That Darn Debt Ceiling

The purpose of the U.S. debt ceiling is, ostensibly, to prevent government spending (and debt) from spiraling out of control.  If total government debt approaches the ceiling, then, the logic goes, Congress is supposed to meet and decide what to do about it:  either cut spending, increase taxes, raise the ceiling, or some combination thereof.

It’s almost comical to see the two major parties bickering over it.  The Republicans have proposed a few token cuts here and there - although even calling them “spending cuts” is not really accurate because they are more like reductions in growth, not actual spending dollars.  And they have stated up-front that cuts in their favorite program - the military - are off the table.  As I have pontificated many times: everyone agrees that government is too big and spends too much money, but don’t even think about cutting my favorite program! 

Sometime back, I heard an interview on the radio with a Republican legislator (I’ve long since forgotten who it was).  Anyway, this Republican, like all his colleagues, had campaigned on a promise to rein in federal spending.  But - surprise, surprise! - federal spending increased, and the Congressman being interviewed voted FOR these increases.  When asked, his justification went something like this:  “Yeah, we really wanted to cut spending, but you know, we just couldn’t this time around because of blah, blah, blah.  But you just watch:  come next legislative session, boy oh boy, we are going to cut that monster like you won’t believe!  The job isn’t finished, so you must vote for us Republicans again!”

Then there’s the Democrats, hell-bent on increasing government size and cost until, until ... come to think of it, there IS no “until.”  What debt ceiling?  Yes, it’s a pain and a hassle to have to periodically meet and go through the motions of raising it yet again, but let’s just do it and get it over with, so we can get back to the business of spending.  As flimsy and namby-pamby as the Republican budget proposals are, seeing that the Democrats refuse to even consider them just makes me want to throw up.  But I always give the Democrats credit for at least being honest:  they say they want bigger government, and by golly, they deliver!

There is this notion out there that “government must grow”.  How in the world did anybody come up with that?  I’ve heard politicians say that, since the population has grown, then government must grow to keep up.  Huh?  Where in the world does it say that there is supposed to be some constant ratio between population and spending?

Your government.

No, government is not “too small.”  It needs to shrink, not grow (see picture above).  The debt ceiling needs to be lowered, not raised.  A good starting point would be to cut the federal budget in half.  Yes, you read correctly: cut it in half.  Where to cut, you ask?  The short answer:  anywhere and everywhere.

Are there not politicians and political parties out there who advocate thusly?  And have at least a smidgeon of integrity to actually do so?  Sure.  But nobody pays any attention to them.  The news media ignores them; in their mind, all that matters is who wins an election, and candidates with low poll numbers don’t even deserve the time of day

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Finally, let me point out that, according to the U.S. Constitution - you know, that ancient document that all elected officials swear to uphold - that setting budgets and spending is the job of Congress, not the President.  Thus Biden has no authority to unilaterally raise the dollar amount of anything, via Executive Order or whatever.

So how will this debt ceiling thingy play out?  Without a doubt, it will get raised - and probably at the last minute. Spending will surely increase.  And everyone can then breathe a sigh of relief.  Until the next time.