A billion here, a billion there. Pretty soon you're talking about real money.
Flippant remarks about wasteful spending, yes. But not something traditional Republican penny-pinchers would joke about.
Think again. The GOP's terminal cancers, Tea Partiers in Congress, just cost Americans some $24 billion in unrecoverable economic damages.
The 16-day government shutdown they inspired--a failed ransom attempt to defund or delay Obamacare--kept 800,000 furloughed federal employes from performing tasks for which they'll be paid anyway.
Thousands of contract employes, however, won't receive their lost pay. And thousands of businesses catering to federal employes, operations and sites also will eat monumental losses.
What a joyful preamble to the holiday season. And guess what? In three months, debate resumes on funding the government and raising its debt ceiling. (20 OCTOBER 2013)
