Don't Raise the Debt Ceiling!

[Kevin_Kennedy]

As of November 7th, the total U.S. public debt outstanding reached an astonishing $13.7 trillion. This means that although Congress just raised the debt ceiling to $14.3 trillion back in February, the new Congress will face another debt ceiling vote almost immediately next year. Otherwise, the Treasury will not be able to continue issuing debt to fund government operations.

The upcoming vote will provide an interesting litmus test for the new Republican congressional majority, especially those new members closely identified with Tea Party voters. The debt ceiling law, passed in 1917, enables Congress to place a statutory cap on the total amount of government debt rather than having to approve each individual Treasury bond offering. It also, however, forces Congress into an open and presumably somewhat shameful vote to approve more borrowing.

If the new Congress gives in to establishment pressure and media alarmism about “shutting down the government” by voting to increase the debt ceiling once again, you will know that the status quo has prevailed. You will know that Congress, despite the rhetoric of the midterm elections, is doing business as usual. You will know that the simple notion of balancing the budget, by limiting federal spending to federal revenue, remains a shallow and laughable campaign platitude.

Don't Raise the Debt Ceiling! by Ron Paul

 

[uscitizen]

I like many of Ron's ideals, but he is a bit short on realism.

Now had we not raised the debt ceiling in 2000 when we were near to a balanced budget...

 

[waltky]

The next big battle on the Hill...

Debt ceiling: Battle heats up
April 9, 2011 -- Everybody's talking about debt. No wonder: The country's tab is a whisker away from the current debt ceiling.

The rhetoric is already loud, harsh and, at times, misleading. And there is more to come. To help counteract the half-truths and exaggerations, here are some debt ceiling facts worth noting.

What is the debt ceiling exactly? It's a cap set by Congress on the amount of debt the federal government can legally borrow. The cap applies to debt owed to the public (i.e., anyone who buys U.S. bonds) plus debt owed to federal government trust funds such as those for Social Security and Medicare. The first limit was set in 1917 and set at $11.5 billion, according to the Center for a Responsible Federal Budget. Previously, Congress had to sign off every time the federal government issued debt.

How high is the debt limit right now? The ceiling is currently set at $14.294 trillion. As of April 7, the debt subject to that limit totaled $14.208 trillion -- or $86 billion shy of the cap. But the total can fluctuate up or down daily.

How is the ceiling determined? Based on policies in place, such as the $858 billion tax cut compromise passed in December, lawmakers have already committed to incurring the obligations that require them to raise the debt ceiling. "Congress has already passed and the President has already signed legislation that increases spending or decreases revenues. Those decisions have already been made," said Susan Irving, director for federal budget issues at the Government Accountability Office.

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Budget fight just gets dumber
April 8, 2011: The current fiscal year is still budget-free, thanks to the inability of lawmakers to strike a deal and move on to far more critical matters.

Let's hope children aren't watching C-SPAN these days. Lawmakers are behaving in ways that would earn them a time-out if they were in kindergarten. Deficit hawk Bob Bixby, who runs the Concord Coalition, described the craziness masquerading as debate over this year's budget as akin to the Three Stooges knocking heads over a cigar. "Moe, Larry and Curly are fighting in the back seat of the car. No one is in the driver's seat. As the boys settle down, Curly looks up and says, 'Hey, don't look now but we're about to be killed.' "

Bixby wrote that two weeks ago. At the time, he was a little worried the analogy might have been too harsh. On Thursday, he said he wasn't worried about that anymore. An eleventh-hour spending bill passed Friday is not likely to change Bixby's mind either, since "politicians can't stop squabbling over a few billion dollars from a small slice of the budget while our overall fiscal policy is headed for a cliff."

Instead, they have spent the past week issuing ever-snarkier comments about the other party's real intentions. And they have been making grandiose statements on the floor of the House and Senate about how it's the other side that will be responsible if the government shuts down. That, of course, hasn't left them much time to attend to what are, by all measures, much more important matters.

For instance, they might do better to re-focus their energy on securing the country's fiscal future. That's a long-run proposition that will in no way be meaningfully advanced by passing another $10 billion or $20 billion in cuts. Lawmakers will have to muster every ounce of energy and goodwill they have to hammer out a serious, comprehensive debt-reduction plan that will unfold over many years.

