Still Going the Wrong Way on a One Way Street, Only Slower

By Grant Davies

Until this latest "deal" to raise the amount of money the government can borrow and print was agreed upon (by the people who caused the problem in the first place) our country was like a car going 70 mph the wrong way down a one way street. Now that the deal "fixed" the problem, we have slowed down to 60 mph. Whew! That was a close one!

Of course we haven't changed directions, we're still going the wrong way, but I feel like we have a few more historical milliseconds before we have a head on collision into a streetcar named Armageddon.

I guess buying time was the goal. Unfortunately, the time the politicians were buying is also being paid for with borrowed money.

While on vacation the last few weeks I had a chance to watch the tragi-comedy of Washington politics from a distance. At least the distance that my fishing boat was from the shore. Or the distance my rental cottage was from a town where a wi-fi signal could reconnect me to reality.

Actually, I tried not watch it at all. But like any other human being, I found it hard to avert my eyes from the slow motion car crash the country was heading toward.

I guess you can pretend not to care, at least for a few weeks, but in the end the problems won't go away just because you did.

So while on vacation I wasn't writing about things, but they were still occurring. And trying to wash them away with bratwurst and beer in the north woods just doesn't seem to work as well in reality as it does in theory. But at least I was in common company with the mopes who live in a fantasy world in Washington rather than Wisconsin.

Which reminds me of an old joke.

Man to congressman - "I saved $1 today"
Congressman - "How did you do that?"
Man - "Instead of riding the bus to work, I walked."
Congressman- "You could have saved $7 if you walked instead of taking a taxi."
Man - "Silly me! Heck, think of the money I could have saved by not taking a limo!"

It's not quite as funny when you understand that the US budget is determined that way. In the fantasy world of Washington, trimming your wild spending spree plans back a small amount while actually increasing spending significantly counts as "cutting."

But pretending in Washington doesn't work any better than it does in Wisconsin. The only difference is that the hangover from excessive beer consumption in a tiny fishing boat only lasts for a few hours while the consequences of living in a fantasy world on the ship of state will eventually cause it to sink.

And right now we are taking on water faster than we can make for shore.

I think I'll go back north, this reality stuff sucks.