NBR: Congress Needs to Stop Playing Chicken with the Budget

 By SIMON CONSTABLE


Genius physicist Albert Einstein famously commented that insanity is defined as doing the
same thing over again and expecting a different result.  It’s an idea that Congress needs to wake up to

More precisely, it needs to stop playing chicken with its fiscal decisions.  The last few years we’ve seen nothing but dysfunction.  Remember the debt ceiling debate last year?  That was when our elected officials waited until the very last minute to come to a decision.





That sort of behavior isn’t doing us as a country any favors. Quite frankly it’s nuts. 

It isn’t just me that thinks so.  Ratings agency Moody’s just scolded Congress.  The firm that determines the riskiness of a borrower said Tuesday the U.S. risks losing its coveted triple-A rating if Congress doesn’t shape up.  Specifically it pointed to the pending tax increases we face starting in January if the government doesn’t act swiftly and prudently. 

Why does what Moody’s say matter to you?  If the U.S. loses its triple-A rating, it will have to pay more to borrow.  If it pays more then you will also, for everything from credit cards and car loans to mortgages. 
That’s something you need to think about when you go to the polls in a little less than eight weeks.