Is the GOP refusing to raise the debt limit because:
They want to make Biden look bad, so they can take back the White House?
They want to destroy democracy and replace it with authoritarianism, so they choose chaos to undermine faith that democracy can work?
They just blindly do whatever their nutjob, wealthy benefactors, who truly hate social security, and Putin, who hates democracy, asks of them?

Unstable, Petty and Dangerous https://politicususa.substack.com/p/unstable-petty-and-dangerous?

#GOPIsUnworthyOfOffice
#GOPKillsEconomy
#GOPLovesPower
#GOPHatesDemocracy
#GOPInBedWithTheRich
#ChaosIsThePoint4GOP

"Republicans are openly identifying as the party of economic instability, danger and pettiness.
...
House Republican Budget Chair Rep. Jodey Arrington (R-TX) said that his party’s tactic of using the debt ceiling as a bargaining chip could not only turn dangerous, but it has to turn dangerous.

@andrewrsorkin: “The question that I’d ask you is whether you think this debt ceiling is going to be used as a bargaining chip in a way that could turn dangerous?”

House GOP Budget Chair @RepArrington: “I believe it will and I believe it has to.”

This is very odd. It’s not normal or business as usual to admit that your party’s strategy is meant to be dangerous to the economy. This is recognition that their party stands for economic instability, because they believe that is how they can get the policy outcomes that they can’t get by regular order and traditional methods of debate on the floor, in daylight if you will.

It’s not a secret. Rep. Jeff Duncan (R-S.C) wants cuts in Social Security, Medicare, and “other welfare programs” (notice that big business, big oil, big pharma subsidies and tax cuts are not mentioned).

The reason they can’t win their policies in the sunlight is because cutting Social Security and Medicare are not popular ideas and are theft from the people who’ve been paying in to Social Security their entire working lives.

But still. The party that was fine with increasing the total national debt by 39% to $27.75 trillion under Donald Trump. They voted to suspend or raise the debt limit three times under Trump, twice when they controlled the House and Senate.
...
It turns out, they don’t even have an end game that will stop their assault on our economy.

“McCarthy has members of his conference who will vote against a debt ceiling hike no matter what's in the package.

"No," Greg Pence told me when asked if he would vote to raise the debt ceiling if it included "every" single one of his priorities,” CNN’s Manu Raju reported.

So this economic terrorism is not actually even about policies.

What else will happen if they default? Moody's has estimated default could result in 9% unemployment, a $15 trillion loss in household wealth, and a 4% drop in GDP. Also, at least temporary default on payments like Social Security, veterans’ benefits, etc:
...
Ok, so they want to cut Social Security but also there is nothing Democrats can give them that will stop their default, if certain Republicans are to believed.

Perhaps the point is to inflict pain upon the Democrat in the White House out of pettiness because their party lost. After all, it has long been established that Republicans deploy the terrorism tactic of holding the entire U.S. economy hostage when there is a Democrat in the White House. Yes, this is a fact and it’s not “both sides,” no matter what the New York Times’ social media tells you.

Here’s an analysis of this issue from Aaron Blake:
...
In the 10 debt ceiling votes under a Republican administration, an average of 65 percent of House Republicans and 74 percent of Senate Republicans voted in favor of adjusting or suspending it. But in Democratic administrations, those numbers decline to 24 percent and 20 percent, respectively.
...
A generous take on this behavior is that the Republican Party has fallen to a performative party of sadistic glee that is ruled by self-interest of the kind that plays to the cameras for that Fox News hit of themselves owning the libs by punching a snowflake veteran and a hungry child in the financial gut. This is what their base wants, having been fed vindictiveness and rage by the billionaire funders of conservative media for over a decade and now the base controls the party.
...
The less generous take is that these folks are out of their minds due to something going on behind the scenes, thus inflicting chaos to undermine democracy is their goal.
...
The motive for this behavior is harder to ascertain but the likely outcome is known to them, and so it’s important to ask WHY. Most likely, it’s a combination of both takes depending on the individual. But the bottom line is party first and American people last. It’s certainly not patriotic behavior."

Under Biden, More Jobs Created Than Last Three GOP Presidents Combined - National Memo https://www.nationalmemo.com/biden-2659082778

#Economy
#GOPKillsEconomy

"The latest jobs report shows that the unemployment rate has also reached a 50-year low.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics on Friday released its jobs report for December 2022, showing that 223,000 jobs were added to the economy, while the unemployment rate has fallen to 3.5 percent.

The new report shows that a total of 10.7 million jobs were added in the first two years of President Joe Biden’s term. By contrast, under the three Republican presidents who preceded Biden — Donald Trump, George W. Bush, and George H.W. Bush — U.S. job production was much slower.

At the conclusion of George H.W. Bush’s four-year presidency in 1993, 2.6 million jobs had been created. During George W. Bush's two terms, between 2001 and 2009, 1.3 million jobs were created; and 3 million jobs were lost during Trump’s single term.

Trump has the worst record on jobs since the Great Depression, and is the only modern president who left office with a negative jobs record. Under Trump, unemployment hit a record high of 14.7 percent in April 2020, and when Biden took office in January 2021, the unemployment rate was 6.3 percent.

Biden’s record is more in line with those of his Democratic predecessors, Barack Obama and Bill Clinton, with 12.5 million and 22.7 million jobs added during their presidential terms, respectively.

The current unemployment rate of 3.5 percent is the lowest since 1969. The bureau's report also showed an increase in employment for workers with disabilities to a level higher than before the COVID-19 pandemic. Unemployment among Black and Hispanic workers also fell.

“Today’s report is great news for our economy and more evidence that my economic plan is working,” Biden said in a statement. “We still have work to do to bring down inflation, and help American families feeling the cost-of-living squeeze. But we are moving in the right direction.”

Biden noted additional actions by his administration designed to help the economy grow, including construction projects underway that are funded under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. Biden also cited efforts to strengthen supply chains and expand domestic manufacturing with legislation like the CHIPS and Science Act.

“We have more work to do, and we may face setbacks along the way, but it is clear that my economic strategy of growing the economy from the bottom up and middle out is working,” Biden added."