The big problem with this piece is it isolates out the debt ceiling from the debt. That wrenches the current negotiations out of the context of federal government spending and taxation. That’s a killing mistake and makes this piece worthless.

Let me add some of that back in and maybe Salmon can start to make sense of what’s going on.

The USFG is projected by everyone to take rapidly increasing shares of the US GNP under even very optimistic assumptions. That’s a certain catastrophe for this economy: economists estimate that 25-35% of GNP for all levels of government maximizes growth. Under Democratic proposals and baselines, the USFG takes at least that amount, just for itself, for decades to come. That is a catastrophe for economic growth: it entombs our economy in a permanent rotting decay.

That problem isn’t solved with more tax revenue, it is exacerbated. Because it is certain that politician-weasels will spend every penny of revenue and use more revenue to leverage even more spending. There is NO prospect that Obama or the Democrats would make any substantial spending cuts in the foreseeable future. The Obama budget that was unanimously defeated this Spring increased spending across the board, in fact.

The debt is a related, but distinct issue from the total portion of the economy that politicians take to hand over to their cronies. And escalating debt also crushes the future by undermining economic growth. More importantly, my son is 1 year old and unless we take action, his life chances will be substantially undermined. He and your sons and daughters will be handed massive debt that they will have to pay back. That is, by my account, evil. What sort of moral disaster thinks its ok to consume today and force their children to pay for that consumption the rest of their lives? Evil.

This moment is a chance to do something meaningful about both of those problems. To scale back the size of the federal government and to meaningfully lower federal debt. Felix Salmon, Megan McCardle, Harry Reid, and Barack Obama need to think things through, this one time, and do the right thing, this one time. Instead of what they are doing.

If there were an unintelligent person in the Chinese leadership, how would we know, considering that information doesn’t flow freely?

I have some experience of living in countries that aren’t democracies or aren’t full-fledged democracies. Sure, from time to time people there really do say, and mean, things like “We need our own Pinochet” or “You can’t have a free press in Asian countries” or whatever — but I think that mostly has to do with believing they can’t change the situation themselves.

Now instead of beefing about things like who is in favor of dictatorship, or whether or not we like Obama and why, the logical conclusion is that it is on us (at least, adult American us, the rest of you can just sit back and throw brickbats) to get these dunderheads out of here if they can’t accomplish the simplest things.

The USA is paying debt with debt, so yes, I consider that a default. Do you consider paying your bills with a credit card a payment? (Oh hell, what am I saying, as a former banker you do)

That is why banks and governments say that their financing and budgets are not like ours… because we could never get away with such folly… but neither eventually (or all too soon) will they.

jorge62, they voted for a guy who none of the media would say a bad word about, actively hid anything negative whilst printing any old BS the opposition had including obvious hoaxes. Given it was in the middle of an economic meltdown, with a highly unpopular republican president and the fact he had the black population sewn up I suspect if the Democrats had slapped a rosette on an actually donkey it would have won.

Mr Salmon, thought you were a fan of people who dont pay their loans back

http://www.thenation.com/article/161975/ sabotaging-healthcare

I would say your mess was pretty well ensconced by Bush when he took your country and many others to war paid for in debt. And giving tax breaks while going to war was plain stupid. Republicans were elected because the American populace jumped on the propaganda bandwagons and will again.

You are not only broke, you can’t pay the interest. i would say a country that is defaulting (yes I said you already defaulted when you are borrowing to pay interest)should have Republicans doing the right thing and look for revenue and not just cuts.

Being you enjoyed the lowest taxes ever, whilst being in a recession that could have been as bad as the great Depression (and could still go there) perhaps it is time ludicrous ideology didn’t trump common sense.

My point, which you seem to have missed completely, is that China, while a dictatorship, is also a meritocracy. For the most part (there is some nepotism), you do not get to a position of power within the CCP unless you are pretty damn smart. So people with the intelligence level of most Tea Party members would never be able to achieve power in China. Probably two-thirds of the members of Congress would not even be deemed intelligent enough to join the CCP.

In the US, things often get debated to death and nothing gets done…in China things don’t get debated (although issue are dicussed vigorously within the CCP), but things get done. So it’s a mistake to think that one approach is universally better than the other. They both have aspects that are good and bad.

But let’s face it….if today’s GOP was in power in the 1950′s, the interstate highway system would never have gotten built…

Obama is done for, Congress is disorganized, and the Federal Reserve is clueless. The people who need to know how to respond in a crisis, are creating the crisis itself.

Congress, as the third pillar in the checks and balances system, must cooperate, and the Supreme Court must provide tacit or implied approval. The cogs in the system are there to prevent dictatorships and unilateral decision making.

MFW13 may enjoy dictatorial decision-making, but what if that was a Tea Party supporter making unilateral decisions as a President? In a dictatorship, how would you get rid of that Tea Party dictator?

Republicans blocking the debt cap is the sometimes messy result when a side has determined that it IS the dictator of terms. To which end, democracy triumphs, because recalls and elections allow Americans to throw these people out of office, if they choose to do so.

Such threat of being thrown from office gives Americans the power to redirect elected officials by way of communicating their desires. The problem is, the rhetoric hasn’t yet changed the minds of the majority of people, because its representatives have not yet effectively won the battle of rhetoric.

Sometimes you get a Pearl Harbor, because the group thinking fails to change in time. So be it: I’d still rather have a messy democracy than an imposing dictatorship.