The fight over keeping the federal government funded is taking place right now. The battle over the debt ceiling will follow. Historically, this limit has been raised with little fuss. Occasionally, raising the limit would be part of some larger bargain, but there was never any real talk of not raising the limit. All parties knew -- knew -- that it had to be done. The ramifications of not raising the limit were unthinkable. They were also unconscionable.
Not this year.
This year we have a very weak Speaker of the House gasping and grasping at anything he can to remain in power and a Minority Leader in the Senate in the same boat. This year we have loony senators unconcerned with national stability, only focusing on consolidating ideological and geographical power. And we have a president who knows that he was rolled in the past and seemingly understands that to continue this state of affairs is much worse for the country than would be a default on our obligations, not only in economic terms, but in terms Constitutional. I hope so because that's correct.
And sadly, I think that it is going to come to default. The Republicans believe that Obama is weak. And they believe that they are not just correct, but Right. The president won't blink. And they are not right, much less correct. And so, we will all go over the falls with them. American promises will mean that much less. And we as a people are already far more overextended in terms of both will and goodwill than we are in dollars.
Hopefully, I'm wrong. Hopefully, those historically pulling the nose ring of the Republican party -- big business and Wall Street -- will be able to knock sense into enough trough-feeders to get a deal done. As I said though, there are enough folks with enough power, but without enough good sense, to pull the house of cards we call Political America down.
So guard your jobs. Guard your wallets. Arm yourself with knowledge. And get ready for a very bumpy ride.
27 September 2013
No comments:
Post a Comment