I know you have all heard so much about the debt ceiling that you're probably exhausted. But I think it's important to point out a few facts because this matter has been so clouded by rhetoric.
Did you know that there is only one other country in the world that even has a debt ceiling? That's Denmark, a strange anomaly, and its debt ceiling is deliberately kept very high so that it will never need to be raised.
Why does no one else have a debt ceiling?
Because when a legislature votes to authorize spending at a certain level but authorizes tax revenues at a lower level, it is assumed that the government will have to borrow the difference.
The vote to have higher expenditures than tax revenues is - in effect - a vote to borrow money to cover the difference.
And in the United States, Congress - including Republicans - voted for a budget in which expenditures exceeded tax revenues.
The logical consequence of that budget - again, passed by Republicans and Democrats, is that the government has to make up the difference by borrowing.
To come at it now after the budget has been passed is like getting your Visa bill and calling up the company to say, "Actually we don't want to buy all that stuff we bought."
That's not how it works. First you pay the bill, then you can change your spending habits.
Fareed's Take: The damage is already done! – Global Public Square - CNN.com Blogs
Did you know that there is only one other country in the world that even has a debt ceiling? That's Denmark, a strange anomaly, and its debt ceiling is deliberately kept very high so that it will never need to be raised.
Why does no one else have a debt ceiling?
Because when a legislature votes to authorize spending at a certain level but authorizes tax revenues at a lower level, it is assumed that the government will have to borrow the difference.
The vote to have higher expenditures than tax revenues is - in effect - a vote to borrow money to cover the difference.
And in the United States, Congress - including Republicans - voted for a budget in which expenditures exceeded tax revenues.
The logical consequence of that budget - again, passed by Republicans and Democrats, is that the government has to make up the difference by borrowing.
To come at it now after the budget has been passed is like getting your Visa bill and calling up the company to say, "Actually we don't want to buy all that stuff we bought."
That's not how it works. First you pay the bill, then you can change your spending habits.
Fareed's Take: The damage is already done! – Global Public Square - CNN.com Blogs