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[Trajan]

hey??! I thought we just settled this?

 

[saved]

I agree that the debt should not be raised, but in all honesty it makes no difference. This nations debt is do high right now that it is impossible to correct and we will fail as a nation. The only thing is when? I have no doubt that we have less then 10 years before this all falls apart and we become like a third world country.
We will have martial law with our own troops policing the streets and our freedoms and rights will be lost. People will be killing to survive and many will be on the streets.

 

[Toro]

Raise the debt ceiling. It would blow a hole in the economy and threaten the financial system.

It's hard to believe that anyone serious would propose this. It's insane.

 

[saved]

Raise the debt ceiling , lower the debt ceiling or leave it like it is makes no difference. This nation will default as the current debt is too high to correct.
We are over 14 trillion in debt. One trillion is a million dollars a day, every day for 2739 years. We are over 14 times that in debt. We are adding to the debt at a rate of over 4 billion a day. One billion is 1000 one million dollar bills. We are adding 4 times that every day. We are borrowing 40% of every dollar spent by the government. All this because of irresponsible and corrupt politicians as they give our borrowed money away to other nations and try and be the police of the world. It is possible to push back the fall of this nation perhaps for 10 years, but sometime with the next ten years we will default and become like third world countries with most the nation living on the streets and digging in dumps to survive. There is simply no way around it.

 

[Hoobler]

I think this is one of those "screwed if we do, screwed if we don't" type situations.

 

[waltky]

Obama: Congress must — and will — raise debt limit...

Obama: Debt ceiling hike will need spending cuts
Apr 15, 2011 - President Barack Obama said Friday that failing to raise the U.S. debt limit "could plunge the world economy back into recession," and he acknowledged that he must compromise on spending with Republicans who control the House to avoid such a crisis.

"I think it's absolutely right that it's not going to happen without some spending cuts," the president told The Associated Press in an interview in his hometown, agreeing with House Speaker John Boehner's assessment.

Obama urged swift action to raise the ceiling on the money the nation can borrow, saying he doesn't want the United States to get close to a line that would worry markets that it wouldn't be raised. He said he was confident Congress ultimately would raise the limit. "We always have. We will do it again," he said.

The president also said he doesn't expect either side to get everything it wants and that he's pushing for "a smart compromise that's serious." The interview came a day after he held the first major fundraising events of his re-election campaign, which he launched a week ago. The 2012 race is the first in which the tea party coalition, which rails against the growth of government, excessive spending and Obama's presidency, will play a major role.

Source

Obama: Raise Debt Ceiling or Risk Global Recession
Apr 15, 2011 – Failure by Congress to raise the U.S. debt limit "could plunge the world economy back into recession," President Barack Obama declared Friday, and he acknowledged that he must compromise on spending with Republicans who control the House to avoid such a crisis.

"I think he's absolutely right that it's not going to happen without some spending cuts," the president told The Associated Press in an interview in his hometown, agreeing with House Speaker John Boehner's assessment. Obama urged swift action, saying he doesn't want the United States to get close to a deadline that would destabilize financial markets. He said he was confident Congress ultimately would raise the limit. "We always have. We will do it again," said Obama, who voted against raising the debt limit as a freshman senator from Illinois.

The interview came a day after the Democratic president held the first major fundraising events of his re-election campaign, which was launched a week ago in a nation still reeling from high unemployment and struggling to recover from economic recession. "I'm the person who is best prepared for us to finish the job so that we're on track to succeed in the 21st century," Obama said. That's the heart of his argument for voters to give him a second term over more than a half dozen Republicans seeking the White House.

As the 2012 campaign gets under way, it's being shaped by a deep disagreement over federal spending in Washington between Republicans who control the House and Democrats in power in the Senate and White House. Obama and Republicans compromised a week ago on a spending bill to avert a government shutdown, a preview of the debate that's certain to dominate the coming months on deficits and the ceiling on money the nation can borrow. The president said that he doesn't expect either side to get everything it wants in negotiations and that he's pushing for "a smart compromise that's serious."

