Understanding Obama

[sasha031]

There are many things I do not understand about the progress of this so-called debt negotiation. But of many here's one that perplexes me the most. If Hill Republicans will not allow the government to continue borrowing money beyond the current statutory debt limit, I think there's probably a decent constitutional argument that the president must shut down parts of the government....And the most logical places to start are with Social Security payments and Medicare reimbursements. Stuff like cutting Social Security checks in half starting the following week.

There are plenty of ways you could piece it together. But I think it's fair to say that there's no way to do it without immediate and huge cuts to entitlements and the military. Discretionary spending just isn't a big enough piece of the pie. So why the adamant refusal to put this in front of the public?I think that this fundamentally misjudges Obama. Eventually things may come to this, but the fact is that he genuinely wants a deal. If he can't get a deal, then obviously he wants to maneuver things so that Republicans get the blame. But that's a fallback position. His primary position is that he genuinely wants to make a significant deal that includes both large spending cuts and moderate (but still substantial) tax increases. Once you understand this, a lot of seemingly inexplicable things suddenly make sense.

So why isn't Obama making it clear that Social Security checks will dry up if Republicans refuse to do a deal? Because that would put pressure on Republicans to simply cave in and raise the debt ceiling. But that isn't what Obama wants. He wants a deal.

http://motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2011/07/understanding-obama

[DJ13]

1. Social Security has its own fund, separate from the budget

Why would it be impacted?

[damntexdem]

4. Because that fund would still be part of an account with an negative balance.

[enough]

2. The OP mixes paragraphs from Josh Marshall and also from from Kevin Drum where Drum disagrees

with Marshall's viewpoint. Without making these sources clear, the OP is somewhat confusing. It's clearer at the link.

[Marrah_G]

3. Social security isn't part of the budget

It's a separate entity

[damntexdem]

5. But it's in U.S. bonds.

And the government might default on payments to its bond holders.