This column by Ron Fournier got my blood boiling this morning.
He, once again, elevates the alleged "debt crisis" over the actual economic crises we are facing right now. Even though the "debt crisis" -- even if you assume that the U.S. government, which prints the world's reserve currency can even HAVE a "debt crisis," -- won't be a problem for at least 10 years.
What if "Fix the Debt" and the Pete Peterson scolds were running the country during WWII?
Put aside the actual fact that we went into massive debt to fight WWII. Let's give these people the benefit of the doubt and assume that the wouldn't oppose going into large debt to defend the country from destruction.
But, they argument for attacking the "debt crisis," means elevating a long or medium term threat over actual present threats.
In practical terms, their prescription for fighting the future "debt crisis," would be to ignore the present crises -- and perhaps even make them worse -- in order to solve a future problem.
We currently face a serious unemployment crisis. We have a massive income inequality crisis. Yet, rather than addressing these issues, these debt worries want to make those problems worse in the short run to deal with a speculative problem in 10-15 years.
Never mind that going into austerity mode actually is self defeating even on the debt worriers own terms because it cuts economic growth.
But, here's an even more absurd way to illustrate how dumb these people are.
If we take their arguments to the local extreme, they'd have declared war on the Soviet Union in 1941 rather than Germany because, in 10 years, Stalin would be big threat to the United States.
So, of course, let's ignore the CURRENT threat, and arguably make things worse. If they rebut this logic by saying that, of course, they would fight Hitler first because he posed such a huge threat. But, so does unemployment and income inequality!
When they prioritize debt over those actual, present crises, they are admitting they don't think those things are a problem. So, in effect, we have a 3rd crisis on our hands. We have a crisis of indifference to human suffering.