He warned of dire consequences if the debt ceiling is not raised before it hits its limit of $14.3 trillion; the administration says the latest Congress could possibly act is by early July. But Obama said some longer-term questions about where the government trims its operations will have to be left until after the 2012 presidential election. Obama's remarks about the relationship between lifting the debt ceiling and the need for spending cuts was the clearest acknowledgement yet by the president or the White House that the two issues are intertwined. Republicans, particularly tea party-backed lawmakers in the House, have repeatedly said they would not vote to increase the debt cap without a significant step toward long-term deficit reduction - a point reiterated by Boehner on Thursday.

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[auditor0007]

Raise the debt ceiling. It would blow a hole in the economy and threaten the financial system.

It's hard to believe that anyone serious would propose this. It's insane.

It's amazing how many here would support not raising it. They really want this country to implode. They are so stuck in their ideology that they can't understand how things work.

 

[editec]

WE had two choices...raise the ceiling or seriously start cutting.

Since neither party is seriously going to cut spending significantly enough to change the deficit picture, and since they did not want to shut down government, there was really no choice.

 

[Douger]

Those poor "public servants" are going to need a cost of living adjustment this fall.

 

[editec]

Some of us think we ought not to raise the debt ceiling and would much prefer that we raze up the house, instead.

 

[waltky]

Granny says if dat's what it takes fer her to get dat second stimulus check - well, so be it...

US Borrowing Limit Debated
April 17, 2011 - Days after a grueling, partisan battle on federal spending ended with a bill to fund the U.S. government through September, a new battle is underway over America’s long-term fiscal woes. Democrats and Republicans are offering competing visions to reduce a $1.5 trillion federal deficit and slow the growth of a $14 trillion national debt. A complicating factor is the need to raise the limit on the amount of money the U.S. government can borrow to cover its debt obligations.

Like any government that spends more than it collects in revenue, the U.S. government borrows what it needs to close the budget gap. The amount that can be borrowed is capped by law - a so-called "debt ceiling". Periodically, Congress must set a new, higher limit to allow additional borrowing. Failure to raise the debt ceiling could cause the federal government to default on its obligations to lenders, including creditor nations like China. Weeks from now, the U.S. government will once again bump up against the borrowing limit. But raising the debt ceiling is politically unpopular. In the past, Democratic and Republican legislators have railed against doing so, including Barack Obama before he became president.
In 2006, then-Senator Obama voted against raising the debt limit, which he said reflected "leadership failure" in Washington under then-President George W. Bush.

Obama has since said he regrets the vote, calling it a mistake. The White House is urging Congress to promptly raise the debt ceiling to reassure credit markets and avoid even the suggestion that the United States might not honor its obligations. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner says he is confident Congress understands the gravity of the situation. "Congress will raise the debt ceiling," he said. "They [congressional leaders] recognize that America has to meet its obligations." Geithner spoke on ABC’s This Week television program. The treasury secretary said, during a meeting at the White House last week, congressional leaders assured President Obama that they would act on the debt ceiling.

But Republicans, who control the House of Representatives, are attaching a condition to the debt-ceiling vote. They want an agreement with Democrats and the White House on federal-spending reductions. House Budget Committee chairman of Wisconsin spoke on CBS’ Face the Nation television program. "Nobody wants to play around with the country’s credit rating. Nobody wants to see default happening. But we also think it is important to get a handle on future borrowing as we deal with raising the debt limit. We should not ignore the spending problem. It is why we have this debt problem in the first place."

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Geithner confident Congress will raise debt limit
Apr 17, 2011 WASHINGTON - Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner says Republican leaders have privately assured the Obama administration that Congress will raise the government's borrowing limit in time to prevent an unprecedented default on the nation's debt.

But a top Republican quickly pushed back Sunday and said there was no guarantee the GOP would agree to increase the $14.3 trillion debt ceiling without further controls on federal spending. Geithner told ABC's "This Week" and NBC's "Meet the Press" that Republicans told President Barack Obama in a White House meeting last Wednesday that they will go along with a higher limit. "I want to make it perfectly clear that Congress will raise the debt ceiling," Geithner said in the interviews taped Saturday and aired Sunday. He said the leaders told Obama that they couldn't play around with the government's credit rating. "They recognize it, and they told the president that on Wednesday in the White House," Geithner said.

