Games Congress Plays

If anyone thinks for a second politics is not a game, then they are simply fooling themselves (or, they are simply naive to the entire process). As a Washington, D.C. journalist, I have seen obvious legislation that favor both parties turned into long delays and battling to the last minute for no reason whatsoever but the Republicans and Democrats are two polarized parties that cannot agree on anything.

Now, throw in the Tea Party, something akin to the Nazi Party in 1930s economically stressed Germany. The Tea Party are neither stubborn nor mean--they're just plain crazy. They make Mitch McConnell look like a nice guy. If McConnell thinks they're crazy, imagine what a moderate must think.

But, in politics, Republicans need to play nice with the Tea Party and they did so to the point of painting themselves into a debt-ceiling corner that makes them look foolish. Now what? When we turn to McConnell for his "wisdom," known by most as common sense, then this country has a serious problem. So now, I have to explain how this will all play out in D.C. political theater:

There will be no agreement on the budget and President Obama will get that 14th Amendment going at the last minute--maybe Monday night or Tuesday morning--and raise the debt ceiling. Then, the President can take credit for saving the country and the economic world. Good for him. He played it well because holding the debt ceiling hostage was so stupid that it's easy to make stupid people doing stupid things look stupid. End of story on the debt ceiling.

Now, onto the budget. If this budget does not have $4 trillion in cuts (which is low) it is a complete failure. I would accept $3.7 trillion, but it's still too low. Then, bring in another group of morons who painted themselves into a corner: Standard & Poor's Ratings Agency.

First of all, why do any of the ratings agencies--S&P, Moody's, Fitch--get any "credit" (don't pardon the pun) at all after the subprime debacle. Get rid of these losers for new ratings agencies that have no water under the bridge--no history of getting paid off for giving mortgage securities better ratings than they deserved. How is it that any respectable rating agency does not cut the U.S. debt rating with cuts below $4 trillion? Again, a political game played for the future of the United States of America.

Alas, a watered-down budget cut will keep the U.S. rating at its solid AAA because nobody is going to cut the U.S. debt rating until it's clear that the U.S. cannot repay its debt--somewhere between the bombing of Beijing and some small town in Kansas.

By the way, Japan holds the second largest amount of U.S. debt next to China. Don't you think they can use the money after more tsunamis and quakes than in the film '2012'?

So, the summer of 2011 ends with Greece on the verge of default, Congress taking a nice long vacation without a budget cut decision yet and the debt ceiling increased. Woo-hoo! That's the Congressional version of success. If I was that successful in my lifetime, I'd be lying on a street corner in the middle of winter asking for a dime because I'd think it was worth more than a quarter. Do I sound angry? You bet.

But who isn't angry at Washington, D.C. these days? They look like complete imbeciles--more so than usual. But, wait until Greece actually defaults, Portugal goes down, Italy falls and Germany and France are left holding the bag. Wait until residential housing pulls down the country further and we find that some of these commercial real estate trophy properties are losing value.

Wait until we realize consumers have no interest in spending for the holiday season. Then, wait until the value of the dollar continues its free-fall into October.

Then, we'll see Quantitative Easing 3 to whatever...or maybe we'll finally realize Wall Street addicts are controlling this game all along with their gambling addiction. The pusher-man, Ben Bernanke, the ultimate enabler, continues to feed their addiction until they--along with the U.S.--eventually crash.

Then we realize, our money is worth nothing. Perhaps we'll avoid that disaster in favor of a good-old fashion stock market crash from Wall Street bubbles.

I'll take the devil I know over the devil I don't know if we're going to keep on playing silly games.

Also, thinking of crashes, I'd like to take a moment to thank all of my readers who sent cards and letters wishing me the best in my recovery from sobriety. I'm happy to say I'm back up to a quart of bourbon a day as well as a toke or two of my favorite substance.

Thank you for your thoughts and prayers.

All the best,

Robert Michaels