Proud Ignorance

If you want to see an example of proud ignorance, look at the Republican party’s Congressional members right now. They think they are playing chicken with President Obama. They are playing chicken with the global bond market—which only a fool would do—and they don’t even realize what game they are really playing.

Whenever anybody gets a new job or a promotion, they go into something they don’t entirely know yet. Maybe they know most of it, maybe none of it. That’s normal and okay. But refusing to learn is not wise. Too bad practically everyone is lined up to pay for this mistake except the people who are making it.

For any of my readers who are not from the States, the most risible part of the showdown in Washington is the very notion that Obama could somehow be to blame for the impending crash against the USA debt ceiling. Congress holds the purse strings in the USA. Congress sets the debt ceiling and the budgets. The President has a veto and can influence, but only Congress is legally empowered to resolve this unnecessary mess (just as only Congress was legally able to create it).