A deal, but yet ... This is not the time to put down the phones; the problem still exists.

If you want Washington to do something about the spending, the debt ceiling and living beyond its means, you can't put down your phone, not yet.

Without continued pressure on those who are supposed to be leading this nation, there will not be anything close to something done about balancing the budget and making sure this latest debt ceiling crisis is something that never happens again.

And if you want these same leaders to recall that there are plenty of people struggling right now and that jobs are becoming an endangered species, you have to keep the pressure on -- even after the latest crisis has been averted.

There is something about lawmakers that once they escape a scary trap, they tend to settle in for a few weeks of doing not much. The reason, of course, is that the pressure subsides.

We cannot afford to see that happen this time.

The news about the economy is not good -- and there are plenty of people who are not finding work or having to take jobs that they are way overqualified for to make ends meet.

The stimulus did not work, and there seems to be no end in sight for the continuing problems with getting businesses to trust in the future enough to expand and to add jobs.

And that is the fault of the crew in Washington.

If we want change, we cannot stop expressing that to our leaders.

And even if we avert the debt debacle, we have to understand that the conditions that brought it about the first time are still front and center and ready to take this country down again.

Don't think Washington is not listening -- just pay attention to the press conferences.

Now is not the time to get shy and quiet. Not if we want real change.

Published in Editorials on August 1, 2011 11:20 AM