Hindsight

In politics hindsight can be a beautiful thing. You can backtrack on elections promises, 'interpret' poll results and even change your response to a crisis when it is, no longer, a crisis. Remember the banking collapse of 2008? At the time the politicos, all with the hope of appearing knight, desperately tried to come up with a solution to a crisis that seemed, in hindsight ironically, inevitable.

After much debate, some worthwhile some not so much, a number of key policies were landed upon by the majority of politicians. These included:

1) To separate retail banking from private housing banking. This would mean the housing market would no longer rely on the fluctuations of the markets to determine stability.

2) Encouraging investment in and creation of smaller businesses by using a mixture of tax breaks and incentives.

3) Regulating the lending of banks by creating stricter rules for both investment and private lending.

However, since the storm passed in mid-2009 the strategies adopted by politicians have become increasingly less bold and the confrontational attitude they had toward the banking sector has all but disappeared.

In recent weeks the coalition cabinet has become divided over the issue of separating retail and private banking.

Instead of taking the hardline, the one they took in election season, the Conservatives have now backed off as a result of the intense scrutiny of the banking sector. Unfortunately a large part of their voters have interests in this area. As it is, party politics seems to be winning over careful economic strategy.

It's a tough equation. The separation of banking will almost inevitably affect the growth rate of the economy. However, when it comes down to the individual members of this society it becomes apparent that protecting everyones minor interest, their own money and investments, should be the priority of any elected government.

We have yet to see whether this will be the issue that splits the fragile coalition but it is clear that the current debate is only the beginning of the storm.

Indebted

The economy, or rather debt for most of the western world, is an essential feature of political life. Deciding both how a government accumulates money and then spends it often defines the term of a government more than foreign and domestic policy put together. Couple these decisions with an economic incident, such as the credit slump of 2008/9, and the scrutiny put on a government's fiscal decisions intensifies even further.

Obama, as the President elected immediately following the slump, has seen his economic policy come under intense scrutiny. Early on the democratic congress passed multiple emergency budget bills and new landmark healthcare legislation was passed that should cut the government's expenditure dramatically. However, as the story slipped from the headlines, the short-term nature of these strategies has become increasingly apparent. As such the necessity for a longer term political strategy is now urgent.

Cut to May 2011. The government of the United States was on the brink of coming to a complete halt. True, it is unlikely this would have ever actually happened. However, although deals were brokered that prevented the government's collapsed a truly workable strategy has yet to be found.

With politics becoming increasingly partisan it is becoming harder for the democratically split US government to effectively govern, especially in rapid response to world events. The economic crisis has increasingly revealed the lack of workability within US politics today. With elections coming up in only 14 months the hope is that with a refreshed congress and presidency so will come refreshed governing. However, as the tea party becomes only more prolific the hopes of this seem dim.