Larry Summers asks how long the world’s largest debtor country and can remain the world’s most powerful country. His point is well taken. Great powers dont borrow themselves into their greatness. Given this basic reality, we have to assume that the US is heading for a fall. But the US has it in its ability to fix its fiscal issues. Get a control over the costs of the future: health expenses, medicare, social security. It could make the decisions on higher taxes versus lower spending that will bring some form of balance once the current crisis has abated. But there seems no will to try and do this. And thats the problem. Neither the Democrats nor the GOP are taking responsiblity for the overall situation.
Why?
Because Congressmen are playing to their core constituencies only and not thinking of the bigger picture.
And why is this?
Because their districts back home have been gerrymandered so that their party will win no matter what. Their real political concern are challenges that come from further to the left or the right of their own parties. Given this, there is no incentive or even attempt at reaching a compromise with the other side. This is a problem that now pervades everything in Washington. Lack of honest democracy leading to a lack of national governance.
Perhaps a bigger question is why doesnt the public as a whole address this? After all, this is not new. Could it be because the nation as a whole is still complacent that the US will remain number one by right, and that the country doesnt need to get its act together to meet the challenges of the future? That is a dangerous assumption. We are now dealing with a world where rising powers are hollowing out our very industrial base (let alone national wealth). At least during the Soviet days, we had a focus that united us into taking tough decisions. Perhaps the pain of a long recession, or a rising China, will knock us out of our complacency and make us force Washington to take the tough choices necessary to secure America’s long term future.
