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Whistling on the edge of the graveyard

Between the preoccupation of one's own busy life and all the astonishing things that are currently happening around the world from Wisconsin to Tripoli, it is easy to lose sight of the fact that we apparently are on the verge of a U.S. government shutdown next Friday. (Breach of the debt ceiling, which would be even worse, is still off by a few weeks plus whatever period of extra time Treasury can win by playing games.)

The Duc D'Enghien famously remarked of his own execution, "It's worse than a crime; it's a mistake." I am inclined to say of the government shutdown that House Republican rank and file hotheads are demanding and will likely get (even though Boehner clearly knows better) - and even more so of a willful default, if it happens - that it's worse than a mistake; it's a crime.

Not literally legally punishable, of course (nor could or should it be), but so reckless and destructive an act, under current budgetary and macroeconomic circumstances, that anyone who supports it or brings about has irrevocably and publicly announced an attitude of willful and depraved indifference to our national welfare that the public should duly note.

Full post as published by Start Making Sense on February 25, 2011 (boomark / email).