Thinking Outside the Box: Let’s LOWER the DEBT CEILING

National Review Online ^ | July 6, 2011 | Paul Broun

[Yosemitest]

Thinking Outside the Box: Let’s Lower the Debt Ceiling
By Paul Broun, July 6, 2011 7:00 P.M.

In the midst of our economic emergency,
which is beginning to resemble a full-on Greece-style meltdown,
every politician in America has taken to the soap box to say the exact same thing:
We need to reduce our national debt
and cut spending to get America back on track.

Unfortunately, Congress has produced all talk — and very, very little action.

You hear folks say “talk is cheap,” but in this case, Washington’s endless rhetoric is incredibly expensive.
The inaction on spending cuts has kept us so deep in the red that our nation is facing a total collapse
if we do not get back to a balanced budget as soon as possible.

Today, I introduced a unique bill that goes in a completely different direction than everything else we’ve been hearing out of Washington.
It would force politicians to start practicing what they’ve been preaching
by lowering the debt ceiling from $14.3 trillion back down to $13 trillion.
Admittedly, this is not your run-of-the-mill kind of law, but it would make it imperative for Congress
to think outside of the box and come up with ways to pay off a portion of our debt while drastically cutting back spending.
Since 1996, the national debt has increased by an inexcusable $8.79 trillion.
I firmly believe that this calls for emergency measures to reduce the debt.

Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are equally responsible for the government’s past fiscal irresponsibility.
Sadly, whenever Congress has been given a chance to make a real impact
on the budget, our spending habits, and our nation’s livelihood, Democrats and Republicans alike have caved.

Moreover, in this time of crisis, liberals are pushing for a $2 trillion increase in our debt ceiling.
And their only answer for our financial fiasco is to cut nothing and raise taxes on everything —
which would simply give Washington more money to burn through.
Even more disturbingly, under the president’s budget proposal, the debt would double to $26.3 trillion by 2021,
and he has no intention or plan to pay it down.

Should my legislation be signed into law, Washington would have to get serious about making the cuts they’ve been talking about,
and our national debt would be one step closer to being manageable.
My legislation would not just slow down, or stop the reckless spending train;
it would completely turn it around.
To be realistic, we can’t lower the debt limit today,
but if we set a deadline, the beginning of FY 2012, it would force politicians to make those decisions in the months to come.

Americans are tired of lawmakers who talk out of both sides of their mouths and make promises that they can’t keep.
My one-of-a-kind bill offers a real and true solution for our fiscal dilemma,
and I whole heartedly hope that my colleagues will either ante up —
or try their luck at another profession.

— Rep. Paul Broun, M.D. is a Republican from Georgia.

[Yosemitest]

Read Glenn Beck: A politician who gets it?.

Here's another comment from Glenn worth considering.

Is the debt ceiling a giant set up?
Monday, Jul 25, 2011 at 3:50 PM EDT

Glenn thinks so.
Does anyone really believe they are serious about cutting spending?
In the last few years these same politicians have passed three separate $1 trillion spending bills and our debt has increased 40% in the last 2 years.
Why else would they continue the massive spending unless there was another motive?

“It’s Cloward and Piven:
They need to collapse the system.
That’s what’s happening on the Democratic side.
Not all Democrats are for it, but the ones who have control of the Democratic Party and this agenda are for it.
It’s Cloward and Piven. They want to collapse it.
To collapse it, you’ve got to keep spending.
You’ve got to have the debt limit increased
because you have to keep getting it bigger and bigger,” Glenn warned.

“The Republicans, there’s too many of them that actually believe
they can play politics on this and, go ahead, let Obama have his way.
Then we’ll win the next election
because we’ll point to him and say, look how bad it is.
There are many Republicans, however, that see this for what it is.
The end of America as we know it, if we don’t get serious,
and I mean serious soon, America cannot continue to pile debt on at this rate.
It’s not about not paying your bills.
It’s about stopping the new spending.
It’s about stopping doing all the other things.
It’s not about not paying your bills.
We’ll pay our bills.
But we have to stop the new spending.”

Glenn has more in this clip (5 minutes 28 seconds).

[GeronL]

Lowering the debt limit is a great idea.

never happen of course

[MestaMachine]

It’s exactly what credit card compamies do if you have what they think is too much credit compared to your income. Even if you pay your bill on time for 20 years without ever once missing a payment, they will lower your credit limit.

