Stuart Varney's Got a Way With Words

Should President Obama and the Republicans fail to make a deal on raising the debt ceiling before the August 2^nd default deadline, the potential for crisis is “very real,” Stuart Varney of the Fox Business Network told Imus today, in his ominous English brogue.
 
To make matters worse, Standard and Poor’s, which issues credit ratings, announced this morning that if the U.S. misses even one payment, its rating, along with its financial reputation around the world, would be downgraded.
 
“That’s a very serious thing,” Varney said.
 
The pressure on Obama and on Congress has therefore been “ratcheted up,” in his view, and the chance the country could default on its obligations remains very real, with just $172 billion flowing into the Treasury in August and $307 billion that needs to flow out.
 
“Somebody has to get shortchanged, somebody has to miss their check,” Varney said. “We’ve got enough to cover Social Security, we’ve got enough to cover interest on the debt, pay the troops, pay the soldiers, pay Medicare.”
 
There would not be enough funds, however, to cover defense contractors; IRS refunds; food stamps; unemployment benefits; or education spending. “Something’s gonna give after August the second if we’re not allowed to borrow some more money,” Varney said.
 
Raising taxes is not even an option as far as Republicans are concerned, and so House Speaker John Boehner and Majority Leader Eric Cantor are focused on making spending cuts instead.
 
“I agree with that,” Varney said. “It is President Obama who has spent us into this mess with the stimulus plan; record government spending; expanding Medicaid; expanding unemployment benefits. We are in a spending mess!”
 
Varney believes tax-hating Republicans would consider closing certain tax loopholes for corporations or cutting subsidies to, say, oil companies, in an effort to increase revenue. “They would certainly go along with selling some government property,” Varney added. “That’s a revenue raiser, nothing to do with raising taxes.”
 
The pressure to make a deal, in his view, rests squarely on Obama’s shoulders. “If he doesn’t get a deal, he would be the first President in American history to preside over a default, and the first President since 1917 to preside over a downgrade,” Varney noted. “I don’t think he wants to be in that position, regardless of who he can blame.”
 
He was loath to say that either side was “bluffing,” but believes both Obama and the Republicans are willing to go right up to the wire, which is actually more like early next week, since any deal would have to be legislated and passed before going into effect.
 
Varney’s gut feeling is that a deal will be made soon. Imus’s gut feeling is that this was just another instance where his British-born guest is saying the exact same thing as Connell, or Dagen, or Bernard, but sounds way authoritative because of his accent.
 
“He could say anything to us!” Imus said. “Plus, he’s wearing one of Charles Payne’s suits.”
 
-Julie Kanfer