Locked out: Could Gregg Popovich and RC Buford solve the economy?
On Aug. 2, the United States will reach the limits of its debt ceiling. Unless Democrat and Republican leaders start negotiating in good faith between now and then, there is a chance our government will begin to default on its payments.
Not long after the United States could hypothetically start cancelling payments, the NBA will begin cancelling games.
Whether it is a lockout or budget talks, this is, at heart, a tale of billionaires and millionaires fighting each other with little regard for those that actually empower both—the middle class tax paying voter that would have to save an entire paycheck to afford a quality family outing at a game.
It is sports as a reflection of society at its worst.
Connecting the two issues is a stretch. Some would say that the struggling economy which has led to the Washington deficit debate is the reason the NBA stands where it is now, except, when was the last time the league was this popular?
The common thread here is both showcase a common problem that goes beyond sports or politics (well, maybe not politics). Negotiating and compromise are dying arts.
Democrats and Republicans. Owners and Players. At the negotiating table everyone has an allegiance, a side to take. In doing so, each have lost sight of the bigger picture: they are representatives of something much bigger, be it our nation’s government, or the NBA. In order to function properly, both sides must be working in harmony.
To the point: when did negotiations and bargaining become more about being absolutely right and less about finding common ground?
If our leaders’ agendas were to find a solution that works for everyone, for the sanctity of a game or country, then wouldn’t it have been prudent to have begun negotiations much earlier than at the last minute? A lockout has been on the horizon for several years, the nation at its spending limit since May. Yet only recently have talks heated up into anything serious. Why? Because with time to act, one side cannot exert much pressure on the other.
Negotiations are increasingly about power and leverage, and less about a common goal. And when one side takes up an extreme, the other must willingly or unwillingly take another. Eventually, neither side budges until considerable damage has been done to both.
There are a small fraction of Republicans ready to watch the United State default on its debt, risking a downgrade to its credit rating, thereby putting the economy in peril, just to make their point. Similarly, there are a small number of owners willing to let the NBA season go up in flames just to put the new CBA at their utmost advantage. The need to present a unified front against the other side lends far too much credence to a minority falling too far down one extreme or another.
Instead of instilling confidence in the public that the issue will be resolved, these parties are waging a public relations battle trying to attach blame to the opposition. It has devolved into something somehow even pettier than a bunch of wealthy, powerful men bickering over huge sums of money. Removing the players likeness from websites, perhaps a few Nazi references on the Glenn Beck show.
It is a ploy no one can win. Because when it comes to politics, right now the general public does not care who is at fault. All that matters is that there are games come this fall, and jobs to help pay for those tickets.
