Watching Washington hold our economy hostage the past few weeks, as it refuses to reach a compromise deal on deficit reduction so we can raise the debt ceiling, has been beyond frustrating. Surreal is more like it.
Here is what Congress has gotten so horribly wrong:
First, if you spend it, you have to pay it back.
As we all know, if you run up a balance on your credit card and then decide not to pay the bill, there's a huge price to pay. Your interest rate goes up, your credit score goes down and that triggers all sorts of costly dominoes to start falling. To not raise the debt ceiling is akin to refusing to pay your credit card bill.
The debt ceiling has nothing to do with future spending. It's simply a mechanism that allows the U.S. government to keep paying off the bills it has already run up. This is a completely separate issue from what we decide is the right pace of future spending for our country. The deficit reduction debate is about that future path. That anyone insists on linking the two is absurd. We must make good on paying off our bills.
Congress' mishandling of debt ceiling and deficit is surreal - CNN.com
Here is what Congress has gotten so horribly wrong:
First, if you spend it, you have to pay it back.
As we all know, if you run up a balance on your credit card and then decide not to pay the bill, there's a huge price to pay. Your interest rate goes up, your credit score goes down and that triggers all sorts of costly dominoes to start falling. To not raise the debt ceiling is akin to refusing to pay your credit card bill.
The debt ceiling has nothing to do with future spending. It's simply a mechanism that allows the U.S. government to keep paying off the bills it has already run up. This is a completely separate issue from what we decide is the right pace of future spending for our country. The deficit reduction debate is about that future path. That anyone insists on linking the two is absurd. We must make good on paying off our bills.
Congress' mishandling of debt ceiling and deficit is surreal - CNN.com