Have you ever seen more astroturf organizations? They’ve created anti-debt organizations for everything. I’m glad that Paul Stebbins feels like he has some responsibility for the Republicans’ debt-ceiling nihilism, but I don’t see what he’s done to fix it.
He doesn’t like it when people point out that he’s obsessed with throwing granny in the snow. But that’s objectively what he wants to do, at least to the degree that he wants less money in retirees’ pockets so that he can have an easier time competing with the government for investment dollars. He says so, explicitly.
“Business is about long term planning, and the cost of capital is a huge factor in your competitive ability. And the cost of capital’s going to be related to the long term fiscal viability of the United States. With $1.1 trillion in debt, I’m competing with the government for the capital, and that’s not good.”
So, while I appreciate that he thinks the debt defaulters are completely insane, and I’m glad that he realizes that business leaders are partly responsible for enabling and encouraging their insanity, I am not ready to accept his apology.
