Future historians ask: Why was Congress so stupid?
Dan Drezner tries to explain to future, post-apocalyptic historians how the world's most powerful country made an entirely optional, catastrophic decision. He wrote this July 17. It seems even more apropos this evening. When he says "human beings," of course, he's talking about certain Republicans of the Tea Party persuasion.
Why, why did these human beings maintain these beliefs in the face of massive evidence to the contrary? Why did these people continue to insist that default wasn't that big a deal when Federal Reserve Chairman Benjamin Bernanke (a Republican first appointed by Republican president George W. Bush) insisted that there would be a "huge financial calamity" if the debt ceiling wasn't raised? Why did their belief persist when Moody's, Standard & Poor's, and Fitch Ratings all explicitly and repeatedly warned of serious and expensive debt downgrades if the ceiling wasn't raised?Why did they stick to their guns despite news reports detailing the link between the rating of federal government debt and the debt of states and municipalities? Why did they stand firm despite the consensus of the Republican Governors Association and the Democrat Governors Association that a failure to raise the debt ceiling would be "catastrophic"? Why did they refuse to yield despite bipartisan analysis explaining the very, very bad consequences of no agreement, and nonpartisan analysis explaining the horrific foreign policy consequences of American default? Why did they not understand that even a technical default would cost hundreds of billions of dollars**, thereby making their stated goal of debt reduction even harder?
Most mysteriously, why did these people throw their steering wheel out the window despite witnessing the effect of the 2008 Lehman Brothers collapse, which revealed the complex interconectedness of financial markets?
Comments
This is the same kind of insanity that led the world into WW1 or led us into the Civil War. People who are oblivious to the consequences of their action who would rather take us all over a cliff than step back and consider the immense downside of their actions. There seems to be a sort of inevitability to what is being played out now in Washington - a force that has a life of its' own.
Posted by: Bill | July 28, 2011 10:14 PM
Why was Congress so stupid? Greed and selfishness! Let me repeat that. Greed (protecting the best interests of the filthy rich who are already filling the coffers of select Congresspeople) and selfishness (being irrationally bullheaded about this even though it will only result in the absolute destruction of our great nation...and beyond)!
Posted by: Attila the Hon | July 28, 2011 10:55 PM
It's easy. The Tea Party is based on something small, tiny really. A little smidge of ideology, a dash of easy answers, and a splinter of a single issue.
When you take one tiny piece from a large jigsaw puzzle, declare it to be the only piece that matters, and ignore the rest (most of which requires a bunch of boring study and information and stuff), then it's easy to take a stance that makes sense to your one, little jigsaw puzzle piece while ignoring how it impacts the rest of the puzzle.
Posted by: Harry | July 28, 2011 11:01 PM
My thoughts exactly.
Posted by: Michelle Brown | July 29, 2011 7:47 AM
Jay, may I send this text to my representative?
Hi Carolyn: Send the entire text from Dan Drezner's site. The whole thing is worth a read. There's a link in the post, but here is the whole URL. (Copy and paste to your browser.)
http://drezner.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2011/07/17/a_message_to_future_post_apocalyptic_historians_on_the_debt_ceiling
Posted by: Carolyn | July 29, 2011 8:31 AM
They are not necessarily stupid - tho many truly are. They are doing what they have been bought to do. They hope their buyers will take care of them after the rest of us are made very poor.
Posted by: mesns | July 29, 2011 6:34 PM