But Rep. Paul Ryan, the chairman of the House Budget Committee, said that while it was true nobody wants the country to default, it's essential to address future borrowing at the same time. "We want cuts in spending accompanying a raising of the debt ceiling. And that is what we have been telling the White House," Ryan said on CBS' "Face the Nation." Ryan, R-Wis., wrote the 2012 budget blueprint that the House passed on Friday. The plan for the budget year that begins Oct. 1 cuts $6.2 trillion over the coming decade and transforms Medicare for people under 55.

The government is projected to reach its borrowing limit no later than May 16 and risks going into an unprecedented default. Geithner has said he will have a few options he can use that would delay a possible government default until about July 8. The looming credit crunch has heightened the tensions between the administration and Republicans in Congress.

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[Seriously]

In the recent 2011 budget debate, the cuts proposed by both Democrats and Republicans were crumbs when compared to the whole pie.

Revenues (aka Tax Receipts) of the US Federal Government covered only 56.9% of the authorized spending. 43.1% of the spending was to be covered by adding on more debt to the unpaid debts of previous years.

After negotiating the size of the crumb, Republicans joined Democrats to approve these excessively high levels of spending and new debt to continue for the remainder of US fiscal year 2011.

 

[waltky]

Boggles the mind, don't it?...

Uncle Sam’s Latest Line of Credit: $1,888,174,000,000.00 Spent Out of $1,900,000,000,000.00
Thursday, May 05, 2011 - Of the $1,900,000,000,000.00 increase in federal borrowing authority approved by President Barack Obama and Congress last February, the federal government now has just $11.826 billion left, according to the U.S. Treasury. The other $1,888,174,000,000.00 has been borrowed and spent.

As of the close of business on Wednesday, the federal debt subject to the legal limit equaled $14,282,174,000,000.00. The debt limit--set in a law signed by President Obama on Feb. 12, 2010--is $14,294,000,000,000.00.

The $1,888,174,000,000.00 in new debt the government has accumulated just since Feb. 12, 2010, equals $16,064 for every household in the United States (based on the Census Bureau’s estimate of 117,538,000 households in the country).

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner sent a letter to House Speaker John Boehner on Monday saying that the Treasury would begin taking “extraordinary measures” on Friday to avoid hitting the debt ceiling.

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After Congress Lifted Debt Limit Last Year, Debt Jumped $500 Billion in Two Months
Thursday, May 05, 2011 - The last time Congress lifted the legal limit on the national debt, the debt jumped by $500 billion in just two months, according to the Treasury Department.

On Feb. 12, 2010, the portion of the national debt subject to the legal limit was $12.295146 trillion. On that day, President Barack Obama signed a new law lifting the legal debt limit from $12.394 trillion to $14.294 trillion—giving the Treasury the legal authority to borrow an additional $1.9 trillion. The government blew through the first $500 billion of its new line of credit in only two months.

By April 15, 2010--federal income tax day--the portion of the national debt subject to the legal limit stood at $12.817961—a $522 billion jump from Feb. 12, 2010. In just the first full calendar month—March 2010--after Obama and Congress increased the debt limit last year, the debt subject to that limit increased by $332.794 billion—or more than $10 billion per day. Over the entire course of fiscal 2010, the national debt increased $1.657 trillion. As of the close of business Tuesday, the national debt subject to the limit stood at $14.280140—or just $13.86 billion short of the legal limit Congress and President Obama set only 14 months ago.

Since Congress and Obama reset the debt limit on Feb. 12, 2010, the federal government has borrowed an additional $1.984944 trillion. Given that the Census Bureau estimates there are now about 117,538,000 households in the United States, the federal government has borrowed an additional $16,888 per American household since the last increase in the debt limit--just last year. The total national debt--which was $14,331,792,440,897.76 as of Tuesday—now equals $121,933 per American household.

http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/after-congress-lifted-debt-limit-last-ye

 

[expat_panama]

My vote's for no increase.