Ali Velshi didn't get the memo
Apparently CNN business anchor and reporter Ali Velshi
didn't get the memo about how Very Serious People understand that deficit reduction is the most important issue facing the economy today:
BLITZER: Is this deal, Ali, so much focusing in on America's AAA credit rating, but at least in the short run, do you think it's going to spark this U.S. economy and we're going to see some growth, some job creation?
VELSHI: No, because this was not the problem. While Republicans and Tea Party members have been very effective at painting this as the single biggest problem that the U.S. economy is facing and that helped them succeed in the last mid-term elections, economically, it isn't. It was always a distant second to jobs and economic growth. So the problem is we've got way too many unemployed people.
Look, there's three things affect you, right, your ability to earn a living, your ability to have your investments increase in value, and your home. This isn't going to do anything for housing whatsoever. This does nothing for jobs. And in terms of investment, all this has done is cost us because of this game they've been playing in Washington. So no.
What would be fantastic, Wolf, as we saw -- if we had seen this kind of passion go into dealing with job creation and how we do that. This doesn't do anything for the things that -- the underlying things that make an economy better. This was a long-term problem. It was never the most pressing problem, and it's been painted as the most pressing problem, and basically, it's wasted a lot of time where we could have actually been solving the most pressing problems.
But hey, the good news is that now that we're close to getting the debt ceiling debate over with, we can finally start talking about jobs again, right?
Sure. That's exactly what we'll do, because there'll finally enough oxygen in the room to talk about jobs ... at least there will be until the Super Congress starts working on its plan to cut another $1.5 trillion from deficit.
But first Congress needs to go on vacation for a month or so. After all, they've got a busy election year planned for 2012.