After the Rain.

A Moment of Clarity.



Words.

"...The very vocal and visible recent bickering is causing more than transitory damage to U.S. growth and employment prospects. Remember, this debt crisis is not the result of an inability to pay; nor is it being forced on the United States by hesitant creditors. Rather, political posturing on what had been a relatively obscure and non-threatening legislative requirement — Congress gets to control the nation’s spending and taxes through other means each year — the debate on the debt ceiling has managed to bring forward in a very dramatic and disorderly manner fiscal challenges that lie down the road.

It is a matter of days before analysts engage in yet another round of unfavorable revisions to their outlook for the U.S. economy. Already muted growth projections will be cut further. On the back of a weak second quarter, the much-hoped-for robust recovery will again be postponed. As the already subdued job-creation rate is undermined and the average duration of joblessness is lengthened, the unemployment crisis will deepen.

It is far from certain that, in forcing spending cuts, a resolution to the debt-ceiling debacle will materially improve the U.S. economic outlook. Indeed, because of the standoff’s detrimental impact on growth and employment, it could tip the United States closer to the very debt trap that reformers are seeking to prevent.

Yet all is not necessarily lost.

Washington’s squabbles have touched a national nerve. Americans are shocked by politicians’ inability to compromise and the absence of a common analysis. An increasing number of citizens are expressing deep frustration with our political process. Their main message is simple: The country deserves better, and it desperately needs more responsible economic governance..."

THE WASHINGTON POST: After the debt-ceiling standoff is resolved