When you play the game of Monopoly you understand the rules. With a few hundred dollars of monopoly money you understand that you can buy tiny little plastic houses and hotels and collect more colored pieces of paper money for your shrewd “investment”.
But you also realize that outside of the game those little paper blue and yellow pieces of money are worthless. They only have value in game they are designed for.
The fact that the dollars like the ones I used to buy breakfast at Jeanine’s this morning have any value is because we are willing to accept them in order to play the game.
The Republicans who accurately stated that we were in no real risk of default were correct in the sense of pure math, but wrong in believing that the value of the dollar has any rational or mathematical basis. The dollar is an article of faith more than a real store of value. To the extent that Ted Cruze and other Republicans remain committed to facts over emotions understate the risks they take with our standing.
Fortunately there is no other country that offers real competition to our currency. We are still the best of the worst.
Perhaps the shutdown had real value. We realized how little we really need the government. While the media fed the panic to increase their viewership, the rest of us continued about our lives and saw little change. The concept of non-essential workers is absolutely foreign outside of government. In the private sector we call these employees “laid off”. And we do not mean it as a short term status.
The shutdown also showed where our priorities were. Veterans were inconvenienced, but Congressmen were not. Some refused pay during the shutdown, which is worth mentioning if only for symbolic reasons.
Had the debt limit been raised without contention few would have been reminded that it was still a problem. The shutdown was worthwhile for at least keeping it within our consciousness.
As for Obamacare, I recall an axiom from Dick Army to “not waste time killing someone busy committing suicide.” Obamacare is an absolute disaster, but I fear that the public can get worn down to accept the most onerous oppression over time, just like a dog gets accustomed to his collar. It is good that the shutdown coincided with the disastrous rollout. True liberals should be outraged that the Congress exempts themselves from the very laws they shove down our throats. They should be outraged that the President unilaterally changes laws and selects which one he enforces. They should be outraged that corporation were illegally given a year to delay compliance but individuals were not.
It was also interesting how little the stock market responded- as if they always understood what a charade, a piece of political theatre that served the needs of the political elite and their media lackeys, but served little other purpose.
tips to Greg George, PhD for the Monopoly analogy.
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