this is from an old post (2013):
Well it is National Debt time or soon to be and what passes for the village idiot, Senator Jim DeMint of the banana republic of South Carolina thinks that carrying the time bomb is his right and duty. He is up for a game of "chicken" with the President over the debt ceiling. Problem is that he isn't driving his car. He is driving ours. Let me explain my position.
What is really going on here is "starve the beast". Social programs are somewhat sacred to the populace. These are programs that everyone criticizes, no one wants to pay for, but everyone expects to be provided. Funding them, along with the Department of Defense, grab up about all the money there is. So folks in Mr. DeMints party and the rather extreme wing of it, love defense but hate to pay for social programs so if there is a push come to shove over raising the debt limit they figure they can virtually wipe out a number of programs dating from the New Deal onward (defense, being the right wing's sacred cow - will of course stay whole) in some sort of brinksmanship trade to fund the government. They figure Mr. Obama and the democrats will blink and give in.
The threat is "cut or default" on the national debt. Most economists with an ounce of sense also say things like worldwide depression of 30s magnitude when they talk about consequences of default. They also note that this period, when the economy is so fragile, is NOT the TIME to be pulling money out of it.
So let's get this straight; Senator DeMint and a bunch in the House of Representatives - likely a majority there - have borrowed the family car and are barreling down the road right at you and you are hoping that they blink and turn chicken. At the very least, they can filibuster debt extension so they hold the steering wheel. Just remember it is your car they are playing with and your insurance policy that is going to get its premiums upped to some unimaginable rate.