Good morning, AB.
Think I’ve got this debt ceiling thing figured out.
Congress voted a debt ceiling in order to protect taxpayers from Congress overspending the taxpayers’ money.
Congress decided that Congress really doesn’t want to stop overspending the taxpayers’ money, so Congress wants the debt ceiling raised.
Congress will now tax the taxpayers more tax money so that Congress can raise the debt ceiling, thereby protecting the taxpayer from the Congress that will continue to overspend even more of the taxpayers’ money.
Who said this was complicated?
The big fear is that S&P and Moodys will take away our coveted AAA bond rating. They are asking for 4 trillion in cuts over ten years which means in actuality 400 billion in year 1 since budget cuts don't transfer from Congress to Congress the way taxation does.
S&P and Moodys have no doubt noticed that we take in roughly 200 billion per month yet manage to spend 300,not a healthy situation for would be AAA bond purveyors.
What they are really asking is that we shed 400 billion of that overspending a year which is 35 billion per month or roughly 1/3 of our deficit spending. A truly rational request that any rating agency would ask from any debtor.
What do we do in response to the debt assesor's request? Little or nothing. Boners first salvo was next to nothing in the first year and my guess is the compromises will be somewhat less than the 400 billion that the rating agencies are looking for.
We have a colossal failure of government to do the right thing more more time..