nation has such a screwy system."

Bartlett's solution: "when faced with an extortion demand from a political party that no longer feels bound by the historical norms of conduct, the president must be willing to do what has to be done." In other words, ignore the debt limit.