There is no changing how Washington works. It doesn't. Even if a bitterly divided Congress and President Barack Obama avoid a U.S. debt default by striking a last-second deal, as all sides expect, plenty of damage has been done.

People are disgusted. Confidence in the political system is tanking. Nothing else is getting done in Washington. The markets are spooked. The global reputation of the United States has slipped.

And the real kicker? This whole wrenching effort to shrink the debt may actually increase the debt.

Any emergency deal may not be broad enough to prevent the major credit rating agencies from downgrading the United States as a rock-solid investment. That, in turn, could increase the cost of borrowing for the government (hence more interest and debt), not to mention for everyone else.

Polls show people's trust in government is at one of its worst levels in decades. An ABC/Washington Post survey this month found that a whopping 80 percent of people were angry or dissatisfied with the federal government.

Given the huge issues at stake, from the size of the debt to the role of government, voters might have hoped for a big, open debate of ideas. What they have had instead is a confusing process that's playing out in secret or in strident statements to the press. Obama and House Speaker John Boehner had dueling news conferences to assign blame for their broken negotiations, then rivaling addresses to the nation to try to sway the American people.

The embarrassing stalemate follows a breathless budget clash between the parties that came close to shutting down the government. And with the nation still stuck in a rut on job creation, there is little reason to be hopeful for a bipartisan economic agenda between now and the presidential and congressional elections in November 2012.

Obama likes to remind voters that they had better intentions than this when they put Democrats in control of the White House and Senate and Republicans in charge of the House.

"The American people may have voted for divided government, but they didn't vote for a dysfunctional government," the president says.

Too bad they got both.