Monday, August 8, 2011

How Screwed Are We?

Two weeks ago, I compared the morons in DC to bad divorce lawyers screwing up a case- obsessed by self-interest, indifferent to the greater good, controlled by belligerence, hostility and contempt for everyone with a different opinion.

My comparison was dead-on.

And now? The proverbial brown stuff has hit the fan. World markets have plunged. Savings and retirement portfolios are dissolving. Our nation's credit rating with S&P is worse than France's - although I fail to see why S&P has any business weighing in on our political wrangling.

Congress went on a five-week vacation immediately after dumping this mess on us. After they scoffed at warnings that their bs would lead to a bloodbath in the markets, and would hurt US credit standing enough to cause an increase in our borrowing costs (and a resulting increase in our debt). After they left us with an under-funded FAA that left airport construction crews stranded. They left, for vacations longer than any of us ever take. So now, they have lots of free time to put fingers at the other guys, blame them for the repercussions of months of ineffectual, blowhard politics.

Maybe they'll pay the price at the polls and not get another chance to screw us after the next election. Maybe they'll be looking for a real job then - although I suspect they'll be more successful than 9.1% of Americans.

Meanwhile, no one has a clue when the markets will bottom and how much more money we'll be losing. The only thing that's certain is, the bleeding can't last forever.