Vote on Debt Limit increase?

[Riot]

Originally Posted by joeydb

How does that make any sense? If we don't raise the ceiling, we can't borrow any more money, right?

Yes, but we can stop spending 100% right now - a complete freeze (which is impossible due to Social Security and Medicare anyway, which increases with the population over time) - and we would still have to raise the debt ceiling to be able to borrow money to pay the debt we've already incurred.

The debt ceiling is mostly just cash flow capability.

So spending will HAVE to go down to a level where tax revenue alone will support.

Our tax revenue needs to be raised back up to where it should be. Obama never should have let the Bush tax cuts renew.

As for interest rates going up, is that worse than speeding toward a debt level in both principal and interest that we cannot afford?

Yes, because it permanently affects our credit rating in the world. Why should we add two percentage points of interest to those that want to borrow money for a house in 2060?

Yes, we have to pay down the debt. But not raising the debt ceiling has little to nothing to directly do with achieving that. The first thing we do is let the Bush tax cuts expire - our debt is cut in half in 10 years, doing nothing else.