Well, for weeks now, we've been hearing how the Democrats and Republicans can't come to some sort of agreement on raising the debt ceiling. The vice-president had a bipartisan group at the table and that fell apart. Now the president has a group at the table and that too seems to be going nowhere.
The first issue is the fact that the deficit has been attached to the debt ceiling. Although related, they are more like second cousins than husband and wife. Because of how governments can account for things and how things are added up, also due to the fact that income and cash flow are not always linked, having a balanced or even surplus budget does not mean you don't need to borrow money to pay bills. So even though there are legitimate, reasonable and responsible reasons for attacking the chronic budget shortfall, the 'do it or else' approach is somewhat fabricated.
What I want to see is this: a concrete, budgeted proposal from each side on how they plan to deal with the problem. Both the democrats and republicans have talked about the high level philosophies of their approaches but neither have put a detailed plan on the table.
I want both the parties to put their plans on the table. For the republicans, let's see the specific budget plan of how they will balance the budget with no tax increases. What are the economic assumptions? What spending gets cut and by how much?
For the democrats, how and what tax increases will be implemented. What are the economic assumptions? What spending gets cut and by how much?
It is time for both sides to clearly and specifically tell the world what they are planning. I say the world because their failure will have worldwide implications.
I suspect that if the republicans were to do this, they would find that a very narrow group of Americans would favor the outcome. The democrats would have broader support. At the end of the day, I think the pledge that the politicians should be considering is one that is more specific than 'No tax increases' or 'Don't touch medicare and social security'. Put a specific plan on the table and then pledge to pursue that. That would be much more honest with the electorate and instantly make the politicians more believable and accountable.