I'm a simple man, explain to me why we "have to" raise the debt ceiling

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explain to me why we "have to" raise the debt ceiling

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We don't.

The only way we can continue to pay for our scheduled budget and cover everything that the government expects us to pay for, we have to raise the debt ceiling to take out more debt to cover these desires.

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So why don't we just cut some things?

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You don't watch much news do you?

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So why don't we just cut some things?

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Apparently cuts would "risk a global recession" per Obama.

But he also said this as senator Obama, "The fact that we are here today to debate raising America’s debt limit is a sign of leadership failure. It is a sign that the U.S. Government can’t pay its own bills. It is a sign that we now depend on ongoing financial assistance from foreign countries to finance our Government’s reckless fiscal policies. … Increasing America’s debt weakens us domestically and internationally. Leadership means that ‘the buck stops here. Instead, Washington is shifting the burden of bad choices today onto the backs of our children and grandchildren. America has a debt problem and a failure of leadership. Americans deserve better."

So which Obama is right?

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So why don't we just cut some things?

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Government is invested in everything, therefore anything that is cut will be felt by a lot of people. This is not easy to sell for any politician.

Personally I think this is the only redeeming feature of the people who believe in the goldbug hypothesis that the dollar will collapse any day now. At least they are willing to bite the bullet.

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So why don't we just cut some things?

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Give me a red pen, put me in charge, and I'll cut the budget in half overnight.

I think the budget is one thing inherently wrong/ineffecient in our government (specifically the legislative branch). In simple terms, it's damn hard for those in power to take stuff away from people who have been getting certain things, especially when those are the people that are voting for you in the first place. Big time conflict of interest IMO.

I think we should have a fourth branch of government, solely for the budget ... and they are set up like the Supreme Court.

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Explain this in terms PJ or Kige could understand.

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Its pretty simple.

If we don't, the U.S. Treasury will no longer be able to issue new debt. When it stops paying on its debt obligations, treasuries will crash, and since massive amounts of treasuries are owned by the banks - and since the FDIC which backs the banks has its funds in treasuries - your money will go bye bye.In fact the federal reserve itself has massive treasury holdings - not really sure what happens if the fed loses most of its assets but it can't be good.

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But he also said this as senator Obama, "The fact that we are here today to debate raising America’s debt limit is a sign of leadership failure. It is a sign that the U.S. Government can’t pay its own bills. It is a sign that we now depend on ongoing financial assistance from foreign countries to finance our Government’s reckless fiscal policies. … Increasing America’s debt weakens us domestically and internationally. Leadership means that ‘the buck stops here. Instead, Washington is shifting the burden of bad choices today onto the backs of our children and grandchildren. America has a debt problem and a failure of leadership. Americans deserve better."

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Too bad Senator Obama is NOTHING like President Obama.

Because we are spending our way to prosperity and can't successfully do this without a shite-ton more borrowing.

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But he also said this as senator Obama, "The fact that we are here today to debate raising America’s debt limit is a sign of leadership failure. It is a sign that the U.S. Government can’t pay its own bills. It is a sign that we now depend on ongoing financial assistance from foreign countries to finance our Government’s reckless fiscal policies. … Increasing America’s debt weakens us domestically and internationally. Leadership means that ‘the buck stops here. Instead, Washington is shifting the burden of bad choices today onto the backs of our children and grandchildren. America has a debt problem and a failure of leadership. Americans deserve better."

So which Obama is right?

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One of my favorite quotes of the past several weeks....it is amazing how the people who voted for him cannot see that is he is just another two-faced pandering politician with no clue what he is doing