Financial Crisis is in the Eye of the Beholder, Mr. Toomey

Republican Senator Pat Toomey, arguing that a failure to raise the debt ceiling would not result in a default on the US debt obligations, but only a necessity to prioritize federal spending, put it this way:

You're telling us that if we have to delay a payment to the guys who mow the lawn around the Mall, that would have the same kind of impact and cause the same kind of financial crisis that would result if we failed to make an interest payment on a Treasury security... that's just not true.

Well, I would say that it would definitely have the same type of impact and cause the same kind of financial crisis for the guys who mow the lawn around the mall, and their families.

Mr. Toomey, are you even remotely aware that there are real people, outside of your elite little circle of friends and political supporters, who are not multi-millionaires and corporate executives, whose livelihoods are affected by your political games, who are worried about making their next rent and utility payments? You may not give a flying fuck about the guys who mow the lawn around the Mall, or around your house, but I can guarantee that their next paycheck has a much greater impact on their lives than your next tax cut has on yours.

--Dan