Deroy Murdock‘s latest column contends the Obama administration’s approach to the debt-limit debate is based on “a central non-sequitur, a core myth, and a spectacular oversight.”
First, the idea that the federal debt ceiling must be raised in order to lower federal indebtedness is the logical equivalent of a high-speed train derailment. Debt-soaked American consumers do not beg credit-card companies to hike their borrowing limits. Instead, they freeze their credit thresholds and pay their debts, ideally until their finances are back in black.
Obama’s insistence on raising the debt limit is like saying, “You are right, MasterCard. I am tapped. So, I will forego theater tickets and skip my annual ski trip. Now, please raise my limit by $5,000.”
Congress should not hike the debt limit, period. The staggering sum of $14.3 trillion should remain the Everest of U.S. financial irresponsibility from which Uncle Sam must descend. This will be arduous, but far healthier than climbing into ever-more-vertiginous debt and triggering an all-consuming avalanche of unpayable bills.
Furthermore, the notion that leaving the debt limit intact will trigger default is another monstrous lie designed to bamboozle the American public and cow Republicans into retreat. As with a credit card, default requires neglecting one’s bills rather than respecting a debt cap. If Visa refuses to augment a customer’s credit line, default only occurs if he stops making minimum payments.
America must do this.
The core myth? The wealthy don’t pay their fair share of taxes.
The spectacular oversight? Some $703 billion in unspent funds “languish across the federal budget.”