Cliff Notes

 

Here we are, at the edge of another precipice. In a few days, we could have a partial government shutdown as Congress struggles to meet the annual budget deadline. Maybe it’s not quite as serious as a debt ceiling, but either way, looking over that edge, it seems like a long way down.

The interesting thing to me is, no matter how many news stories we hear about this, most of us in the audience are still sitting down and watching what’s happening. Suppose this were going on in, say, France? When will we finally get tired of it?

We are now in the middle of an economy that, statistically at least, looks pretty good. But economies are not judged by ups and downs as much as by stability. Does a government shutdown feel like stability to us? Is this how we keep a decent credit rating? And how is that the people deciding on a shutdown continue to collect their salaries while federal workers are cut off – and some of those required to work anyway? What’s that called?

It’s way too late to fix blame. Even if it seems obvious who’s at fault here, it doesn’t change the numbers. Math is a brutal thing. It doesn’t find fault for sins of the past nor permit magical thinking about the future. The problem is firmly fixed in the present.

Why must solutions only come at virtual gunpoint? Our leaders usually know months ahead of time that these deadlines are coming. Our federal legislators take multi-week summer vacations when they know full well that it leaves almost no time to reach  agreements. We could probably all agree that federal spending is too high, but is this the only way to deal with it? It seems far from what the late Senator John McCain would call “regular order.”

There are some in Washington who seem to really want to “burn it all down.” We likely know who they are. But these folks, let’s remember, are still in the minority. The only way the tail can wag the dog is if the dog allows it.