The Cost of Gridlock...or...A Billion Here, A Billion There

Well, the bill increasing the debt ceiling passed. Were you surprised? This after a month of some of the most useless political posturing, showboating and name calling in a long time. We have seen our political system degrade to the point that a handful of elected officials who claim a mandate from the people (but actually represent 4 or 5 percent of voters) can hijack a critical issue for our Nation and use it for their own political ends. And the reality is that after all is said and done, the hard work remains. As Charlie Cook put it in an article yesterday in the National Journal, “The stakes are so high and the performance is so utterly disappointing. The goals of most of the debt-ceiling proposals being debated are so modest that victory would really be a defeat in terms of what needs to be done.” In fact what we accomplished was an increase in the debt ceiling of something like .08% from $14.3 trillion to $16.4 trillion in exchange for $2.4 trillion in spending cuts and a additional unspecified cuts of cuts of $1.5 trillion to be determined by a bi-partisan commission before Thanksgiving.

So my question is this. What is the cost of the fighting for what is right for the party rather than what is right for the Nation? Had Congress been able to work together for the Nation what other business would they have been able to accomplish to deal with issues like job creation or next year’s budget to run the Government. Here a re just a couple of points to consider.

· The FAA’s legal authorization expired on June 23d. While no air traffic controllers are off the job, the agency does have has almost 4,000 employees on furlough and has suspended more than 70,000 construction jobs. Since Congress has decided to start a month long vacation a week early the agency will lose an additional $1.2 billion in airline ticket taxes before Congress returns to work on September 8. In the meantime, FAA safety inspectors are using their personal credit cards and funds to pay for airline tickets and hotels to perform airline safety inspections to keep us safe.

· The treasury has spent an addition $1.2 to $1.5 billion in interest to make US securities attractive in the face of Congressional paralysis.

· Numerous government agencies still have not been given a budget for 2011 (which ends in less than 2 months. While these agencies were funded through a continuing resolution through September 30, that means they can only operate at FY10 levels so all of the small companies and entrepreneurs who would have benefited from new work have been unable to receive a contract this fiscal year. Did I mention that small companies are the largest job creators in the US?

Something has to change. I am not sure what it is but as a voter I have a voice. Perhaps we should start from scratch and fill the House and Senate with new faces. Of course some of the new faces were the reason this crisis happened in the first place. Perhaps term limits would help. What about a third viable party? I wish I had the answer, but I don’t. You can bet on the fact that I will be looking for one.