While Washington fiddles, the American Economy burns

In 1997 Canada was downgraded to an AA+ rating just as the United States is right now.  It took us 9 years, and our government had to make some tough decisions in order to regain the triple A status. Prime Minister Brian Mulroney introduced the much maligned Goods and Services Tax (G.S.T.), and it cost him his job in 1993.  Then Liberal Finance minister Paul Martin cut transfer payments to provinces that impacted health care, and made such cuts to our military spending, and introduced tax reforms  They were lean times for a while, but it had to happen.  The G.S.T. is still hated now, but in hindsight it has probably has helped a lot more than it's hurt.  It's  created a constant stream of revenue- whether you have a job or not, you have to buy things- so you'll have to pay it.

The United States has a problem; it's not as bad as the markets would have us believe, but it is a problem.  And it seems nobody is getting the message.  It can't be blamed on Barack Obama- he's just the guy who happens to be in charge when it call came tumbling down.  This whole mess has been decades in the making, and he shouldn't be blamed for it.  Both Republican and Democratic Presidents have pushed the limit  without a thought of how to pay it off; now the country is over $1 trillion in debt, with huge unemployment numbers, trying to rebound from a sub-prime mortgage crisis, and avoid yet another recession.

Obama needs to acknowledge the problem; and he has.  However, he doesn't have some kind of solution (anything really).  He could toughen up, and promise cuts in government spending- wage freezes for public servants- maybe tell the Army they're going to have to go without new equipment for a year.  He could've told us he was going to lock his Republican counterparts and himself in a room- and they  won't come out until they reach a deal.  Or even, be the President who would dare to talk about tax reform, or adding some kind of consumption tax.  But he didn't; and that begs the question: does he really get it how serious a problem this could be?

But he won't do any of it because the Obama Administration, is going to an election year and they have to play it safe.    Just like the Republicans feel the need to attack them over everything while trying to make themselves look good.   While playing politics,  both parties lost touch with reality and forgot about the American people they represent.  They forgot it "is" about the economy stupid.  Not just the American economy, but the world economy too.   The American economy is slowly burning- and the politicians are doing nothing right now to put out the flames.