The deal itself will raise the ceiling by a trillion bucks, while also cutting about the same amount from the federal budget. No new taxes for anybody.
Yesterday, I finally got to the the July 11th issue of TIME. I found there a nice little essay by Fareed Zakaria, titled "It's all Greek to U.S." The peace was comforting in that Zakaria compress and contrasts Greece and America, pointing out the advantages we have, when it comes to managing our debts. He concludes, "Greece faces a set of terrible choices. In order to get more funds to pay its loans and bills, it needs to make draconian spending cuts and tax increases that surely will choke economic growth. The situation in the U.S. could not be more different. The solutions to America's deficit problems are relatively straightforward, almost simple." He then offers a couple of examples of how COngress could solve these problems, notably by following the recommendations of the Simpson-Bowles Commission.
But, he adds, "The great truth facing the U.S. is not that we lack solutions to our problems but that our political system seems unable to do anything. With a deficit as large as the one we face, it should be clear that we cannot sort things out through either spending cuts alone or tax increases alone.... And yet the two parties seem stuck in adolescent fantasies, one ruling out tax increases, the other ruling out any serious cuts in entitlement spending."
Adolescent fantasies? An interesting term. And there is probably some truth in it. From Congressman Anthony Weiner distributing photos of his weener (so, okay, he was wearing his Fruits of the Loom... at least in the shots I saw) to Sarah Palin's shameless exploitation of her ill-deserved fame to Arnold having a kid with his housekeeper to (lest we forget) Bill Clinton getting a BJ from his White House intern... yes there is an air of adolescence about our so-called leaders' (and wanna-be-leaders') shenanigans, leaving one to wonder whether (a) they give a damn about the nation, and (b) do they have any time left to address its problems.
In addition to adolescence, selfishness is another attribute that seems to infuse these folks. From Wall Street warthogs, who continued to guzzle mega-bonuses through near-bankruptcy, scandal, recession, federal bail out (you just can't screw the pooch, if you are one of these Masters of the Universe)... to their GOP cronies in Congress who seem bound by blood oaths not to tax away one dime of the ill-gotten gains... to their colleagues across the aisle, who won't touch an entitlement if it means losing a single vote in 2012. Ah, yes, the rugged individuals of 21st century America... me, me, me... it's all about me.
The third attribute that stands out in my mind is ignorance. A Simpsons t-shirt I once saw said, "Underachiever and proud of it." When it comes to general knowledge, this seems to be the new motto. Palin is as famous for what she didn't know during the 2008 campaign --- and apparently doesn't know now --- as for anything else we know about her. Michele Bachmann is apparently right in there with Palin. According to the same issue of TIME, the Tax Attorney cum Congresswoman recently confused John Wayne with John Wayne Gacy. You wouldn't want to make that mistake on a date, Ladies!
Adolescence, selfishness, and ignorance... now there's a combination for great leadership. I fear that far too frequently, that's exactly what the two major political parties are offering us. The debt-ceiling deal, as Zakaria's article indicates, is emblematic of this sad state of affairs.
Why My Dad Hates Ice Cream
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