Democratic leaders in the U.S. House are in a celebratory mood. After a weekend of arm-twisting and deal-making, Nancy Pelosi was able to lock down 219 votes for the health reform bill.

Meanwhile, the rest of us got a close-up look at the ugly reality of modern political discourse: Discussions of the legislation’s merits or flaws were replaced by hyperbolic talking points about its deficit-reducing qualities. But substance is still important. And accounting gimmicks have obscured the fact that new entitlements created by this bill will add to unsustainable budget deficits.

[Sun-Sentinel]

In 2006 Congress was debating whether to authorize increasing the size of the national debt. A freshman senator addressed his colleagues: “The fact that we are here today to debate raising America’s debt is a sign of leadership failure.”

Three years later, a couple of things are different. That senator is now President Barack Obama, and the national debt is nearly 50 percent larger than before. At least one thing hasn’t changed, however – in the coming weeks the Senate is expected to vote on yet another increase in the federal debt ceiling.

[Tampa Tribune]

There’s one issue that still has broad bipartisan support: At some point, Washington will have to rein in its budget deficits – hard – or the national debt will explode.

…

To dramatize the risks, another Washington think tank sent 17 men onto the capital’s streets wearing Uncle Sam suits to beg with handwritten cardboard signs pleading, “I want you to give me $12 trillion.” Federal debts currently stand at $11.9 trillion, a total that includes reserves of Social Security and Medicare trust funds as well as debt owned by the public in the US and abroad.

The Uncle Sams were part of a million-dollar-plus campaign by the Employment Policies Institute to raise awareness of the “frightening reality” of the swelling debt and the need to do something about it, explains Richard Berman, executive director of the EPI. The think tank will start advocating solutions, maybe in January, he adds. “A lot of people have their heads in the sand.”

[Christian Science Monitor]

James Bowers, dressed as Uncle Sam, asks people if they can “spare a trillion”, as they walk past him outside the front of Federal Hall, near the New York Stock Exchange, October 28, 2009. REUTERS/Chip East

[Reuters]

A new culture war is brewing over capitalism

SEVENTEEN Uncle Sams were seen begging on the streets of Washington, DC, this week. They were a sad sight, with their slightly bedraggled red, white and blue hats and their cardboard signs with the hand-scrawled plea: “I want YOU to give me $12 trillion.” It was a publicity stunt, of course, staged by DefeatTheDebt.com, a fiscally hawkish pressure group. But it captured something important about the national mood.

Unemployment is nearly in double digits. Most Americans think the economy will recover next year, but only 2% think it will make a complete recovery. And many are worried about Uncle Sam’s ongoing borrowing binge. Has all that money averted disaster and eased the pain of the recession, as Barack Obama insists? Or did it merely postpone the pain? DefeatTheDebt.com’s television commercials leave no room for doubt. A classroom full of children stand as if to recite the pledge of allegiance, but the words are different: “I pledge allegiance to America’s debt, and to the Chinese government that lends us money, and to the interest, for which we pay, compoundable, with higher taxes and lower pay, until the day we die.”

[Economist]

Panhandling Patriot: When Uncle Sam came to town on Tuesday, he looked a little down on his luck.

Dressed as a shabby Uncle Sam, J. Justin Wilson of Employment Policies Institute asks passers-by on North Capitol Street for $12 trillion to pay off the national debt.

The brim of his famous stars-and-stripes top hat was torn. His patriotic suit was dirty and filled with holes, as were his black dress shoes. Sam even carried a cardboard sign reading: “I Want You To Give Me $12 Trillion.”

[Roll Call]