Crisis Junkies: Can Washington Break Its Addiction to Emergency Economics?

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http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2013/02/crisis-junkies-can-washington-break-its-addiction-to-emergency-economics/272889/



Politicians have stared down so many fiscal battles and economic near-calamities during the past six years that it's unclear if they still know how to operate when they're not approaching some sort of crisis.

That question hung over the capital the last two weeks, as Congress voted to temporarily suspend the debt ceiling and as Washington experienced a lull between fiscal battles.

If we're not in a crisis, then, really, what are we supposed to do now?

The economic timeline since 2007 has conditioned us to think this way. We've become adrenaline junkies for the meltdowns and slap-dash solutions, from the credit crisis to the collapse of Lehman Brothers to the housing market dive to the recent battles over taxes and the budget.