Why the Debt Ceiling Debacle Is a Good Thing

FROM the Mean Street blog by Evan Newmark, Wall Street Journal Online:


"Thank goodness for the utter mess our politicians are making down in Washington.

It’s not only good summer entertainment. It’s also giving the American public the one thing it needs most: an education on just how screwed up we’ve become, both in our nation’s finances and in our collective mindset....


The debt-ceiling “crisis” is exactly what America needs as our $14 trillion debt careens towards the point of no return.

The dueling Obama and Boehner press conferences, the red-faced screaming on talk radio and cable TV, S&P’s threat to cut America’s AAA rating, the stock-market jitters, the family fights over whether Grandpa really needs the Medicare-funded knee-replacement surgery – bring it on!

The bigger and more intense the debate, the better. How else will America ever come face-to-face with the hard choices it has to make?

After all, millions of Americans are still living under the illusion that there is some magical Social Security lock-box to fund their retirement or that they’re only taking out of Medicare what they paid in or that some new taxes on the wealthy will solve all our fiscal woes....

As we head into this weekend, ask yourself the following: Would I rather have my politicians fighting each other in Washington over the debt-ceiling today, or my neighbors fighting each other in the streets when the nation goes bankrupt five years from now?

That’s why this debt-ceiling mess is a very good thing, indeed."

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Link:
http://blogs.wsj.com/deals/2011/07/28/mean-street-why-the-debt-ceiling-debacle-is-a-good-thing/