The (Fake) Debt Ceiling Crisis: The GOP’s Dangerous Gamble.
Unf*cking The Republic
UNFTR Media
4.9 • 683 Ratings
🗓️ 14 February 2023
⏱️ 13 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The debt ceiling crisis is a completely manufactured, self-inflicted wound that only the GOP sees fit to weaponize when it suits them. Forget the fact that it has been raised 78 times since 1960, 49 of which were under a Republican president—the House Republicans are determined to derail Biden’s economic gains any way they can. Today’s Topical Cream breaks down the fallacy of the debate and puts our budget in context with our debt.
Visit the episode's accompanying site page.
Chapters
Intro: 00:00:34
Section One: 00:00:58
Section Two: 00:04:11
Section Three: 00:09:31
Outro: 00:12:30
Resources
The White House: The Debt Ceiling: An Explainer
Congressional Budget Office: Federal Debt: A Primer
Center on Budget and Policy Priorities: Policy Basics: Deficits, Debt, and Interest
U.S. Department of the Treasury: Debt Limit
Investopedia: Why China Buys U.S. Debt With Treasury Bonds
NPR: < China's slice of the US debt pie
Center on Budget and Policy Priorities: House Republicans’ Pledge to Cut Appropriated Programs to 2022 Level Would Have Severe Effects, Particularly for Non-Defense Programs
CNBC: As U.S. hits debt ceiling, here’s what it could mean for Social Security and Medicare
National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare: Raising The Debt Limit: Impact on Social Security and Medicare
Politico: ‘Intellectually bankrupt’: Biden allies blast GOP debt-limit backup plan
Center on Budget and Policy Priorities: 5 Reasons Why the House Balanced Budget Amendment Is a Bad Idea
Population Reference Bureau: Aging Baby Boomers to Face Caregiving, Obesity, Inequality Challenges
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Topical cream, a pod listener's dream, unfucking the news and current events. |
| 0:11.0 | Topical cream, yeah, you know what I mean. |
| 0:16.0 | A quarter of an hour gets you our two cents topical cream. |
| 0:27.6 | UNFTRR! |
| 0:33.6 | Congratulations, America. We have yet another self-inflicted debt ceiling crisis on our hands. |
| 0:39.7 | The last time we were in this mess was 2011, when a Democratic president was dealing with the fallout of a Republican administration that went hog-wild on spending after cutting taxes. |
| 0:50.3 | Everything old is new again in the good old U.S. of A. |
| 1:01.4 | The last time we faced a grudge match over raising the debt ceiling, |
| 1:05.4 | the Tea Party band of the Republican Party had just taken over the U.S. Congress. |
| 1:10.1 | This wing tried to tie the annual raising of the national debt to social spending despite these two things |
| 1:11.3 | having nothing to do with one another. In effect, the argument then, as it is today, essentially |
| 1:16.2 | went like this. We won't allow the Treasury Department to borrow more money to pay for existing |
| 1:21.6 | debt until you slash spending down the line, potentially risking, you know, your grandmother's |
| 1:26.7 | health care and making it harder for poor people to live. |
| 1:29.9 | It's funny how defense spending never enters the picture at a time like this. Anywho. Fun fact, |
| 1:36.5 | Congress has acted on the debt ceiling 78 separate times since 1960, according to the Treasury Department, |
| 1:43.4 | 29 times under a Democratic president, |
| 1:45.9 | and 49 times under a Republican. So that MSNBC talking point that you've probably heard |
| 1:52.1 | Ednauzum is actually true. During the Tea Party reign of terror in Congress, three prominent |
| 1:57.8 | figures who called themselves the young guns, yes, they actually called |
| 2:01.5 | themselves that, were Paul Ryan, Eric Cantor, and Kevin McCarthy. |
| 2:06.5 | That Kevin McCarthy. |
... |
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