Grasping at Principles

   Personal income is up, people are spending more and saving more. Prosperity seems to be showing its pretty head even as the self-appointed magistrates of morality rant on about bad government, and are willing to shut it down to "make government listen," as Sen. Rand Paul put it on the Senate floor.
   Data-trackers at the Bureau of Economic Analysis said personal income rose $57.2 billion, or 0.4 percent in August, and disposable income increased $56.2 billion, or 0.5 percent. Consumer spending, or "personal consumption expenditures," in agency-speak, rose $34.5 billion, or 0.3 percent.
   Remember the Silent Majority? Now we have the Mouthy Minority threatening to shut the whole thing down unless they get their way and the Health Care Law is overturned.
   Their  latest list of demands includes more oil drilling and approval of the Keystone SL pipeline, dropped regulations on greenhouse gases, canceling support for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and making it harder to sue for medical malpractice. If they get all these, in addition to delaying health care reform for a year, noted a New York Times editorial, House Republicans would be willing to go along with approving a budget and raising the debt ceiling. Otherwise, the government shuts down on Monday and defaults on its obligations.
   What are the consequences of this supposed effort to save money by limiting and canceling government programs? Important government services would stop or be severely limited, including health and safety programs, government bonds would default, resulting in higher interest rates, and the overall cost of a shutdown would run into the billions of dollars. But no matter. The Mouthy Minority is so convinced of its own righteousness that they must have things their way.  Make them listen, no matter the cost.
   And what would be the cost? The independent Government Accountability Office (GAO) noted that by a mere threat of default two years ago, Republicans cost taxpayers $1.3 billion, and the ten-year cost of higher-interest bonds would run to $18.9 billion.
   But no matter. Senior citizens might not get their Social Security checks if there is no money available. The military would be paid in IOUs rather than cash. National parks would close as rangers as well as thousands of other government employes would be put on furlough -- without pay.
  And, of course, if people don't have paychecks they can't buy groceries or pay rent or buy gasoline for their cars. Not that it matters, since they won't have jobs to drive to. The economic wave would drown everyone.
   But no matter. There is a principle at stake. And if others die for the principles held by the self-appointed magistrates of morality, so be it. Meanwhile, the magistrates can continue to rant, even as others suffer.