Default, Dear Brutus, is Not in Our Stars, but in Ourselves

For many years, I’ve felt that the worst-named political measure was the “debt ceiling.”  It give the impression that when it comes time to “raise the debt ceiling,” the issue about increasing the national debt – and so people on the right (and it’s always on the right, the left has never attempted to block raising the debt ceiling ever in U.S. history, as far as I’m aware.  But in recent years, it’s always been the right that has done so.  Always) get all flummoxed and outraged and twisted in pretzel knots.

In reality, raising the debt ceiling is simply (and “simply” is the correct word) authorizing enough money and transferring it to pay the money that the United States has already spent and owes.  It’s like getting your monthly bills, seeing that you don’t have enough money in your checking account to pay them, and then transferring enough money from your savings account to pay what you owe.

This isn’t a hard concept.

Now, of course, you don’t have to transfer enough money if you don’t want to and don’t have to pay your bills.  That’s your right.  But then, you will likely be sued, have your credit cut off, and your credit rating will be ruined, making it harder to borrow money or buy anything on credit in the future.  And…you will still owe the money.

This isn’t a hard concept.

The other week I finally heard a far-better than for the issue.  Some economist referred to it as the “default limit.”  That explains the concept much more clearly.

One thing I’ve never fully understood when Republican politicians raise their faux-outrage about raising the debt ceiling is if they are doing so purely to stir up the GOP base which they believe is ignorant about the issue and doesn’t understand what the debt ceiling actually is – or if they themselves don’t fully understand it.  While my guess is that Republican politicians do know what the debt ceiling is and are playing irresponsible politics with the risk of financial disaster in order to hold the budget hostage, I also suspect that this is not an “either/or” proposition, and that only most Republicans really do know.  Because from what we’ve seen from far too many GOP officials on the extreme right – or the “Chaos Caucus” as it’s now known – it appears that there are indeed enough there who truly don’t fully grasp what it is.  After all, it’s one thing to be cynical and make an argument against raising the debt ceiling, knowing how dangerous it would be if it wasn’t raised, and another thing entirely to be outraged by the idea of raising the debt ceiling – something actually mandated by the U.S. Constitution – and insist you won’t vote to do so unless spending is cut.  Which has zero to do with the debt ceiling.

Furthermore, since Republicans really truly, honestly insist that raising the debt limit is a supposedly Bad Thing that should not be done with such a big budget deficit…then they wouldn’t have voted to raise it unanimously all four years of the Trump administration – which increased debt so much that it’s now 25% of all debt the United States has had in its history. But they did vote unanimously to raise it all four years of the Trump administration.

I was going to make another point about Republicans disingenuously insisting that their reasons for not wanting to raise the debt ceiling had to do with the budget deficit, while not actually proposing a new, full budget.  But I won’t go there – because this would be so wildly the kind of distraction that Republicans want to make that, no matter how disastrous GOP talking points would be to Americans, it’s actually beside the point. 

Because the point is – if Republicans want to make such massive cuts to these programs, while cutting taxes for the richest Americans, they should propose that in the next budget debate.  But it has absolutely zero to do with the debt ceiling, or better put, the default limit.

Nothing.  Zero. 

The default limit is an easy concept.  You have to pay the bills for what you’ve already spent.

And all Americans get that.  Because the concept is easy.  Unless you’re a Republican and don’t want to get it, because it hurts your extremist agenda.

But it’s still an easy concept.