7 Deadly Spins: A Guide to GOP Debt Ceiling Denial

When it comes to holding the economy hostage, not all Republican members of Congress are created equal. While economists and financial-services experts are nearly unanimous in their view that failure to raise the debt ceiling on October 17 would be disastrous for the nation's economic health, Republicans on Capitol Hill are divided on the subject. They can't even agree that it's even possible for the government to default—let alone whether running out of money to pay America's bills would really be such a bad thing. Here's a guide to where Republicans fall on the debt ceiling denial spectrum:

The Debt-Limit-Is-Too-Damn-High Caucus: What's wilder than opposing raising the debt ceiling? Proposing to lower it. But in 2011, Rep. Paul Broun (R-Ga.) wrote a column in the National Review Online proposing a bill that would do just that: "Admittedly, this is not your run-of-the-mill kind of law," he conceded. "My one-of-a-kind bill offers a real and true solution for our fiscal dilemma, and I wholeheartedly hope that my colleagues will either ante up—or try their luck at another profession." Broun has since moderated his view. Sort of. He told NRO he'd support a debt limit deal on one condition: "America is going to be destroyed by Obamacare, so whatever deal is put together must at least reschedule the implementation of Obamacare."

The #YOHO Caucus: One member of Congress is on the record saying that a default would be a good thing. Rep. Ted Yoho (R-Fla.) raised eyebrows last week when he told the Washington Post that a default "would bring stability to the world markets." He explained that view more fully in a town hall in his district: "The creditors that we owe money to around the world would say, 'You know what, they're getting their house in order.'" Back on Earth, China, the largest foreign holder of US debt, told Washington it had a "responsibility" to raise the roof.

The Default-Deniers: A growing group of Capitol Hill Republicans believe that a government default is out of the question, even if Congress punts on a debt ceiling hike. Rep. John Fleming (R-La.), for his part, dismissed the notion that members of Congress should listen to economists who say Republicans are playing with fire: "Economists, what have they been doing?" Rep. Justin Amash (R-Mich.) argued in an interview last month that the country would avoid default so long as the government could continue to pay off interest with new revenues: "Democrats have a different definition of 'default' than what we understand it to be. What I hear from them is, 'If you're not paying everything on time that's a default.' And that's not the traditionally understood definition." The view has taken hold in the upper chamber too. On Monday, Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) sought to "dispel the rumor that is going around that you hear on every newscast that if we don't raise the debt ceiling we will default on our debt—we won't." Economists disagree. Tim Bitsberger, a George W. Bush administration Treasury Department official, told Bloomberg that a missed payment "would blow Lehman out of the water," referring to the investment house whose collapse triggered the 2008 financial crisis.

<snip>

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/10/seven-types-debt-ceiling-denial