Dining and the Debt Ceiling
It would appear to the uninitiated that this bizarre governmental scenario regarding the debt ceiling is nothing more than political posturing: each side trying to score points by appearing to be more zealous about trimming our debt than the other. But the seasoned pros who cover the morons masquerading as our elected officials know the sobering truth: their level of ignorance of our fiscal system borders on the appalling.
My old grad school buddy is a reporter in Washington who recently happened to be at a Washington restaurant while John (the tan man with no plan) Boehner sat with a group of freshman tea party reps dining on Maine lobster (would you have expected burgers??). My friend heard enough of the heated conversation to understand that the tea partiers had reached a new level of zealousness that had unnerved even the emotional speaker who appears to be able to weep on command. “Really, we brought this on ourselves and now we have to pay for it,” said one earnest young rep. “I mean, don’t you think this default-as-Armageddon talk is a bit much? What’s the worst that could happen?” Now this was from a sitting United States congressman.
Boehner apparently winced and began to reluctantly recount the world-wide catastrophe that could occur were the US to go into default on Wednesday. He talked about the fragility of the world markets and the apparently inexorable slide into chaos that is happening in Greece. Still the tea party zealots were unmoved. “Not one more dime on the backs of my children and grandchildren” thundered one tea partier (ironically, this is apparently the guy who owes his ex-wife $117,000 in back child care payments). Still another shouted “Greece is not a relevant example.” (wonder if he knows where Greece is?).
And so it went. My buddy sat in slack-jawed amazement as these leaders of the country the world looks to spoke of the “mandate” their constituents had given them for zealous reform and how they all intended to vote “no” on the upcoming vote on the debt ceiling compromise. But my friend got no sense that beside their moral outrage, these reps had no real clue of the intricate workings of the new world economy. He also noticed they were drinking bottles of a particularly pricey Chardonnay as they downed their lobsters and the crème brûlée to follow. Wonder what PAC picked up the tab for that dinner?
The moral of this little tale my friend recounted is that zealousness in the absence of information and the ability to intellectually process said information has no real value to the average US citizen. The only thing the dinner was missing was Michelle Bachman who was unable to weigh in with her staggering array of illogic and dubious facts (Jefferson freed the slaves!!!). But that’s because she was in Iowa munching on corn dogs and going about the business of running for president!
God help us all!
