FROM CNN's Jack Cafferty:
The American people have had enough, but their feelings on the debt ceiling crisis continue to fall on deaf ears.
[cnn-photo-caption image=http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2011/images/07/27/art.money.jpg caption="Sheets of freshly made $20 bills lay in stacks at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing."]
Monday night, President Barack Obama called on the American people to "make your voices heard," and boy, did they. The calls and e-mails to Congress the next day almost shut down the phones and computers in Washington. Might not have been a bad idea. But no matter. Here it is Wednesday. Default is less than a week away. And still nothing. Americans want compromise, and they've made that very clear.
The polls - CNN-ORC, Pew, ABC News-Washington Post - have all been reflecting this for weeks. They do not want their government to default on its debt obligations. They know the rest of the world is watching, and they want leadership to fix this mess. But Washington is clueless. They don't seem to hear us or care much what we think.
They have their own agendas and, as a result, are playing games with the financial well-being of millions. According to two recent polls, two-thirds of Americans believe a failure to raise the debt ceiling would have a negative impact on their own financial situation.
Yesterday, the new chief of the International Monetary Fund, Christine Lagarde, said a default or even a downgrade of U.S. debt would be a "very, very, very serious event," not just for the U.S. economy but for the global economy. Meanwhile, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has a plan that won't pass, U.S. House Speaker John Boehner has a plan that won't pass and President Obama has no plan at all.
Maybe the voters will come up with a plan for these dysfunctional clowns in 2012.
Here’s my question to you: When it comes to the debt ceiling crisis, why won't the government listen to the American people?
Interested to know which ones made it on air?
Mike in Crockett, Texas:
Our elected officials never listen to the people. The Republicans think their number one job is to make President Obama a one-term president, the Tea Party congressmen think they were elected to shut down the government and get rid of all social safety nets, and the Democrats think they were sent to Washington to cave in to any stiff opposition without a fight. They are all clueless as to what we want which is compromise.
Lou:
Because Americans don't vote in enough numbers to make a difference. If every citizen who ever griped about how dysfunctional our government was actually showed up at the polls, we would have leaders who responded to our needs.
Carlos in Pasadena, California:
Whether you are for or against Obama and the Democrats doesn't matter. What matters is that if you are like me, who paid his way, who saved for his retirement, you should be very concerned. A default will jeopardize, in my case, my IRA's, my teacher's pension, my wife's pension and her social security. Whether you believe it or not, the middle class is on the verge of extinction.
Victoria:
Why don't they listen? Because they are too involved in finding ways to enrich themselves to understand, much less care, about the rest of us. In all the pontificating that has gone on, I haven't heard one of them suggest that they cut their own salaries, benefits, or staff. It wouldn't make a big difference in terms of reducing the deficit, but it would show that they are willing to do some of what they are imposing on the rest of us. Just a thought.
Mike in Brooklyn, New York:
Because the number one priority of the conservative agenda is to assure that President Obama be a one-term president. The loss of a AAA rating of US Treasury bonds would be a great achievement for the Republicans. Ruining the country is a necessary casualty.
Nate in North Carolina:
Naturally when a third party intervenes in an argument between two parties it becomes the common enemy. We are like an only child yelling at its dysfunctional parents.