This Is No Country in the Jungles of Africa; This Is the United States of America

We are not talking here about Greece, Spain or Italy; nor are we talking about a developing nation in the jungles of Africa. Instead, we are talking about America, a country that has joined the list of nations that have grown accustomed to seeing their credit ratings rise and fall.

America lost some of its economic prestige by unleashing a global economic crisis. The Democratic administration has been pressured into admitting that the U.S. is unable to cope with the crisis alone. Having dragged the world down into its own misfortunes, the administration has done nothing but launch a slogan of “collaboration” in dealing with the crisis. The truth is that this admission has done no damage to the great nation. What did in fact damage America was the administration’s previous stance of insisting that the country hold on to the reins of both economic and political leadership.

We have lived to see, for the first time in history, the United States, like the rest of the world’s nations, suffering from the downgrading of her credit rating. This credit rating is, in fact, one of the standards against which prestige is measured and one of the signs of economic power. The giant American agency Standard & Poor’s did not hesitate to downgrade the United States’ credit rating. In fact, the agency’s step can be seen as the precedent needed for all similarly large agencies to bring about more transparency and impartiality, especially since such agencies directly contributed to the outbreak of the world economic crisis by providing unrealistically high credit ratings to large states, organizations and banks — all of which were involved in the crisis and the economic turmoil that came along with it.

What happened after this historic rating of the economic situation in the United States? The White House, with unprecedented eagerness, called for unity between the two parties, the Democrats and the Republicans, to revive both the economy and the budget. This indicates that the United States is still facing political differences and varying motivations concerning her economy, and the deteriorating economic situation has reached a level that requires national unity — just like the unity required in countries at war.

In reality, the United States is already engaged in an economic civil war, which is no less important than a traditional war. It is enough to indicate that the budget deficit has equaled the country’s GDP and that America is no longer any better than, say, Italy in this respect. In light of this tragic reality, political battles center on the country’s economy and heighten the blind panic haunting average Americans who worry about the future of his debt, his job and even the fate of his family’s standard of living.

Indeed, American politicians have no choice but unity. The same political behavior that worked before the global economic crisis is not working in its wake. In fact, it is quite the opposite; this political behavior hastens the decline in the prestige of the country with the largest economy in the world. Taking into account the effects of other international events, one cannot guarantee that the United States will hold on to this title. The title of “largest economy in the world” has allowed the USA to hold unparalleled economic sway, even if this was achieved by going into debt.

The debts of the strong and solid (as opposed to the debt of the weak and fragile) are not considered to be a problem, but what is happening in the backyard of the most powerful country in the world is that the problems, burdens and consequences that come along with debt are being revealed. This situation will push agencies such as Standard & Poor’s to be more transparent and impartial in the future and to give the United States the credit rating it deserves, regardless of whether this is due to differences between the Republicans and Democrats or the American inability to stand in the way of a loss of national prestige.

By all standards, this case establishes historic transformations that will improve the standing of previously insignificant nations and bring down previously powerful ones. It also shows the misery of a global crisis which is not over yet, a crisis not only for the champions of large economic powers themselves.