[Southack]

Stupid. We’re already at the debt ceiling...plus lowering would require the Dem Senate and white house to approve.

[Jonty30]

Even lowering it a few hundred billion a year would be great.

[Huck]

The debt ceiling is a totally artificial, meaningless creation of the Congress. This whole thing is political theater with no substantive meaning.

[Cricket24]

“Lowering the debt limit is a great idea.”

never happen of course

Of course it won’t happen! All these politicians want to do is spend money. Republicans included! Sure there are a few that know we are one step from bankruptcy but none of them or the majority of the American people want to suffer what we will need to suffer to STOP this NOW!
We need to stop spending. Cut to exactly the amount of revenue we are bringing in. All of these “plans” call for cuts over years. It’s saving pennies and still spending trillions. It won’t help the problem at all. Maybe it should be done in 2-3 years but it’s going to happen eventually. NOTHING is going to stop this spending madness except...well....STOP SPENDING NOW!! Government must be SHRUNK drastically and quick. Sure...that won’t help the economy in the short run but in the long run it will make our economy and the private sector much stronger. We need citizens that will stand up and SAY ALL THIS. We also need to RETIRE ALL elected officials who have gotten us into this mess and that includes Boehner and company. They are just as guilty and even though they are talking a good game now...you just know they really don’t want to do what needs to be done. They all need to be GONE come their next election! That’s is if we are still electing official then. I am very wary of all this. It’s all smoke and mirrors on both sides. THIS has been done for years and has gotten us into this huge mess!
Thank GOD for the Tea Party or we wouldn’t even be looking at this. The debt limit would have been raised and nobody would be even talking about it. Of that I am sure!

[Stirner]

“NOTHING is going to stop this spending madness except...well....STOP SPENDING NOW!!”

What will eventually stop the madness if for people to stop lending us money. Our fate is in the hands of the bond-buyers. The joker in the deck is that, even if buyers don’t show up, the Federal Reserve can prevent a failed debt auction by buying the debt itself. However, that will only work for a while because it creates new dollars, inflating away the purchasing power of the already existing ones.

[Yosemitest]

Supid?
It's STUPID to raise the debt limit!
We can't trust these thieves.
Obama is INTENTIONALLY trying to collapse the system as he learned by studing Clowerd and Piven!
STUPID is denying that fact!

As Rush said:

Ladies and gentlemen, we are being played for the biggest saps on the face of the earth.
We are being insulted and treated like the biggest dolts.
This is the way the Democrat Party has been doing things since at least '67. ...

... They create this crisis mentality, and it's designed to get us to cave.
The real effort here is to get you to cave -- along with the Republicans, of course, in Congress.
But we are the ones that are supposed to be under the boot.
We are the ones that the jackboot on our throats with all this, and it's smoke and mirrors.
To these people, folks, I guarantee you, this is just the game --
and it's the way it's played,
and the fact the country's at a crossroads that we've never been at before,
the fact that the country's existence as we know it is something paramountly important to us?

It's not to them.
They don't see it that way.

This is just the latest, greatest attempt -- out of necessity -- to get what they want
by making us believe that it's the best thing for us,
when in this case it's nowhere even close.

[all the best]

Negotiations always end up between the two starting positions. The only way the debt ceiling will remain where it is would be for the Republicans to insist on lowering it. But then they like to spend to. That’s what government and politicians do.

[Pan_Yan]

If we had a congress that was a responsible steward of our taxes the debt ceiling would be meaningless. The reason we are having a debate over the debt ceiling is the same reason it will never be lowered.

[MontaniSemperLiberi]

Actually there is a bit of substance to it. It limits the executive branch. Without it the Congress would have no way to stop the president from issuing a bunch of bonds and holding the cash in a savings account.

I think that’s kind of a lame reason but it’s a reason.

[Principled]

Well most normal people would assume that ANY plan would pay down principal and ratchet down the debt limit.

We have a long way to go to save ourselves from our politicians.

[ken21]

yep.

[Georgia Girl 2]

Paul Broun is one of GA’s best reps.

[aces]

Congress and the presidency should be stripped of their right to raise any capital, all states should have a balanced budget amendments and then the states decide what to allow to federal g to have.. The federal g has too much power to have our wallets and purses should I say as well. They are out of control and need reigning in, if the pubs won’t do it, we need others in that will, go tea party...