Drama in the Government (again but with more media)

    The United States became a superpower in the 1930s and, 80 years later, stands on the brink of losing that status. It rose to global standings at short notice, and its decline can occur just as abruptly. The partial government shutdown both reminds us that the United States has reached such a precarious position and shows us exactly how things can now unravel as it approaches the really big confrontation over the debt ceiling. Isolationism was a powerful idea in the 1930s and through 1940’s the United States felt burned by its involvement in World War I. The United States had created a vast military, won victories around the world and tipped the balance in the largest global conflict that we know of. All of this was based on the political decisions that while the nation should be careful with government finances, it was acceptable to borrow heavily under extreme circumstances. Smart financial understandings and when it should come under play helped to establish the United States economic standings. Now really stupid fiscal policy threatens to bring the United States down.

    The primary cause of any public money problem is not the ability of people to pay their taxes, it’s their willingness to pay their taxes or, as in the current situation in the United States, the willingness of their elected representatives to finance the government. This willingness is always tied closely to the truthful actions of the government and what they are able to perform. Does enough of the population think that the people with political power won it in a fair manner and are they willing to accept policies with which they do not necessarily agree? Sounds oh so similar to so many government dilemmas and issues we’ve all had with the financial dealings with the government I would have to say. It’s funny enough that our own economic growth applied to the partial government shutdown or not, can have much more of an effect than say the decline of foreign dealings. 

    The United States faces a serious fiscal crisis not because of the partial government shutdown exactly, but rather because of what those experiences indicate what will be considered acceptable for other countries to establish positive relationships with us. Today’s optimists are those who think the current partial government shutdown will allow the Republican Party to work out some internal issues. Realists also like to point out that when the United States has big financial dilemmas it tends to destabilize the rest of the world more than it hurts the United States. If the common business man cannot speak truth to the Republican Party  and convince the person in charge and enough members of Congress to return to how it used to be there is not much hope for the United States in today’s global economy sadly, though that’s what I personally think.