Life in AA America: 'The Ship Be Sinking'

Bear with me a moment.

My all time favorite sports locker room quote comes from former NBA-star Michael Ray Richardson, commenting on the poor play of his early-1980's New York Knicks team,

Richardson:  "The ship be sinking."

Reporter:  "How far can it sink?"

Richardson:  "The sky's the limit."

I recalled the Richardson quote (he's now a successful minor league coach) while listening to this interview on National Public Radio's "All Things Considered" yesterday, while driving around town.  NPR interviews Bill Gross, the founder of PIMCO, an investment management firm, on the ongoing debt ceiling crisis in Washington.  Gross has predicted that the U.S. will eventually lose its AAA credit rating.  In yesterday's interview he reaffirmed his view of U.S. credit as "AA moving toward A".

Reflecting on the national debt crisis, I can't move past my Lewis Carroll observation from earlier:  our political class seems extraordinarily capable of "believing impossible things."  Namely, they seem able to believe that we can continue to spend at a rate that requires borrowing 43 cents for every dollar we that goes out, indefinitely.

I will follow Walter Russell Mead's advice and ignore the hour-to-hour twists and turns in the debt ceiling crisis.  But the general trend of events gives me a sinking feeling.

For a counter-point, Mead recommends this piece by Robert Samuelson in the Washington Post.  Samuelson argues that the elites are beginning to pay attention and the latest events represents nothing less than "a crisis of the old order."