By Peter Galuszka
It’s been one hell of a week — with an emphasis on “hell.”
Thursday, stock markets taken more than 500 points following days of disastrous performance. Congress finally passed a bill that would raise the debt ceiling — meaning the U.S. magnanimously agrees that it will pay for money it has borrowed — and we have a new Congressional group that promises to cut federal spending in a way designed to gladden the heart of every little right winger out there.
Now there’s very real concern that the world will slip into a second recession after the recent one that was the worst since the 1930s. There’s all kinds of turmoil about. Debt crises in Portugal, Greece, Italy, and Spain. A boomsey-daisy Chinese economy built on overheated production and lending and artificially valued yuan. The currency in Europe that doesn’t seem to be pegged to anything. It was another sweet dream of the “End of History” types back in the 80s. The Japanese are still trying to crawl out of its “lost decade” more than a decade ago.
So what are we doing? In the words of Washington Post columnist Ezra Klein, “Washington just spent two months arguing over whether it would pay its bills or spark an unnecessary financial crisis.” Taken a step further, it means there’s not much leadership in Washington (Barack Obama included) and the “Boomergeddon” chorus is starting to sing way off tune and it’s getting hoarse.
We can talk all we want about the dire need to tighten our belts and stop spending. Mind you, the people who do most of the talking send their kids to private schools and want the cuts to be put on people not of their social or economic class. Cut tax breaks for the rich? No way! Even Obama is too scared to do that. Meanwhile, we now have old-stand-by George Allen, Mr. Republican, decrying raising the debt ceiling although he supported it with hesitation for years.
So, now, after dodging an artificial financial crisis we are stabilizing into a very real one. The Boomergeddon principles don’t work. That is plain. They were written with an eye towards getting the GOP as far as it could go in last fall’s elections. In other words, the ideals are of, so 2010.
We really need to do something globally and quick. That is going to mean another and bigger stimulus. Spending. Now. If the GOP doesn’t like it, screw ’em! Too bad Obama didn’t have the guts to just didn’t email Boehner and Cantor that, “Buzz off, if you keep on, I’m pulling a 14th Amendment and you can bitch all you want. See ya in court.”
It’s time to start acting and stop philosophizing about cuts, cuts, cuts. We need jobs, not. Polls show that 80 percent of Americans understand that.
