S&P Downgrades U.S. Debt for First Time - WSJ.com

THE TWO-PARENT ANALOGY - ONE INTERESTED IN SPENDING, THE OTHER IN LIVING WITHIN ONE'S MEANS: S&P Downgrades U.S. Debt for First Time - WSJ.com

Part of the problem for the US is that so many Democratic legislators and the President have clearly voiced their belief that life in the US revolves around a huge safety net and that all else is secondary.

As a result, job producing incentives or freedom to act, save and invest are overwhelmed by liberal policies that are not supportive of job creation.

If one thinks of a family in which one parent is wholly concerned with the well-being of the family in terms of consumption, one thinks of a parent who doesn't care whether the other partner has a job or income - in other words, if there is a (seen as non-essential) asset to be sold or credit still available on the credit card to use, this parent will use it.

When the other parent talks about going to work, looking for a job, spending within one's means, the other parent can't see the relevance - e.g. there's still some credit available, so let's go on holiday.

This is the dilemma the US faces.

If the average member of the population (or union member) is faced with a question as to whether they can have or do something, which parent do they want to listen to? Certainly, the Democrats.

As said in several articles and commentaries, the Democrats are afraid to present the American public with their actual budget for all of this and thus the Senate Budget Committee has failed to present one.

Somehow the two-parent analogy here is a bit scary in how it seems to represent too many Democrats - e.g. Ms. Pelosi's comments on the debt debate.