The Debt Ceiling

Imagine a couple who sit down and work out a budget for their family expenses.  They look over it when they're done, and the wife says to the husband, "You know, this budget for expenses is more than our income."  The husband says, "I know."  The wife asks, "So, how are we going to pay for this budget, when it allows us to spend more than we make?"  The husband says, "We'll have to go into debt."  "You mean, borrow money so we can pay for the things in this budget?"  "Yes," the husband responds.  "Exactly.  We'll have to borrow money."  "So, you know that means our creditors will expect us to pay them back, right?"  "Yes, I know that."  "And you know they'll be right in expecting us to pay them.  If we borrow money from them, they have the right to be paid back.  You know that, right?"  "Yes, I know that."  "And you agree to this budget?"  "Yes, I do," says the husband.  "Okay, so do I," says the wife.

So, the wife goes out and spends the money called for in the budget they both agreed to.  Of course, to spend that money, she has to incur debts.  She runs up their credit card, but she doesn't spend a dime that isn't in their budget.

Then the credit card bill arrives and it's for $100, and the husband says, "I don't want you to pay that $100 to the credit card company.  I don't agree to you paying it."

"Wait!" she exclaims.  "Wait!  You agreed to our budget!  We both did!  And you knew we would have to incur debt to pay for that budget!  Now you don't want to pay that debt?"

"Well," he says, "I agreed that you could spend $100 more than we made in income, and I agreed that you could charge it to our credit card, but I never agreed to pay the credit card company."

"Are you serious?" she asks incredulously.  "Are you really making that argument that you agreed we would incur a debt, but you never agreed to pay it, and now you aren't going to agree to pay it?  Really?"

"Yes, that's exactly the argument I'm making.  I agreed to incur the debt, but I never agreed to pay the debt."

"But, you know this will ruin our credit rating, right?"

"Yes, I know that."

"And you know, no one will ever be willing to trust us again, because we don't keep our word, right?

"Yes, I know that, too."

"But, you still don't want to pay the debt that you agreed we should incur?" asks the wife.

"That's right," responds the husband with a straight face.

That would be weird, wouldn't it?  Few people, if anyone, would think that the husband was being honest, or fair, or trustworthy, if he really did that.

But, that's exactly what Congress is doing if it refuses to raise the debt ceiling so that the executive branch can pay the debts that Congress already agreed the executive branch could incur when the Congress passed the budget.

Dishonest, unfair, and untrustworthy.

An Apology

Some time ago (my last post here, which has since been deleted), I wrote an article here which was insulting to my sister.

There are several reasons I wrote it, but there is no excuse for it.

It has been deleted.

I apologize.