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The drama in Washington D.C. over whether and how to increase the amount of money the federal government is authorized to borrow from the Federal Reserve Bank at interest in order to pay what it already owes hinges on the disputed idea that to not do so would invite disaster.Those in favor acknowledge the reality of this impending disaster and wish to avert it. To them, it should be done without question and without conditions. Those against unquestioningly authorizing the increased amount of debt, however, appear to be divided. Some view it as an opportunity to make demands that would otherwise be anathema to those in favor, and have held fast to those demands. Others opposing this action do not accept the concept that there is a disaster to be averted.
If the debt limit were to be unilaterally raised by the president by citing the 14th Amendment, and no disaster followed, there would still be no reason for those who do not accept the reality of the disaster to believe that it had been averted. Although doing so would enable the train wreck we are living through to continue, it would do nothing to change the stalemate.
I submit the assertion that the only way forward, the only way to break through the blockage that has developed within government because of this disagreement, is to NOT raise the debt limit, and for the US Government to enter default. The debt ratings of many government jurisdictions would then be lowered, just as the federal government would be, and the effects would quickly flood the economy, affecting citizens of all stripes. The dire consequences of default would be plainly evident, and doing something about it would be cause for the citizens to unite in common cause.
I suspect that experiencing a national intervention of this nature will have broader implications, and that it may be what our divided national psyche needs to shock us back to reality.
