Raise Debt Limit (Liberal media tax and spend advocates think Bush is fiscally irresponsible.)

The Kansas City Star - Opinion Editorial ^ | June 25, 2002 | Editorial staff

[RAT Patrol]

Posted on Tue, Jun. 25, 2002

Raise debt limit

Republicans who dominate the U.S. House are suffering acute embarrassment over the rising debt. They should be. But they should ignore their pride and, along with Democrats, promptly approve a modest increase in the debt limit.

Congress has no choice but to raise the federal debt limit. The government has run out of money, and it has reached the limit on borrowing that lawmakers previously established.

Congressional delays in raising the limit have squandered large amounts of money by forcing the government into expensive accounting shenanigans.

The Senate approved a $450 billion increase on the limit earlier this month. It was higher than necessary, but an improvement over the administration's requested $750 billion increase. An increase that large would take pressure off Congress and the White House to curb excessive spending.

President Bush and lawmakers deserve blame for the fiscal irresponsibility that is putting the country deeper into the red. Over the past year, they have frittered away hundreds of billions of dollars on oversized spending programs and tax cuts the country could not afford.

Many advocates of fiscal responsibility warned about the inevitable results. Now the day of reckoning has arrived. House members want to pretend they had nothing to do with it.

"They don't really have a choice," Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill said Sunday. "They've already voted the money that's being spent that is pushing us up against the debt ceiling."

That's true. But O'Neill's boss -- the president -- encouraged and approved much of this spending. Even now, Bush continues to talk about more tax cuts while ignoring the fact that they would be financed through more government borrowing. And he continues to push for more federal spending in many areas.

As the government moves deeper into the red, this is the time for the president to pay more attention to the federal government's bottom line. It is getting worse by the hour.

© 2001 kansascitystar and wire service sources. All Rights Reserved.
http://www.kansascity.com

[RAT Patrol]

If you visit the KCStar with any regularity you will know that they never met a tax or liberal spending program they didn't like. Feel free to give them feedback at letters@kcstar.com or to the editorial page editor, mpepper@kcstar.com.

[EBUCK]

Just a question here (I'm all for keeping the debt limit at current levels or lowering it) but what is Bush going to do when the money runs out? I get the feeling that we are way over extended here and the little break in the recession will not create enough revenue to get us out.

And don't tell me that everything is in the black, cause I'm not biting.

EBUCK

[freeper12]

>>Liberal media tax and spend advocates think Bush is fiscally irresponsible.

Are you suggesting that Bush is actually fiscally responsible? What spending has he cut or spending has he vetoed since he has been in office??

[RAT Patrol]

No, no...you make sense as usual, EBUCK. I agree. My issue is not with raising or lowering the debt limit. I posted this article because of the hypocrisy of the Kansas City Star. They talk day after day after day about spending my tax dollars on liberal programs I abhor. They have no room to call Bush fiscally irresponsible. (there may be some truth to it, but they lost their credibility a long time ago) If Bush had followed all of their advice I'm afraid we'd just be signing our paychecks right over to the government.

[RAT Patrol]

You wouldn't have to look through many KCStar archives to realize that they have called for more spending and more taxes than Bush at every turn. They are hypocrites. That's my point.

[EBUCK]

If the clown were practicing the same fiscal policy today that Bush has been puching the pubs would certainly be taking the same stance.

What I find interesting is that after all the "policy hijacking" the pubs have been involved in lately I expected to see more "cut spending" ect quips from the left as a counter strategy. As it is though, the rats certainly have been pretty vocal in their attempts to shout down their own policy. Cracks me up to hear them denounce the very programs they have hoping for for all these years but never had the support to enact.

EBUCK

[RAT Patrol]

Cracks me up to hear them denounce the very programs they have hoping for for all these years but never had the support to enact.

Exactly, though I alternate between laughter and disgust.

[RAT Patrol]

Here's a good target for you Bushbots (said affectionately today) to go after. They, of all people, have no room to criticize Bush on this subject.

[Brilliant]

In my view, the House Republicans should pass a version of the increase that the Senate won't agree to. If the Senate refuses to pass it, then the President will have to allocate the available monies as he sees fit, and that means cutting out the Dem pork.

[EBUCK]

Laughter and disgust have become one nowadays for me. I'm getting so tired of reading this crap but I can't stop "giving a $hit" long enough to actually relax. Some-day, when I'm in charge.......

EBUCK

[RAT Patrol]

An idea worthy of your name!

[EBUCK]

Or hey...here's an idea!!!!

CUT SPENDING TO LEVELS SUSTAINABLE WITH REGARDS TO INCOME!!!!!

I know, it's a novel idea, I can't believe that I'm the first to suggest it!

EBUCK

[Austin Willard Wright]

Well...they may be hypocrites but Dubya, who claims to believe in limited government yet has proposed massive spending initiatives, also qualifies for that label.

[FITZ]

What I don't understand is that we are in a war against terrorism and preparing to go to war with Iraq and maybe others but we've got machine shops closing and laying off because the jobs are being sent to China. I would think it would be important to also have the American economy benefit some because we'll be paying the bills.

[RAT Patrol]

You are not going to get an argument from me on that. However, it's been Bush's desire to "set a new tone" that has gotten him into trouble. He compromises because leftists and their media captives ask him to. He wrongly thinks he is building political capital and goodwill. They have no room to talk when they make themselves the Political Shopping Network and I just was hoping to pick up some additional guns to help me point that fact out to them. I've already written.

Plus, I just hate the Kansas City Star. They completely discriminate against conservatives.

[SteamshipTime]

Capital always seeks out the best return. If you tax and spend and regulate everything in sight, capital will flee.

[Brett66]

what is Bush going to do when the money runs out?

Easy, just print more money or propose a bill outlawing zeroes. Just think, 1 zero taken off of 6,000,000,000,000 becomes only 600 billion. The debt is easily manageable!

[EBUCK]

I agree. There are a lot of problems we could be taking care of here at home. It seems that if we are to be taxed at 65% (by some estimates) we ought to collect 95% of that in domestic bennys if not more.

EBUCK

[mdwakeup]

Nice suggestion, but the problem is that there will be no money to allocate if Congress doesn't raise the debt limit. One option would be to enact a short-term increase to get past this weekend's crisis, and then continue doing short-term increases until after the election. But that would make Republicans cringe, because they don't want to vote to increase it at all.

If they think the political fallout from voting for increasing the debt limit is bad, they need to think about what happens if they don't. If government checks start to bounce, it could affect your bank. If I were a car dealer or a resort operator, I wouldn't want people not to have money on a big summer holiday weekend.

And I don't know about you, but my portfolio's taken a big enough beating over the last year or so. The financial markets won't like a default -- not even a little!

[EBUCK]

That is what I never understood. Who, exactly do we owe? Is the debt in Treasury bonds ect. or do we actually owe some foreign bank a bunch of money?

EBUCK