Professor James Galbraith of The University of Texas, says we’ve entered “a tragic moment” in history where our elected officials are more apt to put ideology before the good of the entire country.

“This is not the way we should be perusing these issues,” he tells Aaron in the accompanying interview. “We run the risk, first of all, of turning our government into a series of blackmail negotiations, where the full faith in credit of the United States government … becomes a kind of football for the various political agendas: the Republican agenda but also the President’s agenda on a long term deficit deal.”