Mike Whitney — The “Debt Ceiling” Smokescreen

Here comes the Grand Bargain, if Boehner can sell it to the House when the extremists are set on defunding AFA instead.

Readers can see how the media is subtly shifting attention away from defunding Obamacare to negotiations on Social Security and Medicare. The two-party duopoly is using the faux “government shutdown” crisis to set the stage for a “compromise” on slashing vital safety net programs during upcoming debt ceiling negotiations. Obama will use GOP “hostage taking” as the proximate cause for caving in, saying that he had to give ground to prevent a catastrophic default that would have pushed the economy back into recession....

Obama has had his sites on Social Security and Medicare since he took office in 2008. It’s clear now, that he plans to use the cover of the stage-managed debt ceiling crisis to achieve his objective. 

Counterpunch
The “Debt Ceiling” Smokescreen

Mike Whitney

David Sirota — Right-wing coup: Deluded secessionists have already won

One way to look at it, but David Siirota misses the key  factor. The conservative movement is money driven and greatly enabled by Citizens United. The fact is that the GOP Establishment that engineered this, beginning with Nixon's Southern strategy, has lost control of the rubes it duped and they are threatening to burn the place down, much to the consternation of the Establishment of both parties.

Salon
Right-wing coup: Deluded secessionists have already won

David Sirota