Earlier, I had speculated on the beneficiaries of US default. But besides the global chaos in financial markets, will real people be harmed if the debt ceiling is not raised, the US defaults and is unable to pay its bills? Sadly, yes, and in multiple ways.
Here's a random list of consequences for flesh and blood people:
Hospitals and nursing homes which rely on medicare and medicaid payments will have a hard time meeting their payrolls and paying their vendors. Some will close; others will cut back services. Inevitably, sick and helpless people will suffer, and some will die.Your cousin who relies on at home oxygen? Medicare pays for it, only now it won't have the money.
The FAA is already partially shut down, due to congressional dysfunction. Default and drying up of federal dollars will mean that traffic controllers and other workers essential to air travel will be unpaid. Airports will cut back, or close, crippling travel. The State department will cut back, slowing or stopping issuance of passports. Planning an essential business trip, or a flight back home to attend the funeral of your cousin? Good luck.
College students counting on federally backed student loans and federal grants will be unable to pay their upcoming tuition bills; their colleges will be forced to freeze or slash their payrolls and stiff their vendors. School districts around the country relying on federal dollars from title one and other programs will be unable to pay their bills. Were you hoping to teach or learn something this year? Oh well.
Federal law enforcement and courts will be unable to function; trials will be delayed, investigations will be put on hold. Federal agencies grappling with flood control efforts in the midwest will be compromised.
While arguing that democrats must make a deal, any deal with republicans, Richard Adams in the Guardian says:
Some of the Republican nay-sayers may even believe the – how can one put this politely? – nonsense about a default being a way of curbing the growth of government. Well it is, assuming you also think that one way to lose weight is by cutting off your head.
Who is responsible for this upcoming disaster? Ultimately, the voters who put tea partiers in office. When grandpa is kicked out of the nursing home, and your aunt dies because her hospital shut down, our neighbors, friends and relatives who voted for these irresponsible ideologues should be called to account. Votes do matter, and sometimes they kill people.
(Cross posted at Possible Experience )
