We have climate change denial, a denial that the president is an American citizen, denial that Osama Bin Laden is actually dead, denial that torture doesn't work, and now we have denial that defaulting on the national debt is actually a big deal.
WASHINGTON – Freshman Republican Rep. Dennis Ross of Florida proposed privatizing federally-owned lands as a way to reduce the national debt.
"I'm not an economist, but I have maintained a household. The federal government owns 70 per cent of Utah, for example. There are federal buildings," Ross told Reuters in an interview published Tuesday. "If you need cash, let's start liquidating." [...]
Ross, a members of the Tea Party caucus, wasn't sure that inaction would be such a big deal. "I don't think Treasury has been up front with us," he told Reuters. "I am not convinced the sky will fall in on August 3."
Dennis Ross has "maintained a household!" Thats great, but so have most people, and that doesn't mean everyone is qualified to micro-manage the economy.
The government is not a household. The government is not comparable to a family which needs to "tighten its belt." And to be fair, President Obama has used the same language to describe the situation the nation currently finds itself in. I understand that he uses that language to appeal to a broader array of people who don't necessarily know anything about economics, but the use of that language also comes with the risk of giving people the wrong idea. Fortunately, the frequency in which the government is referred to as a household in need of belt tightening has been dialed down.
The notion that the treasury department may be misleading the public is a dangerous notion to entertain, but Dennis Ross is not alone in his beliefs. Republican budget-wizard Paul Ryan, flanked by other "default deniers," went as far as to say Wall Street would be okay with defaulting for "a day or two or three or four," which is basically the same thing as saying you would be okay with going into economic-cardiac arrest for "a day or two or three or four."