A last-minute cave-in by the Republicans has, temporarily, delayed a disaster, but not before serious and lasting harm has been done to the United States.
Perception is reality.
In the eyes of the world – and some Americans – the US is looking increasingly like an ungovernable banana republic.
We detail this today in:
GOP insanity does lasting harm to the “full faith and credit of the United States.
It may never recover.
The economic damage this is causing is palpable; the geo-political effects yet to become evident.
But the signs were everywhere in world media over the past few days. They were notably absent from the American press – largely focused on Washington – with some noteworthy exceptions.
We Not Only predicted the political outcome in
GIGANTIC MISCALCUALTION: GOP will cave on impasse but even before that weighed in on the global phenomenon of American decline in As US influence wanes in Middle East, new threat emerges
Indeed, the decline of America is well under way, but far to few in the US seem to know – or care.
The clearest evidence so far came Tuesday in The Guardian in the UK.
In an astute Comment is Free posting Americans need to discover how the world sees them
Timothy Garton Ash writes:
“It's not just in the arena of soft power that perceptions are also realities. As George Soros keeps pointing out, that's true of financial markets.
“Huge damage has already been done. Politically, in the eyes of the world, the full faith and credit’ of the US has been further eroded.”
Congress may have punted the crisis for three months, but it’s too little and too late prevent the damage the Republicans have already cause.
In the (K)now