Playing Chicken with America’s Credit Rating: Default or Revolt?

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News of the day is centered around the ability (or lack thereof) of the United States to reconcile our income with our debt.  


Bottom line: we are broke. 

Broke, not just in fiscal terms - but broke on a societal level because we fail to collectively comprehend where our individual responsibility lies. 


It’s as if our collective conscience is broke. And that’s not good.







Here’s why.

For years Americans have been convinced as to our “exceptional” nature…importing cheap labor while exporting very expensive consumerism. Apparently, we haven’t kept up with our payments and the bill on democracy is now due.

French political writer de Tocqueville was an early observer and prognosticator of America’s love/hate relationship with democracy. In 1835 de Tocqueville wrote with keen insight as to what he perceived were the factors driving democracy, and, ultimately, capitalism. 

de Tocqueville’s Democracy in America focuses on Christianity and the American drive for equality as being at the root of our capitalistic evils.  According to Tocqueville, this zeal for religious expression carried over into politics and wealth accumulation. 

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The push for religious equality also led Americans to be suspicious of intellectuals and prone to promoting mediocrity under the guise of equality. 

Fearing control by educated elites, Americans rejected academics in favor of labor - aka the lowest common denominator. 

Essentially, as Americans we have sharpened our religious weapons while dulling down our mental capacities. 

At the same time, Americans - many of whom were hopeful European immigrants escaping servitude - have became ruthless in our efforts at resource accumulation.

Americans, unlike de Tocqueville’s French compatriots, saw that upward mobility was possible and we ran with it…all the way to the bank. 

We went after the “new world” riches with gusto and made everything - from land to water - a commodity to be bought and sold vs. a common need to be shared and protected.

So it’s no surprise that we might fail to comprehend how years of living on processed foods and media has failed to bring us the fulfillment long promised by our “exceptional” status. 

We buy things we don’t need, because someone we don’t know convinces us we “need” it, AND we pay for it on credit, because someone else convinces us that we “need” that, too.

But, do Americans really “need” credit or does credit “need” Americans?

CNN’s Piers Morgan referred to America’s economy as being “too big to fail”. Morgan seemed to be likening the current credit debacle with the financial fiascos ala Wall Street.


But, just like I don’t buy my goods at Wal-Mart, I don’t buy that the credit failure is a new phenomena. That’s just false.

What is true? 

We really are broke as a society and we need to fix it.