I have fervently commented over the years against deficit spending and especially against our astronomical and perilous national debt. Presidents and Congressional leaders of both parties share plenty of blame and continue to do our nation an incredible disservice. They callously risk our future in favor of the ability to avoid making difficult decisions today. That said, while Democrats spend money,
The debt ceiling is an artificial creation imposed by Congress to force periodic votes on whether to increase it. The debt ceiling simply reflects the point in time when the U.S. needs to borrow money to paid its EXISTING debt rather than to default on money already spent and legally owed to creditors. This is not new spending. This is not something that can be changed. Anyone properly focused on reducing deficits and debt needs to do so during the annual budget process BEFORE the money is allocated, authorized, and spent. The national debt is the same as your credit card. If you don’t want to spend money, do not charge items on your card. Once you do, you either need to pay off the entire balance or make the minimum monthly payment, paying high interest on the balance.
Many Americans get into financial trouble because of accruing high credit card balances. That is the national debt. We have no choice but to pay our bills. Like card holders, the US is paying the equivalent of small monthly minimums accruing ever increasing debt owed to creditors. In fact, we are borrowing additional money just to make the payments. The debt ceiling allows Congress to borrow the money required to make the payments and if it is not authorized, we default. If you default on your debt, you lose your house and everyone you own, going into bankruptcy. Failing to raise the debt ceiling forces the US to default. So does increasing the national debt. Individuals may lose their house. We are going to lose our country.
When Republican Presidents and Congresses ran up huge deficits, they raised the debt ceiling each time. When there are Democratic Presidents, Republicans frequently play these games with the debt ceiling. First, they pretend to care about spending despite the fact that Republican record deficits, irresponsible spending, and unpaid tax cuts account for almost 70% of the debt they now say they don’t support. Second, they try to fool the American people into thinking the debt ceiling is new spending. The debt ceiling is an existing legal, financial obligation we have no choice but to pay.
Republicans try to hide the catastrophic consequences of defaulting on our debt payments. Those include huge increases in mortgage rates; incredible reductions in the value of investments, such as bonds, mutual funds, etc., upon which most Americans rely; and a cataclysmic economic meltdown across the board. That is no exaggeration. Thus, there is no choice but to pay our debt and then seek to reduce it. Republicans believe that because this happens during a Democratic presidency, it would weaken Democrats in the next election and the American people will forget that it was the Republicans who caused the default and ran up most of the debt.