It would seem that the U.S. government’s inability to deal with the deficit and debt situation has already done us a lot of damage. Credit depends on trust, and trust depends on maturity — which clearly hasn’t been shown during this crisis. Indeed, the so-called “Tea Party” people don’t even accept that there’s a crisis.
How will we show enough maturity and trustworthiness to earn back lenders’ trust? Are the Chinese and other foreigners who buy our debt going to forget that, ultimately, the United States is in denial about the unsustainability of our lifestyle and spending?