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Biden to meet with Democratic leaders as debt showdown looms

12 Comments
By LISA MASCARO and SEUNG MIN KIM

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Economic limits sound like a good idea but at the end of the day they just tie your hands and limits your flexibility. That can really come back to bite you when you are forced into an unexpected situation.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

And I know that this will go over the head of every "self-made" (cough cough) entreprenuer or day-trader out there but the debt limit is about PAST spending that we already owe.

That is the truth. Congress has already appropriated the funds and thus has already incurred the debts. There is probably a legal argument to be made that a debt limit that does not allow the Executive Branch to obligate the money appropriated by Congress in their annual appropriations acts or pay interest in previously incurred debt, funds that are also appropriated by Congress is illegal. The way the laws are written the Executive Branch is obligated to expend the money Congress appropriates on the things Congress appropriated the funs for. The law clearly states the Executive Branch cannot refuse to spend money Congress appropriates. But then there is a debt limit that effectively prevents the Executive Branch from expending appropriated money including interest payments on previously incurred debt. I wonder if there is a court willing to hear such a dispute between two branches of the Federal Government.

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As part of the MAGA takeover of the Repub Party, the old value of "personal responsibility" has been jettisoned much like "fiscal responsibility" and "law and order"...

Now, like their leader, the value is "welch on your debts"....

Repubs gave their Top 1% backers a $1.9 TRILLION tax cut in 2018 - all UNFUNDED - on the nation's credit card....

Now they want to welch on that debt...

We can add "welchers" to kooks, liars, and seditionists when describing today's Repub Party...

2 ( +2 / -0 )

The debt limit is an artifact of WWI when the Treasury had to ask Congress each time it incurred new debt to pay for the war. Congress decided to enact a debt limit so the Treasury didn't have to go to Congress for each new debt. Now it has become a political hot potato that is unnecessary. Get rid of the debt limit altogether. Fiscally it changes nothing but it repealing the debt limit gets rid of this opportunity for nail biting political theater.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Only a lune or a moron would threaten the full faith and credit of the United States by threatening to default. 

Oh, look who it is? 

That does make more sense.....

I'm sorry, but when did the left care about the US credit or even the National Debt?

Remember how the GQP threatened to vote against raising the debt limit when Trump was president because we were on the path to economic ruin?

No?

Me neither. 

I agree different times and we had RINO''s back then, not to mention they were in the minority, different times, and a different year.

I fact, the only way to go in an economy already operating at full-employment was to institute tax cuts that added 7.2 TRILLION to the debt and benefitted the richest 1%. 

Ahh, you mean, the 7.2 million jobs that millions had to put on hold because we went on lockdown during the pandemic? So you are saying that Biden should get credit for giving jobs back to people that already had jobs and left for a few years and came back? Wow, just wow!

Because that is how fiscal conservatives roll (when it is their boi in the WH).

In the past, yeah.

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

And I know that this will go over the head of every "self-made" (cough cough) entreprenuer or day-trader out there but the debt limit is about PAST spending that we already owe.

Defaulting on it will not result in less future spending. In fact, it will result in MORE spending in the form of increased intrest payments on soveriegn debt as a result of lost trust from the market.

Funny how that works, isn't it?

Strange how every educuated professional says the same thing. Every. Single. One.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Remember how the GQP threatened to vote against raising the debt limit when Trump was president because we were on the path to economic ruin?

No?

Me neither.

I fact, the only way to go in an economy already operating at full-employment was to institute tax cuts that added 7.2 TRILLION to the debt and benefitted the richest 1%.

Because that is how fiscal conservatives roll (when it is their boi in the WH).

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Only a lune or a moron would threaten the full faith and credit of the United States by threatening to default.

Oh, look who it is?

That does make more sense.....

1 ( +1 / -0 )

The US tax burden is among the lowest in the developed world measured in terms of government revenues from all sources as a proportion of GDP. The US could raise taxes to cover most of its deficit without hurting the economy if the tax increases are done smartly. In 1999 and again in 2000 the US ran miniscule but positive budget surpluses, and was expected to do so in the future until the Bush tax cuts put the nation back into a deficit.

Here is the real story. The Republicans love a budget deficit because they love to cry broke and use that as an excuse to cut Social Security, Medicare, and any other program that might help the poor and disabled. They played that game in California for years. Now the Repubes hold no statewide offices and have a superminority in both houses of the State Legislature. The state has run budget surpluses, often very large ones, every year since 2008 while advancing it's GDP to number 4 in the world. There is money for schools and other programs that was always cut when there were enough Repubes in the Legislature to block budgets that were not in deficit. The US is more than wealthy enough to afford the programs it has without running deficits and without doing any harm to its economy.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Would be great to have a balanced budget mandated, except in times of formally declared wars

Meditate on the equation of national income: GDP = C + I + G + ( EX - IM ).

In words that is saying that GDP equals the sum of consumption, investment, government expenditure and net exports. In a recession / depression GPD is falling. That usually means consumption and investment are also falling. To stimulate GDP growth during a recession you want to increase G and that generally means deficit spending. The increase in GDP generally exceeds the increase in G because the money spent by the government on wages and material gets spent again by the recipients. That stimulates economic growth.

However after solid GDP growth returns and the economy is stable, the resulting debt needs to be paid down. Wars are not the only time to deficit spend and might not be a good time to do so, but when a nation is faced with a recession, cutting G, government spending, accelerates the decline in GDP and makes the recession / depression even worse.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

I have a crazy idea. How about spending 2% less than the income and paying down the debt year by year?

Would be great to have a balanced budget mandated, except in times of formally declared wars and if there is any national debt, then the allowed expenditures must be at least 5% less than the tax income with that 5% going to pay down the debt.

Crazy, right?

0 ( +1 / -1 )

If the MAGA GOP stops paying our nation’s bills, Americans pay the price.

Exactly. Pay what you owe. I've never heard of anyone "cutting down in spending" by intentionally defaulting on bills you've already racked up.

If I'm wrong, please chime in. I'd like to hear GOPers say they'd do this personally so they have no problems doing this to our country.

I figure we're just going to get the same emotional outbursts from low income conservatives who don't have anything to lose.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

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