Opinion: Is Debt Deal a Happy Ending to the Novela?

Liliana Gil (José Guerra)

At mid-evening of Sunday, House Speaker John Boehner called President Obama to say the agreement had been struck. After weeks of anticipation and novela-like drama, the American people get a drop of hope at the 11th-hour.

President Obama and congressional leaders have reached consensus on a plan of compromise. The approach proposes a debt ceiling increase through January, combined with immediate cuts of $900 billion in spending and the setup of a commission to establish a 10-year plan to reduce $1.5 trillion in spending; for a grand total of $2.4 trillion in cuts.

But is this a happy ending to the novela? Not yet. On Monday, the Senate and House are expected to vote on the deal. As it stands, the proposal supports spending cuts without a plan to increase revenues, remaining a sticky point for many House Democrats.

Also, concerns around a potential degrade in the nation’s credit rating still stand.

Timing is critical. The global markets are watching, and Monday’s vote will mark the beginning of a new era. We have witnessed a historic moment of firsts, clouded by the perfect storm of economic recession, unemployment, re-election season, social media exposure and a game of political tug-of-war. But at the end, we hope our true American spirit shines through, as it once did with our founding fathers.

Did you know that a big catalyst to the Virginia Plan back in 1787, and ultimately the U.S. Constitution, was fears of national bankruptcy? Congress had neither the money to pay soldiers for their service in the Revolutionary War or to repay foreign loans granted to support the war effort.

In 1786, the United States was bankrupt, which is what gave visionary leaders like James Madison the urge to draft a plan of compromise, like the Virginia Plan; it set the nation on a new course of freedom and balance.

Sounds familiar? Sometimes in the midst of a crisis, the most crucial and tough decisions are made for the sake of the greater whole. No wonder we say that history repeats itself, which we hope is the case with this new economic plan of action.

We are certainly watching history unfold right before our eyes. President Obama said that, if enacted, the agreement would mean "the lowest level of domestic spending since Dwight Eisenhower was president" more than a half century ago.

Also, Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid said that, "sometimes it seems our two sides disagree on almost everything, but in the end, reasonable people were able to agree on this: The United States could not take the chance of defaulting on our debt, risking a United States financial collapse and a world-wide depression."

Thank you for saving our country and our families from a potential economic collapse. Thank you for reaching a compromise for the general welfare of “we the people” of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union…you’ve made us and our founding fathers proud, so let us now stay on the right track.

Lili Gil is an award-winning business and Hispanic market expert and host of the online show Moments2CulturRise. She is also co-founder and managing partner of XL Alliance. Gil was recently selected by the World Economic Forum as one of only 190 Young Global Leaders identified across 65 countries for her leadership, community and business impact.