Band-Aide on a Quiet Crisis stab wound? .. Politics is a dirty game in Washington and in Softball

Like many Americans, I was completely pissed off and fed up by all the political squabbling regarding the U.S. debt crisis issue http://softballinsider.blogspot.com/2011/07/greater-good-endangered-by-veil-of.htm . I was really concerned that all this partisan political wrangling would further harm an already struggling recovery. Then after much ado about something, President Barack Obama and congressional leaders finally reached an agreement after weeks of bickering on a legislative package that would extend the federal debt ceiling while cutting spending and guaranteeing further deficit-reduction steps.


The way I understand it is that the agreement proposes a two-stage process.

1. In the first stage, it includes $917 billion in spending cuts and other deficit reduction now, as well as a $900 billion increase in the debt ceiling.
2. The agreement would slow the growth of government spending over the next decade by $2-$3 trillion and allow enough borrowing to put off another vote to raise the ceiling until 2013, after the next election of course. Typical political bullshit

In other words, we can pay our bills. Check that for now, as we have applied a financial band aide to a spending stab wound. This whole thing seems kind of surreal and mishandled by congress by me. I mean dude, if you borrow and commit to a lot of obligations, then you must make good on paying off your bills. If you don't pay back money you borrow, then people will charge you more interest to borrow and then you end up owing even more money.

What's done is done, that money is already spent, we should be concentrating on the right pace of future spending for our country. The deficit reduction debate is about that future path. The future path as Obama mentioned in his speech above,  is creating jobs. Yet we just heard that the rate of economic growth the past two quarters has been incredibly low, and we have nearly 25 million Americans either unemployed or stuck working part-time. Here's what is so truly absurd: We wouldn't have a deficit crisis, if we had more people working. The revenue that would come from halving our unemployment rate would reduce our long-term debt to manageable levels. Seems to me that's the sort of policy debate Congress should be having right about now: What's the best way to get more Americans working?

• http://softballinsider.blogspot.com/2011/06/91-is-real-humbling-enemy.html
• http://softballinsider.blogspot.com/2011/06/idle-hands-are-devils-tool.html

When was the last time you heard a peep out of Washington about that? That's what Congress should be focusing on

Bottom Line : Politics is a dirty game 

Softball should be an escape from all of this, but unfortunately it is a reminder that many leagues suffer from the same misguided selfish political squabbling among its own "tea party" members who manipulate, control, and twist quiet crisis issues like:

• Playoff Systems
• Illegal Players
• Pitching Rules
• Money

instead of focusing on competition. The only thing that should be dirty in softball is your uniform.