From HuffPo: The debt ceiling is the maximum Congress lets the government
borrow. Back in ancient times (World War I), Congress started setting a big old
debt limit so that it wouldn't have to constantly approve new borrowing, its
job under the Constitution. This gives Congress the power to vote on whether to
let the government borrow more money to pay off its old debts and other stuff
for which it's on the hook, including stuff it may regret now, like that
unfortunate leather sofa it bought at Raymour & Flanigan, or Iraq.
Usually this is no big deal. Congress is constantly having
to boost the debt ceiling. But the historically terrible 112th Congress darn
near let the ceiling be breached last year, trying to wring spending cuts out
of Obama. That meant the government was nearly unable to pay its debts, which
would have been an economy-destroying default by the world's biggest borrower
and one of its soundest credits. The whole fiasco led to the U.S. government
getting its credit-rating downgraded by Standard & Poor's, and it set the
stage for all that fiscal-cliff nonsense we just went through…..
No comments:
Post a Comment