Before the GOP Consents to Raising the Debt Ceiling
The next battle of the fiscal war revolves around whether or not Congress will vote to raise the ceiling on the nation's debt limit -- a limit which Treasury currently estimates will be hit as early as mid-May.
Over the course of the next few weeks, we will see Barack Obama beg and plead for Republicans to consent to raising the debt cap. Then he will demonize and antagonize his opponents in Congress for their reluctance to do so. He will call them foolish and irresponsible, and he'll accuse them of playing games with our nation's future.
Of course, Congress will ultimately vote to raise the debt ceiling in capitulation to the threat -- albeit a bogus threat, according to Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania -- of default.
But in the meantime, the Republicans would do well to remind the American public of where folks like Barack Obama and Harry Reid stood on the issue of raising the debt ceiling just a short while ago, in 2006.
From Senator Obama's floor speech, March 20, 2006:
The fact that we are here today to debate raising America’s debt limit is a sign of leadership failure. It is a sign that the U.S. Government can’t pay its own bills. It is a sign that we now depend on ongoing financial assistance from foreign countries to finance our Government’s reckless fiscal policies. … Increasing America’s debt weakens us domestically and internationally. Leadership means that “the buck stops here.” Instead, Washington is shifting the burden of bad choices today onto the backs of our children and grandchildren. America has a debt problem and a failure of leadership. Americans deserve better.
And here's Harry Reid in March, 2006:
They should explain why they think that more debt is good for our economy. How can the Republican majority in this Congress explain to their constituents that trillions of dollars of new debt is good for our economy? How can they explain that they think it's fair to force our children, our grandchildren, our great grand children to finance this debt through higher taxes? Why is it right to increase our nation's dependence on foreign creditors? They should explain this....Any credible economist would tell you that we should be reducing debt, not increasing it....We're being asked to do what shouldn't be asked of us: to increase the debt to almost $9 trillion.
Come May, Congress will be asked to increase the debt ceiling to over $14 trillion. Our best hope is that Republicans can squeeze every cent of spending cuts out of the Senate Democrats and the President before they concede to raise the debt cap, and that they force Barack Obama and Harry Reid to eat a putrid, steaming pile of their own words.
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Comments :
Aug '10
Re: Before the GOP Consents to Raising the Debt Ceiling
Why are we standing on the sand ? Is that a stick in your hand ?
Why is this era different from any other ?
from a first born son
Apr '11
Re: Before the GOP Consents to Raising the Debt Ceiling
But wait! You forgot about this fantastic budget deal we just reached! This really is going to fix everything. Much the same way the couple who's losing their home and can't afford their bills got together and reached an agreement to buy the Kirkland paper towels instead of the Brawny. All fixed!
Re: Before the GOP Consents to Raising the Debt Ceiling
I really love this analogy.
Dec '10
Re: Before the GOP Consents to Raising the Debt Ceiling
Sovereign debt of one nation held in the treasury of another should not be considered as typical debt, but of having characteristics similar to equity shares.
Sure, there’s still talk of interest payments, but like equity in a private company, of which the paid-in cash is sunk into the company essentially forever, on the theory its shares may realize some value in a transaction later, the world’s official money-changers have concluded that our inability to service the principal payments of our sovereign debt has transformed it into paper destined to be rolled over in perpetuity.
So the debt-ceiling consists of nothing but a pro forma administrative task, useful for budgeting how much interest will be put into circulation in order to pretend we’re not in default.
Re: Before the GOP Consents to Raising the Debt Ceiling
flownover: Why are we standing on the sand ? Is that a stick in your hand ?
Why is this era different from any other ?
from a first born son · Apr 14 at 4:29pm
Profound.
Jan '11
Re: Before the GOP Consents to Raising the Debt Ceiling
Why isn't anyone arguing that we should LOWER the debt ceiling? That is what we want, isn't it?
It's funny. Democrats aren't afraid one bit of raising the debt ceiling and plunging us deeper and deeper into ruin. But conservatives stink with fear over doing the right thing.
We all know the terms that describe our country's fiscal plight - dire, death-spiral, catastrophic, Armageddon, reckoning day, unsustainable, ruinous - and then, without any hesitation, we concede that yes indeed, we shall go deeper into debt; however, we promise we will stop spending more than we take in manana.
No wonder the Democrats feel free to berate us. No wonder Obama feels free to sit Paul Ryan in the front row and slander his ideas to his face. The Democrats and Obama both know that at nut-cracking time, the GOP and little Paul will do exactly what the Democrats want - raise their credit line.
And if they have to sign some agreement or promise - sincerely promise - to support a Balanced Budget amendment or some other piece of paper, well, Obama will act like that was his idea all the time.
Edited on Apr 14, 2011 at 9:35pmAug '10
Re: Before the GOP Consents to Raising the Debt Ceiling
"The American Republic will endure until the day Congress discovers that it can bribe the public with the public's money." Alexis de Tocqueville
Perhaps we should amend Alexis' prescient observation to read 'Chinese money' - even though it's the money we gave them to buy the goods made with the technology, know-how, and most favored nation trade status that we also gave them.
I have little doubt that future historians will marvel at the stupidity of this era.
May '10
Re: Before the GOP Consents to Raising the Debt Ceiling
Diane, I hope Republicans make a habit of hammering Obama and the Democrats with their own words just as you did.
Like flownover, I'd like to see a line drawn in the sand, but Republicans seem deadset on compromise (capitulation).