The Six Billionaire-Engineered "Hostage Crises" of 2015 — A Handy List

[Click to enlarge.]

by Gaius Publius

In a tweaky tweet, the bipartisan right-wing organization and billionairist propaganda machine known as "Fix The Debt" challenged President Obama to mention seven "fiscal speed bumps" in his State of the Union address. He didn't, of course. Not his style to tweak back about anything but his victories.

But one person's "fiscal speed bump" is another's "hostage opportunity," and the bipartisan right-wing consensus has them all lined up. The graphic version from the tweet is above. Here are six set up for 2015 in handy list form (we'll look at the seventh, in 2016, another time):

February 27, 2015
Resolution funding the DHS expires

March 16, 2015
Debt ceiling reinstated (again)

March 31, 2015
"Doc fix" expires

Fall 2015
Debt ceiling must be raised (again)

October 1, 2015
Sequester returns
CR-Omnibus and CHIP authorization expire

December 31, 2015
Deadline for retroactive renewal of "tax extenders" (again)

You've seen what happens when the debt ceiling has to be raised (and I won't go into it here why the whole concept makes no sense). You've also seen what happened during the CR-Omnibus battle — the bipartisan right-wing coalition loaded it up with billionaire candy, knowing it was a "must-pass" bill, or at least could be sold as one to the easily (or eagerly) blackmailed. Even Obama lobbied for much of that candy, like the Wall Street–written "Citigroup rider."

The list of dates above? Six more bites at the billionaire-pleasing apple, which will surely be taken. Mark your calendars. It's going to be a fun year.

GP

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