Ellington

"I'm hopeful we can have something meaningful by the end of the day."

—Republican U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi Oct. 14 to MSNBC.

Why it stinks: By the time you read this, dysfunction junction—aka the U.S. Congress—may have reopened those parts of the federal government it closed Oct. 1. It may have extended the debt ceiling that allows the feds to pay the bills it already incurred. If neither of those things happened, the U.S. has defaulted on its debt, and by all reliable accounts, sent shock waves around the globe.

At this writing, 60 percent of Americans polled believe that the whole Congress should be sh*t canned. A small minority of radical right-wingers would rather devastate the world economy than give an inch, and no one has the will to stand up to them.

Welcome to crazy town. Where does that leave the rest of us?