this isnt so much a financial thing as it is political. the whole debt limit thing existing is an artifact and should be removed from the process.
but its too valuable as a political tool now so conservatives love to beat everyone over the head with it. assholes.
Wasn’t it the Dems that held it over this time? Wasn’t the last political news that DT wanted to blow up the debt limit and congress basically said F-off that’s our power?
I mean, I’m all for giving a middle finger to the GOP, but let’s not put blinders on here, Congress has ceded so much of their power to the presidency (or deferred to judges) that the debt thing is one of the few tools they still have.
Step 1: Pass a budget
Step 2: Refuse to fund said budget
Step 3: ???
Step 4: Profit?
On one hand, I would like the first thing Trump does when he gets back into office to be to default and lead America into years of economic downturn.
On the other hand, I don’t want to live through YET another economic downturn.
On the practical side of things, their is enough Democrats and a handful of Republicans in the house and senate that will vote for anything that raises the debt limit to get it passed - the only barrier is scheduling a vote in the house. When democrats only will vote for a democratic speaker and republicans can only loose 3 votes off of a majority and recall with 1 vote, the needed vote to pass the house becomes 436-2.
Going backwards. House rules have been changed and it takes more than one member to bring a motion to Vacate.
Trump is today supporting Johnson so maybe he’ll be reelected speaker.
I don’t know what Democrats will do, but they won’t open the debt limit to unlimit debt as Trump wants.
We’re going into an economic downturn regardless of who holds the political football
Just observations based on everyday life. I work in an industry that IMO acts as a canary in the coal mine for all sorts of broader societal issues. People aren’t spending money like they did even last year. And these are people with money.
I wish this stupid farce could just be done away with entirely. It’s just so stupid and just a mechanism for the qons to hold a gun to the head of the American people.
The Debt Limit is placed on the Treasury to allow them to pay for money already spent by the government. Essentially, it limits the amount of debt the Treasury can draw down on. Without it, the bills aren’t paid.
The debt limit was an invention in WW2 to allow the executive branch to change spending priorities for the war without needing to push a new budget through Congress each time. The intent was to give the executive branch more flexibility, within limits, NOT to hold the entire government hostage.
The limit literally prevents US paying its debts, not enforce paying them.
Without it, the bills aren’t paid.
How does limiting the amount of debts the Treasury can accrue on money already earmarked for spending pay anyone’s bills?
Imagine your spouse hands you a grocery list, you fill up your shopping cart, run it through the cash register, and get a total of $100.
Then you pull out your credit card, only to discover your spouse has also limited how much you can spend to $70.
How are you helped by this system?
How does limiting the amount of debts the Treasury can accrue on money already earmarked for spending pay anyone’s bills?
The simplest answer is to say that the money is earmarked for spending, but not payment. Think that Congress spends the money and Treasury pays for it. Some bills are due and payable this year, a year from now, 5 years from now, etc. Plus, income, or taxes raised, are also veriable.
In any case, the debt limit has to be raised in January and Trump is none too happy about it.
Why even have a debt limit to begin with? It’s a wholely artificial constraint?
You’ve earmarked $100 for spending, you don’t need a send legislative gate on the Treasury to spend it.
Its a holdover from when the executive branch made the budgets so that congress still had some control. Long ago congress took back doing the budget with the congressional budget office and the debt limit makes no sense now as congress votes on the budget and then later votes on allowing bills they authorized to be paid with debt because they did not raise taxes to cover budget costs.
