Can Obama find a compelling message if he used Google Maps?
It should come as no surprise that those Americans probably have no frakking idea what failing to raise the debt ceiling will mean. A default on the debt will lead to the abandonment of the dollar as the world's reserve currency and destroy any meaningful economic recovery we are undergoing. Forget a replay of 2008, this will be a replay of 1932-33.
As I stated earlier and state today, the President needs to be out there educating the American people what it means to default on the debt. That it is a very, very bad thing.
I often get this from my students when we discuss the debt in class: If we owe the money to ourselves, why don't we just let it go? or Why don't we just tell the Saudis and Chinese to pound sand?
The entire global economy is built on American debt, when you think about it. The Euro is badly beaten and the renminbi is not ready for prime time yet.
But, again, as I said earlier, raising the debt ceiling sounds like a bad thing. Like reaching for your credit card when you're on a losing streak at the casino.
This is a great opportunity to patiently explain the real world implications of a policy before the factually illiterate get a hold of this.
In some ways, I'm still not TOO worried, because I don't think the corporate donors who bankroll John Boehner's golf trips are going to let the debt ceiling be breached, but I'd feel a lot better about it, if we could define the terms of debate within the bounds of reality for once.
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