Grading and politics

[davewill]

So let's say my husband and I want to buy a house.  We know we're not on the same page when it comes to price.  I want to buy something for $300k. He wants to look at $800k.  We sit down to talk and I say "I think $300k puts us in a better financial position.  A large payment will stress me out."  He says "I think $800k makes it so that we can stay here forever, no need to move later, we can afford it." I say "let's compromise and do $400k." He doesn't agree.

Now, who is right here, and who is wrong?  I'm going to say the answer to that is neither.  We both have valid points.  Was I wrong in choosing $300k?  No, and even though he feels like I'm WAY off base in terms of what we can afford, if he'd said "well, you're just not willing to compromise" I'd have been pretty pissed.  How in the world is ONE side at fault here?
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Sure, compromise cannot always just be a haggle that lands in the middle. In that example, your husband may rightly feel that if you don't spend close to $800k it won't serve the purpose he intended and you might as well economize at $300k.

In the case of the Republican offer, they either overestimated their leverage, or they never intended to make an offer the Democrats would take seriously. It was obvious that the Democrats would not consider anything even close to their plan for reasons they were very vocal about before the Republican senators walked in the room.