Opinion: Missouri Rep. Billy Long shows how D.C.’s deficit talks could be improved

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Here’s a little Friday entertainment we’ve been saving for crunch time in Washington’s deficit talks that have been going on longer even than the heat wave back there in Washington. Or, wait a minute. Heat wave. Swamp. Hot air. Congress.

Anyway, here’s a little video from the good folks over at C-SPAN who capture virtually everything official in D.C. It’s a brief speech by Rep. Billy Long of Missouri. He’s a former auctioneer. And he wants a day to honor auctioneers.

We thought the new House management was doing away with this sort of celebratory hooey. But Long got the floor and goes on about the economic import of those fast-talkers who peddle for a fee just about anything anyone wants to sell.

Auctioneers, Long asserts, annually sell nearly twice as much stuff in value as the nation’s $14.2 trillion in national debt. and who knew that auctioneering has been going on for 2,000 years? Or cares?

But hang in there. Billy gives a little sample of his trade on this deficit doodah. and it occurs to us maybe if Speaker Boehner and President Obama got to talking this way, we could get this unending hot air wave over with sooner.

Take a listen. Or give one:

-- Andrew Malcolm

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Video courtesy of C-SPAN