Taking Us to the Brink...And the Dictionary
Okay so the credit rating of the United States has been downgraded by Standard and Poors, which at the very least is an embarrassing event for America. While this is the prevailing headline (as it should be), no one should overlook another amazing event that happened in the process…we have new word (at least to me) in our expanding political vocabulary: Brinksmanship! (I had to save that in my tablets dictionary to make that happen). I first thought this was a completely new word to our language but I remembered that only Sarah Palin creates new words in politics. So what exactly is this new and terrible word that we now have to deal with?
According to the official statement from standard and poors concerning our credit rating:
“The political brinksmanship of recent months highlights what we see as America’s governance and policymaking becoming less stable, less effective, and less predictable than what we previously believed. The statutory debt ceiling and the threat of default have become political bargaining chips in the debate over fiscal policy”.
This year has been littered by near-misses and pushing events to the edge, knowing all the while a deal will be made no matter what. Who has been responsible for this brinksmanship? Both parties to be honest, but in the eyes of the media and maybe even the general public the Republicans are the knew going to take the heat. During this negotiation process, Democrats quickly transformed into the party that was willing to compromise first and that put the GOP at a disadvantage. No matter how the message from the GOP was spun every action from them came off as unreasonable, especially while Democrats stayed true to the “balanced approach” message. It is true that in any argument you don’t always have to be the aggressor to win you sometimes just have to be willing to compromise first. By “less stable, less effective, and less predictable” is Standard and Poors referring to the countless deals presented and shot down over the past months? These are the ones I can remember off the top of my head (In no chronological order); The Biden talks, Obama-Bohner deal (that the Speaker of the House walked out on), the Gang of Six proposal, Obama with Congressional leaders (namely Eric Cantor whose feelings were apparently hurt), etc. It became obvious that this important issue became nothing more than a ploy to have other goals accomplished which were completely unrelated to the task at hand. When was the last time a raising of the debt ceiling was accompanied by spending cuts in the exact same deal? This is what a congressional budget is for, or that’s what I thought. Even as the spending cuts in the deal were announced and analyzed I kept feeling like there was a better deal on the table for both sides and Middle-Class Americans that should have been reached had this not been drawn out for months. It might be okay for you or me to finish a task at work on the day of the deadline, but that isn’t always the case. And when Congress fights on a global stage down to the very last day it never looks good no matter what. In the end, the game was a draw and everybody lost.
Overall the statement by S&P does not endorse or condemn the debt of the United States, but the political wrangling raised a red flag to the point that one of the oldest financial organizations known to man had to think twice about the way we settle our debt. I am not surprised by the reasoning for the downgrade, but the stunningly on point political critique as well as a new word to impress your friends and/or professors? Very impressive S&P, well done.
