Mike Johnson didn’t avert the shutdown — he accelerated it

[libertybele]

I was hopeful, but was also surprised that he was voted in unanimously. Now it looks like the surprise is on us, once again.

Mike Johnson didn’t avert the shutdown — he accelerated it

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said earlier this week that we “must prevent” a government shutdown because “that would do even more harm to our economy.” And with that, Johnson consigned Americans to the ultimate government shutdown of debt, inflation, and insolvency.

Johnson is planning to give Democrats everything they want with nothing in return. No spending cuts. No action on the border. Not even a real debate over those things. Instead, he is pushing for ... a debt commission.

Why are our leaders so shortsighted?

Here is what’s happening. Since Republican leaders agreed to raise the debt ceiling in June, the national debt has increased $2.3 trillion. In just that six-month period, the debt accumulation rivals the pace of debt accrued during the COVID shutdown in 2020. The difference, of course, is that official unemployment today is below 4%.

With interest rates skyrocketing as the Treasury seeks to incentivize buyers to purchase federal bonds, the United States has entered a vicious cycle of higher interest rates on ever-increasing debt. Interest on debt has now permanently surpassed the cost of our gargantuan military and is rivaling the cost of Medicare.

It’s game over. This is the meaning of the ultimate shutdown.

It's not just the $2 trillion annual deficits we are facing over the next year and every year thereafter. In the next 12 months, $8.2 trillion of existing government debt will be maturing. That $8.2 trillion should be accounted for as new debt because it will need to be serviced at substantially higher rates than when it was first accrued. The only thing that has been holding this Ponzi scheme together has been the ability of the Federal Reserve to turn a profit for the Treasury by earning money on bonds through reverse repurchase agreements. But with interest rates so high, the Fed is losing $700 million a day with operating losses topping $100 billion over the past year. .....................

https://www.theblaze.com/columns/opinion/mike-johnson-didnt-avert-the-shutdown-he-accelerated-it

[DefiantMassRINO]

Why would this time be different?

Doing the same thing over and over, and expecting different results, is insanity.

Punt on the remaining FY 2024 Budget.  See if you can negotiate some token savings.

Get to work on the 2025 FY Budget you want ... not the FY 2025 Budget foisted upon us my a never ending merry-go-round of crisis.

Deliver the FY 2025 Budget of your choosing unto the US Senate well before Sept. 30, 2024, and refuse Budget Reconciliation.  Make the US Senate take an up or down vote on the FY 2025 Budget, with no prospect of "Budget Reconciliation".

[Free Vulcan]

It's not just the $2 trillion annual deficits we are facing over the next year and every year thereafter. In the next 12 months, $8.2 trillion of existing government debt will be maturing. That $8.2 trillion should be accounted for as new debt because it will need to be serviced at substantially higher rates than when it was first accrued. The only thing that has been holding this Ponzi scheme together has been the ability of the Federal Reserve to turn a profit for the Treasury by earning money on bonds through reverse repurchase agreements. But with interest rates so high, the Fed is losing $700 million a day with operating losses topping $100 billion over the past year.

There's the money paragraph I was looking for, pun intended. Wondered where the other shoe was.

[Bigun]

It's not just the $2 trillion annual deficits we are facing over the next year and every year thereafter. In the next 12 months, $8.2 trillion of existing government debt will be maturing. That $8.2 trillion should be accounted for as new debt because it will need to be serviced at substantially higher rates than when it was first accrued. The only thing that has been holding this Ponzi scheme together has been the ability of the Federal Reserve to turn a profit for the Treasury by earning money on bonds through reverse repurchase agreements. But with interest rates so high, the Fed is losing $700 million a day with operating losses topping $100 billion over the past year.

[Maj. Bill Martin]

Why would this time be different?

Doing the same thing over and over, and expecting different results, is insanity.

Punt on the remaining FY 2024 Budget.  See if you can negotiate some token savings.

Get to work on the 2025 FY Budget you want ... not the FY 2025 Budget foisted upon us my a never ending merry-go-round of crisis.

Deliver the FY 2025 Budget of your choosing unto the US Senate well before Sept. 30, 2024, and refuse Budget Reconciliation.  Make the US Senate take an up or down vote on the FY 2025 Budget, with no prospect of "Budget Reconciliation".

You're thinking practically and strategically. Just stop.  It's more important to vent our frustrations and insist on courses of action that are impossible given whom voters have chosen to put in Congress, and the presidency.

I still think the oddest thing about the complaints that Congress isn't doing its job is that a majority of Republicans apparently are supporting for president a guy who has zero interest in controlling the deficit.

[berdie]

I'm curious what deal was offered to Johnson to take this thankless position.