How the GOP Could Crash the Economy Next Week
Shutting down the government is really just the beginning when it comes to Republicans’ efforts to sabotage the economy.
With less than two weeks to go before an unprecedented default on our obligations, Republicans are digging in and threatening a global economic calamity that could be even worse than the 2008 financial crisis and subsequent economic collapse.
Conventional wisdom and anonymous Republican sources had suggested that Speaker Boehner (R-OH) would do whatever it takes to avoid a “catastrophic” default, but Boehner himself had quite a different message during a Sunday television appearance.
The Speaker said that unless President Obama and Democrats agree to a laundry list of Tea Party demands, the country will be on “the path” to default.
It’s no wonder then that Bloomberg News warned today of a “financial apocalypse” that would “dwarf” the collapse of Lehman Brothers in 2008. Markets plummeted this morning and closed the day down and at least one major U.S. bank is reportedly stuffing extra cash into its ATMs in anticipation of a potential run on the banks.
It also no wonder that a new poll out today found that the president’s approval has remained steady since last week but disapproval of Republicans’ handling of the shutdown crisis has shot up to a whopping 70 percent. A set of 24 polls of individual Congressional districts released yesterday found that Democrats could very well retake the House of Representatives if the election were held today, thanks in no small measure to widespread anger over the shutdown.
Still confused about the difference between the harmful and unnecessary government shutdown and a catastrophic and unprecedented default we could face next week if Speaker Boehner continues to hold the economy hostage to the demands of the Tea Party? ThinkProgress has a great explainer comparing and contrasting the current shutdown and potential default:
What The Fight Is Over
Shutdown
The government shut down on Monday night because Congress failed to pass a short-term extension of funding, known as a continuing resolution (or CR), by September 30, which would have kept agencies up and running. Typically, in “regular order,” the House and Senate both pass full budgets and then a bipartisan group of lawmakers hash out the differences to create a single budget that then guides specific bills to fund government operations. But after the Senate passed a budget in April, Republicans blocked the move to negotiate over differences 18 times. Since then, they began making a variety of demands, mostly to defund or delay Obamacare, in exchange for keeping the government open.
Debt ceiling
Congress raises the debt ceiling in order to allow the Treasury Department to borrow enough money to meet all of the country’s obligations and pay back the debts it owes. That has happened routinely in the past, including seven times under President George W. Bush. But since 2010, Republicans have been attaching demands to an increase in the debt limit. This brought the U.S. to the brink of default, or the risk of the country being unable to pay its debts, in 2011. That led to the first downgrade of U.S. debt in history and major economic consequences. If the debt ceiling isn’t raised, some have claimed that Treasury can simply “prioritize” payments, or in other words decide which bills to pay first, such as Social Security checks and debt creditors. But many, including Treasury Secretary Jack Lew, multiple Republicans who worked in the Bush administration, the conservative American Enterprise Institute, Goldman Sachs, and the Bipartisan Policy Center, have said that that plan is unworkable. And even if it were workable, it would still mean the country didn’t pay some of its bills, which could have a big impact on how lenders view the government.
Economic Impact
Shutdown
The government shutdown has been estimated to cost $300 million a day at the start, a price tag that will accelerate as it drags on. All told, it could shave about 1.4 percent off of economic output, and If it lasts between three and four weeks, it could cost the economy about $55 billion. Compared to past shutdowns, this is already one of the largest and longest because it isn’t just taking place during weekends and it is impacting virtually every government agency. This racks up costs in a variety of ways: The loss of paychecks for the 800,000 furloughed federal workers will suck about $1 billion a week from the economy. Federal spending will be reduced by about $8 billion, which could reduce GDP by 0.8 percent. Shuttered national parks cost local communities $76 million a day. The government will also lose out on billions in tax revenue. In the end, the shutdown will likely end up increasing the deficit.
Debt ceiling
The U.S. has never actually defaulted on its debt, but while it’s unknown just how bad it would be, all signs indicate that the impact would be catastrophic. The Treasury Department has warned that it could create “a recession more severe than any seen since the Great Depression.” Its report looked at what happened in 2011, when the country barely skirted by default, and found that episode led to a sharp fall in consumer and business confidence, intense turmoil in financial markets that “persisted for months,” and a slowdown in job growth. If the U.S. actually defaulted on debts, investors could become unwilling to lend to the country, something that “forever raises our borrowing costs and lowers our standard of living tomorrow,” as Matthew O’Brien writes at The Atlantic. At the very least, it will result in essentially a 32 percent government spending cut at a time when spending cuts have already been hurting economic growth.
Who Gets Hurt
Shutdown
While the impact of the shutdown hasn’t been felt across the board, there were many people who experienced hardship right away. About 800,000 federal workers were immediately furloughed, sent home without paychecks and legally barred from doing their work, while those deemed to be “essential” workers had to report to work without getting paid either. Basic services in many Native American tribes have been cut off because they rely heavily on federal money. About 2,300 low-income preschoolers weren’t able to go to Head Start because their programs were awaiting grant money on October 1, and thousands more could experience the same impact. Funding for WIC, the nutrition program for low-income mothers and their infants, stopped receiving funding, as did TANF, or welfare, and food stamps job training programs. The impact will ripple out to domestic violence programs, Meals on Wheels, and food pantries that rely on federal donations. The shutdown is impacting other things that will have long-term impacts for everyone, such as health agencies that can’t respond to potential epidemics like the flu or the halting of investment in important scientific research. Even the rich won’t be spared.
Debt ceiling
In two words: probably everyone. We know that the last time around, when the country narrowly avoided defaulting, household wealth fell by $2.4 trillion between the second and third quarter of 2011. Retirement assets dropped by $800 billion, and the average new mortgage holder, who borrowed about $235,000, saw an increase in monthly payments of about $100 on a fixed-rate conventional 30-year loan. The immediate impact of the reduction in government spending would slow the recovery. But it could throw financial markets into serious turmoil, putting the country back into recession. Missing one interest payment on debt could send the S&P stock index plummeting by 45 percent. Some have said it could have a worse impact than the fall of Lehman Brothers, an event that resulted in the stock market losing half of its value. It would also raise interest rates for all borrowers, from the government to taxpayers.
Frighteningly, many Republicans in Congress have convinced themselves and their constituents that a default would be no big deal or even a good thing. Majorities of Republican voters and Tea Party members believe we could default “without major problems.”
They’re wrong. Very wrong.
BOTTOM LINE: An unprecedented default on our obligations would lead to a global economic catastrophe. Congress needs to vote to reopen the government and to pay the bills Congress itself has already racked up. Agreeing to avoid a senseless economic crisis is not a concession to President Obama, Democrats, or anyone else. It’s simply Congress’ job.