After the first initial of weeks of talks everyone became a little unsettled by the very nature of what we were negotiating over. Washington insiders quickly realized everything had been put on the line, and that the possibility for default was a real one. The politics were big enough to destroy careers and the “drop dead” deadline was close enough and consequential enough to really hurt the nation and even the world. The major players on each side were forced by this “crisis” to put all of their cards on the table. Yet, instead of a triumphant victory for anyone, including the American people, we have seen the very ugly face of dysfunctional democracy.

The usually definitively “cool” Obama got visibly upset in a press conference immediately after Boehner walked out. Boehner himself became angry during a meeting where he told members of his party to “get your ass in line.” Leadership on both sides struggle to cope with fundamental economic governance. To everyone’s dismay, even on the brink of oblivion the real work was not done. Structural changes to entitlements were abandoned and changes to revenues were beat into the ground before they even stood up. Instead of taking advantage of the manufactured crisis in a way that actually addressed the problems our country faces, our legislators yet again opted to claim a political victory rather than a practical one.

Mitch McConnell’s cards revealed a chief concern for longer-term political gains. His offering during talks was nothing more than a shallow political victory for Republicans. His willingness to abandon the possibility of reform that is desperately needed is frustrating.

The agreement that was eventually reached is, in essence, an agreement to deal with our problems later. It assigns the responsibility to determine what easy cuts can be made to a future super committee. But the cuts are still going to be made to the “easy” money. Being able to make just those cuts took us to the edge of financial collapse. What needs to happen before we reform entitlements and the tax code? How loud does the wheel need to squeak!?

America is in trouble if our political system continues to fail to take the steps, while potentially politically unpopular, almost everyone agrees needs to be taken. We have kicked too many cans down the road for a long time and we are currently facing the consequences. Despite trillions in government spending, we are nowhere near economic recovery. GDP growth has slowed to the point were even the models being used by legislators on The Hill during the crisis were likely too high. Job growth is nowhere it needs to be (we are not even covering population growth) and everyone who says otherwise is plainly lying. Youth unemployment is so high that my generation will likely be primarily be the known for its remarkable aptitude to be overqualified, over-educated, and yet unemployed. The problems before us are not unsolvable, but they require decisive action that seems impossible now and simply cannot wait for a more favorable future. It is my terrible fear that the crossroads where we could have made a difference is far behind us.

Read more posts like this on my blog, Bootleg Insight.