Barrel Strength

There are several “accomplishments” a country must achieve before being designated a banana republic.  A poor credit is one of the requirements and US is taking the steps in that direction.  FT notes:

The US government has had a triple A credit rating since 1917, but it is unclear how long this will continue to be the case. In my view, either one of two developments could be enough to cause us to lose our top rating.

First, while comprehensive healthcare reform is needed, it must not further harm our nation’s financial condition. Doing so would send a signal that fiscal prudence is being ignored in the drive to meet societal wants, further mortgaging the country’s future.

Second, failure by the federal government to create a process that would enable tough spending, tax and budget control choices to be made after we turn the corner on the economy would send a signal that our political system is not up to the task of addressing the large, known and growing structural imbalances confronting us.

For too long, the US has delayed making the tough but necessary choices needed to reverse its deteriorating financial condition. One could even argue that our government does not deserve a triple A credit rating based on our current financial condition, structural fiscal imbalances and political stalemate. The credit rating agencies have been wildly wrong before, not least with mortgage-backed securities.

Another core requirement to earn the title of banana republic is to have an intelligence service that has an agenda that diverges from the government, elected or otherwise.  Pakistan is a good example where its intelligence service, ISI, “pursues its own agenda for its own reasons“.  Now it seems US is well on its way to meeting that requirement as well.

First the CIA went to war with the Bush administration, with wild cheering from the Left, and now it is taking on the Democrats.  Can we call that blowback or is that a term that can only be used by the Left to denigrate US foreign policy?  This is not a war that Democrats can win, because this war can only be fought defensively which negates its effectiveness.  Intelligence services, both domestic and foreign, are difficult to control if the culture of divergent agenda is adopted within them.  No administration succeeded in removing J. Edgar Hoover as the director of FBI for this reason and it is unlikely that CIA can be tamed now that the cat is out of the bag.

The Left loved the office of special prosecutor as long as it only dealt with Republicans like Nixon but when it took on a Democrat like Clinton the ardour disappeared.  They might find this to be a case of deja vu.