Should Congress Raise the Debt Ceiling? Weigh In!
Thursday July 14th, 2011 • Posted by Emily Skarbek at 9:18am PDT • 10 Comments
Freakonomics reports yesterday that a new poll from the Pew Research Center and the Washington Post shows more people see raising the debt limit as a bigger risk than not raising it. Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner conduct their own poll. Weigh in here!
As Ezra Klein reports on the development of the Capitol Hill compromise, Mario Rizzo reminds us that whatever the nature of the promises politicians arrive at before Aug. 2nd—those promises fundamentally lack credibility of enforcement.
Republicans have complained with good reason that the revenue enhancement ideas put forth by Obama and Co. are much more specific than expenditure reduction “proposals.” (I would add this is probably true of the expenditure reduction proposals of each side!)
The upshot is: The public doesn’t know what is on or off the table with any reasonable degree of specificity. I imagine that the parties themselves don’t know. There is no reasonable enforcement mechanism for whatever the negotiators come up with.
Mich McConnell might be on to something. Yesterday in the Wall Street Journal he writes, “The entitlement state can’t be reformed by one house of Congress in one year against a determined President and Senate held by the other party. It requires more than one election.”
In short, the question of making credible commitments that can be enforceable in democracy over time is difficult and will not be resolved by this Congress alone. Action to resolve the debt crisis now may be a necessary but not sufficient condition for genuine reform.
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William Ressegue says:
No, No, No
We are at the limit no more money! No
No NO NO!
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RCDuron says:
NO!!!!!!!!!
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Stephanie Rowland says:
No Raising of the Debt Ceiling! This government needs to CUT, CAP, & BALANCE. Cut at least of couple of real trillions, not funny accounting games trillions.
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McConnell is right! Each time the President wants to raise the debt ceiling it feels like all they are doing is paying one credit card off with another one and spend..spend..spend! Yet Nothing is getting paid off and for two years the President and Democrats never really had a budget, So now they have the Republicans in place that the American people put there, They can not just do as they please which is just what We The People wanted. The President is acting like a two year old and telling Grandpa and Grandma if I don’t get what I want then you can’t have your Money..Sorry? It’s their money! and I just wish he would try that..Really! We all know what is going on no matter how many times Obama comes on TV and ask people to eat their pea’s, Sorry Obama, You’re the one who must eat your peas! They Must Cut out the spending! There is a lot of Dumb spending going on and we know it! and the Republicans know it! So please do. Hand over the keys to Obama and remind him that the Republicans can not drive remember. Obama needs the Republicans to fix this for him so he looks good for 2012, If they fix it..Obama will take all the credit..If it does not..Obama will blame them, So Obama thinks he will win either way..NOT! Obama has already lost! Obama’s actions have showed Americans that he is NOT for America and Most feel he has done this to put America in the shape it is in. I feel that Obama has already shown America that he can not handle being our President and should step down, Most of his actions are very questionable and should be looked in to, It is of sufficient genuine Action to do so to avoid a Big Crisis for America and it needs to be done now. I think the American People have told the government what they feel in 2010 and by many groups started since his Obamacare passed when The People told him we did not and still do not want it, but he does what is Not right for America and The People every time, Something is very wrong with that..Like wanting to add more debt and not making any cuts in the right places. This is Obama’s Big Mess and his alone, But if someone does not step up to take this and lets Obama do as he wants. America is and will be in more trouble then we already are. I guess there are no Hero’s left, which is also a sad day for America!
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J. M. Spiewak says:
Absolutely NOT!!! Cut spending drastically!!! Republicans MUST stand their ground and actually INCREASE cuts on spending if they want to be re-elected!
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Angelsbreeze says:
NO. NO. NO. The spending must stop! Republicans should stand firm and no deals should be made. It is time to correct the problems of the past generated by both Republicans and Democrats. We are rapidly going down the same road as Greece and that is a disgrace to everything that America used to stand for.
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N. Joseph Potts says:
Congress should enact a stepwise REDUCTION in the borrowing ceiling that the government must meet each fiscal year.
After one president has been impeached for failing to meet this requirement, his successors will be punctilious about meeting it.
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Joseph C Moore, USN Ret says:
Raise the debt ceiling only if you want more unsustainable debt piled on the backs of our future generations. A higher debt ceiling (with unknown future increases) only means more spending to GDP ratio. It HAS to stop.
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No, the debt ceiling should not be raised! Republicans need to stand firm.