Debt Ceiling Nonsense Yet Again – A Catch 22?
Debt Ceiling Nonsense Yet Again – A Catch 22?
Of course, there should be no debt ceiling. The US is the only nation to have one for absolute amounts of money (some other nations have ones tied to percents of budgets, and so forth). Even though it is nonsensical and absurd, it has been around for over a century, a recrudescence of a deal to get funding approved by Congress for WW I in the wake of the passage in 1913 of the new amendment allowing a federal income tax. Somehow nobody in Congress or any White House has the guts to push for the ending of this thing, so it hangs on like some stinking zombie.
Of course, for most of the time since it was passed, Congresses have been “responsible” and raised the ceiling without too much fuss, although it has been normal when different parties occupy the White House and the Congress for there to be some grumbling by people in Congress before they do the responsible thing. But in recent decades, while Dems in Congress have been responsible, raising the debt ceiling several times for President Trump, we have on several occasions see GOPs in Congress make big stinks and force temporary government shutdowns while making demands for this or that.
The current situation is probably not that bad, but absurdity is definitely reigning. Assuming they can keep all their people in line, especially Sen. Manchin of WV, it can probably be raised by reconciliation. But GOP Sen. McConnell is loudly declaring no GOP will support raising it, and has threatened a filibuster, although reconciliation can get around that if all Dems agree. However, even as he is loudly declaring not GOP support for raising the debt ceiling, he is also demanding that it be raised so that government bills get paid. I really have no comment on this further, aside from noting that this is just further evidence on why this silly thing needs to be done away with once and for all.
Barkley Rosser
If the US defaults on its sovereign debt, then that would end the dollar’s exorbitant privilege causing the dollar’s foreign exchange rate to plummet and eliminating trade deficits along with most of the US economy. Republican’s threat to default is only a negotiating tactic like extortion. A dead hostage cannot be ransomed.
Which is why the dems should ignore the noise.
Precisely.
I still am having difficulty understanding why Sec. 4 of the 14th Amendment doesn’t dispose of this issue immediately. I know Obama said his legal guru said it wouldn’t work but no-one has explained why that is so.
That would be Lawrence Tribe (had a brain cramp there for a minute).
I think there is some evidence that Republicans know it is nonsense. But debt phobia has been around since 1776..even as the United States won its freedom by going into debt…against the British empire which invented the national debt as the engine of prosperity.
But the R’s rely on stoking debt hysteria to win votes, so they have to put on a show. And recent times have shown them that pandering to idiots is a winning strategy. Now that strategy has come back to biting them by idiots winning elections and becoming congressmen and senators. The liars enjoy lying, and the bigger the whopper the more they enjoy it.
I don’t think these people have any idea that this can’t go on forever (governing by fantastic lies), that by the time they realize what they have done it will be too late to stop what they have set in progress.
I myself don’t mind the debt..or the anti debt… so much. We could always raise taxes or even cut spending. But the complete lack of honest thought on this subject is the same complete lack of honest thought that is leading, may already have led, to the destruction of the ecosystem that supports our very lives.