US nearing debt ceiling

[floridasandy]

here is the other question that begs to be asked:

can we really call an enormous increase in government borrowing / printing the same thing as legitimate economic growth? we are starting to move the debt from the consumer to the government, now what?

[floridasandy]

harvard paper on how to avoid the debt ceiling:

The Debt often threats to break through the Ceiling, despite the use of suspension, redemption and exchange mechanisms. In response to the potential breach, various members within Congress may want to increase the Ceiling by amending 31 USCS
§3101(b). But to avoid being characterized as fiscally irresponsible (especially for those that previously approved a tax cut or spending increase),congressional members may want to hide their attempts to raise the Ceiling. Alternatively, they may want to expedite the process in light of an impending violation of the Ceiling and potential default of Government obligations.


http://www.law.harvard.edu/faculty/h...ng_11(rev).pdf

[tallrick]

I am still amazed that anyone believes a ceining to debt actually exists. It is actually just a tarp that floats higher as the debt continues to balloon. Only when the balloon bursts will the debt stop growing.

[floridasandy]

the whole point of the debt ceiling act was to allow the treasury to bypass going to congress each time they wanted more money. obviously, it is a joke to even pretend that there is an actual debt ceiling. both parties always vote for raising the debt ceiling and not addressing the growing deficit because they want to be assured of reelection. it is called kicking the can down the road and you can bet that this congress will do the same thing that every other congress has done, only the debt keeps growing to almost unsustainable levels mathematically now.

as far as harvard education papers, it reminded me of a paragraph from david sedaris' very entertaining book:

“Look at yourelf on the day that you graduated from college, then look at yourself today. I did that recently, and it was like ‘Yikes! What the hell happened?’

The answer, of course, is life….what we, in our certainty, could not have fathomed– is that stuff comes up. Weird doors open. People fall into things. Maybe the engineering whiz will wind up brewing cider, not because he has to, but because he finds it challenging. Who knows? Maybe the athlete will bring peace to all nations, or the class moron will go on to become the president of the United States– though that’s more likely to happen at Harvard or Yale, schools that will pretty much let in anybody”. (princeton grad)