Betting Humpty Won't Break
In an interview with Hannity yesterday, House Speaker Boehner showed that he is taking the Powell “Pottery Barn (you break it, you own it) Principle” to the extreme in saying that “nobody believes that the U.S. is going to walk away from its obligations” if the federal debt ceiling is not raised by August 2nd.
If he wants to bet that financial markets will believe that an organization like Congress (if one can something that incapable of functioning an “organization) will take the necessary steps to avoid default on US Treasury debt after they’ve watched the fiasco that has unfolded over the past six months on this topic then he’s welcome to it. But he and his party then “own” the result.
I think that Speaker Boehner ought to spend a few minutes reading up on the Law of Unintended Consequences. Did he not learn anything from the last financial crisis in which the situation quickly got beyond the control of those responsible, and it was only through extraordinary means that control, such as it is, was restored.
If Boehner is wrong, and I think that he is, the potential tornadic impact of his cavalier treatment of the world financial markets will make Gingrich’s shut down of government in 1995 look like a gentle spring shower.
Here’s the full video: http://video.foxnews.com/v/1029441983001/john-boehner-on-hannity
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