Just yesterday President Obama signed into law the latest debt increase. The issue of raising of the debt limit was as contentious as they come - atleast this time around. The bone of contention was the proposed tying up of the debt limit increase with deficit reduction measures. Democrats and Republicans slugged it out in the run up to the final deal that was reached on July 31, approved by the lower and upper houses of US congress just before the deadline of August 2. If the congressmen and senators from respective party are to be believed, this deal has been a big compromise for both parties. On the other hand, commentators of major cable news channels and most business experts have denounced this deal as a (very poor) result of congress' inability to function. Most of the blame, atleast in liberal media circles, has been attributed to the rigid stance of the right wing of American politics, the first term congressmen from the 'Tea Party'. They were dead set against any hike in taxes or as it has been oft referred to, increase in revenue for tax-hike has long been a taboo phrase in the capitalist economy that is US.
Having followed this "debt debate" a little bit, it seemed to me that the most sane voices in the entire conversation were those of Independent Senator Bernie Sanders from Vermont and Republican Congressman Ron Paul from Texas. Some would argue that these two gentlemen represent the very extremes of their American political spectrum. Well, even so, what they have to say makes sense. Moreover, I don't think that the 'Tea Party' folks are really true to the principles that they espouse. If they did, they would think and act more like Congressman Ron Paul. Similarly, many of the progressives are as right of the center as most right wingers.
If you want to listen to just the voices of reason, and not to all the hullbaloo surrounding the debt debate, there are a couple of youtube videos below. There is one each from Senator Sanders and Congressman Paul. The best commentary from a media personality about the whole affair was by Keith Olbermann of Countdown with Keith Olbermann on Current TV.
Senator Bernie Sanders:
Congressman Ron Paul:
Special Comment by Keith Olbermann:
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