Rick Scott: Don't Raise the Debt Ceiling

Gov. Rick Scott is either pandering to the tea party or is absolutely clueless about the effects not raising the debt ceiling would have on Florida.

"The impact would be minimal," Scott said.

The markets have already started to panic about the debt ceiling not being raised.



Despite this Scott says the markets will be just fine.

"I don't think anybody knows, because it's never happened," he said. "I believe the markets understand where the federal government is. They understand where the spending is, so I think the market has already priced it in."

Several states will go broke without federal revenue. Scott's own internal report shows that health care services would be shutdown. There is uncertainty in what other Florida agencies would have to shutdown. Scott's solution is don't raise the debt ceiling.

Scott was thrown off in the CNN interview when it was pointed out to him the debt is not current spending but repayment previous borrowed money from past bills created by Congress. Scott also sticks to the talking points. When Scott is forced off the talking points he sounds clueless. Scott is so clueless that he is advocating that the United States breaks the 14th amendment and not pay its debt.



Update: Adam Weinstein has harsh words for Scott's appearance on CNN.

Scott's latest crusade is to argue against any rise in the federal debt ceiling—an issue in which he has no official say, and whose basic economic consequences he seems to grasp not one jot. (This week, Scott said Florida would see no effects from a US default; his opponent in last year's gubernatorial race, former state CFO Alex Sink, called his statement "clueless...That's Florida Budgeting 101.") The beleaguered guv took his case to CNN today, and managed to get himself yelled at by two anchors. At one point, Ali Velshi gave up. "Why is this difficult for you to understand, governor?"