Note to Congress: When talking about the economy, try using English

Washington talks about “the economy” from a 50,000-foot distance,
describing a lurking “it” that threatens to come crashing down.
Republicans and Democrats spend a lot of time blaming each other and
communicating apocalyptic images — the destruction, the devastation, the
deadlines — all the chaotic things that will happen if we don’t find a
fix, if we don’t take measures to deal with the debt ceiling. In speech
after speech, talking point after talking point, they focus on the dire
consequences instead of connecting the dots and making the debate
relevant to real people. And then they wonder why we don’t get it.
 
If our economy is falling off a cliff, our politicians are falling into a message gap.
 
Take a recent NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll, where 62 percent of participants opposed raising the debt limit after they were told the U.S. would be in default. This “not my problem” response suggests that Americans think this is Washington’s problem, not theirs. They see an intangible body — Congress — issuing warnings about an intangible issue — the economy. Leaders need to do a better job of defining the problem, its remedy and, if not solved, its undesired outcome. Consequences as a message strategy only make sense if the audience understands what’s at stake. Any parent of teenagers can tell you that.
 
Explain the issue so that someone like me — a person who pays down a mortgage, socks money away in a mutual fund, fills up her own tank of gas and worries about having what she needs later in life — will instantly get it. I’m not an economist or sophisticated investor, and neither are the majority of Americans.
 
Tell us in plain terms that the government needs more cash to run than it has on hand (this is the deficit and it sits somewhere around $1.5 trillion). The government will borrow and borrow until it has the money it needs to operate. At some point the government will reach its borrowing limit, its debt ceiling, and run out of cash. According to the Treasury Department, that point will be reached by July 8. If the debt ceiling is hit and the U.S. cannot borrow more funds, interest rates would rise. U.S. companies, banks, investors and real people who borrow or owe money will pay more.
 
Higher interest rates would act as a tax on all of us.
 
The Standard and Poor’s action earlier this week caused Washington and the market to begin to question the meaning of the phrase “full faith and credit” of the U.S. government. Without adjustment to our debt ceiling, that little phrase will be worth less than a plugged nickel instead of what it is now — the modern-day gold standard that renders our Treasury bills super-safe investments. Prior to the S&P’s warning, countries and people around the world were confident that the U.S. would honor its debts. They viewed our T-bills as having virtually no risk, using it as a “reserve currency.” That global recognition translates to lower interest rates here at home. Lower interest rates matter to everyone — our government, private business and real people, whose mortgages, credit cards rates and student loans are correlated to T-bills.
 
To increase understanding about the debt ceiling and close the message gap, we need less panic, more explanation; fewer fingers being pointed, more dots connected. What we don’t need is more language of devastation … reality is scary enough.
 
 
Lindsay Ellenbogen is a former congressional aide and founder of ElleExplains.com, an outside-the-Beltway blog focusing on the real-world implications of policy decisions.