Apparently, Republicans are so hell bent on returning to power that they are willing to push the economy back into a recession to do so. Let’s hope the American people come to understand just how misguided and dangerous the Republican and Tea Party debt ceiling threats are. And let’s hope that happens soon.

With housing prices trending further downward, this month’s jobs and unemployment report signals just how close to the edge and fragile the American economy is. Only 54,000 new jobs created in May, and a rise in the unemployment rate to 9.1 percent, signals big trouble for Americans still out of work, and for the economy as a whole. Moody’s is now warning that if the debt ceiling isn’t raised soon, it will downgrade the U.S. government’s credit rating, which could set off a new global financial crisis.

The truth of the matter is that no one is doubting the American economy’s capacity to carry the debt burden. We’ve taking on high levels of debt and successfully worked ourselves into fiscal health before. What creditors are beginning to wonder about is whether the Republicans and Tea Party fanatics are just crazy, or stupid, enough to actually force our government into default.

What’s needed is a long-term budget agreement to put our financial house in order. An agreement that will restore consumer, business, and financial market confidence. Long-term, no one in either political party believes that the government can continue to borrow 40 cents out of every dollar it spends. No one is arguing that we need to keep spending and incurring debt at current levels. A compromise on a long-term debt reduction plan needs to happen soon so that it can be implemented beginning with the government’s fiscal year 2012 budget

The greatest source of uncertainty facing the American economy has been, and continues to be, Republican/Tea Party threats related to funding government and raising the debt ceiling.

To listen to the Republicans, the Obama administration is creating uncertainty in our economy that is deterring private sector job creation. It’s the government’s fault — by way of government overreach in the form of taxes that are too high, regulation that is strangling the private sector, and President Obama’s government takeover of health care in America.

Nothing could be further from the truth. Anyone afraid to hire workers because of a few percent increase in marginal tax rates probably shouldn’t be hiring anyone anyway. Regulation intended to protect the American people from environmental pollution and financial fraud and malfeasance will only inhibit job creation by major polluters and white-collar criminals. And the Obama health care law when fully enacted in 2014 will if anything bring a little competition into the health insurance industry and help stabilize health insurance premiums.

While they do need to be able to predict their costs, employers need even more to have confidence that consumers and other businesses will create sufficient demand for the goods and services they produce. Economic demand for goods and services is the only real driver of job creation.

Republican propaganda notwithstanding, government bailouts and deficit spending saved the economy by propping up demand. Without the intercession of the Federal Reserve, and the bailouts and economic stimulus by the Bush and Obama administrations in 2008 and 2009, the United States would probably have led the world into a second Great Depression. And this second Great Depression would likely have by far exceeded the first in terms of human suffering.

The biggest drags on the economy and job creation have without any doubt been Republican threats to shut down the government and to force the government to default on its financial obligations. Republicans and their tea party allies are playing a game of chicken with nothing less than the full faith and credit of the United States. The American people better wake up, or they might one day find themselves living through not just a great depression, but the collapse of capitalism.