Debt Ceiling?

The government isn't doing what they want it's citizens to do - be responsible, live within their means, and pay their bills on time. Basically, it's their time to pay the piper, and there's no money to pay the piper with.

Think of it in terms of a credit card spending limit and the minimum payment due.

You have a bill that is due for $100. You only have $20 cash. Your credit card is either maxed out or only has $50 free. You call up the credit card company. If they increase your limit, you can pay the bill and be covered and happy. If they don't increase your limit, you can't pay the bill and you'll be in 'default'.

In this case, Congress is the credit company that has to say yes or no.

Interesting answers.

The debt ceiling is the statutory limit of debt that America can hold. Interestingly the social security bonds are not calculated in that number so I am not sure why the president keeps saying granny ain't getting paid.

Please do not confuse this with the country's credit rating, they are two separate issues. Our debt rating is in trouble because of our debt to GDP ratio which is somewhere around 70% of GDP. To give you some idea why this impacts the credit rating on a personal level a debt ratio of 30% or greater will impact your credit score.

The second is why the market is reacting badly this week. Boehner's plan is the only one that may save us from a rating downgrade. I say may because even his plan does not cut enough and leaves too much to chance. Reid's plan cuts next to nothing with maybe cuts as well. More it allows the subject to drop after the election and the cuts need to be addressed now to not lose our rating.

Neither plan has any tax increases or as the Democrats seem to like to call them, revenue increases.

TMI? Sorry bout that.

Its like if you can't pay your cable bill so you go down to the bank and take out a loan to pay the cable bill. Sure, lets go into more debt to pay debt. It DOESN'T work!! The only way to get out of this mess is the following:

1. Don't go into more debt.
2. Cut, cut, cut programs out of the budget. Sorry, it has to be done.
3. Live within our means.
4. Politicians must STOP arguing among themselves about who is better than who and create a budget that works.

We have to cut out stuff. Just like if you can't make the house payment you must start cutting out the extras so there goes the cell phone, TV, internet, no more eating out etc. The Government needs to do the same thing. It will hurt for a little while but it must be done in order to balance the budget and start paying off debt. So....unless you paid into Social Security through your working years and are now retirement age- you don't get any social security. And unless you are missing your arms and legs you don't get disability. And medicaid needs to be cut off unless the case is extreme or life threatening. Food stamps needs to be cut unless it is an extreme case and then you get milk, cheese, a loaf of bread and some meat. No more twinkies, soda, chips and pop tarts on food stamps.

Government spending must STOP. The Government needs to quit trying to meet the needs and wants of everyone. That is not the role of Government.

And as far as checks not being sent out on Monday- that will never happen. That is a scare tactic used by Obama.

I understand that there are a butt load of rich people that need to vote about the debt bill and while they are jerking around they are going to hurt the little guys out in the world that truly hold America together.

All this is - is the RICH GETTING RICHER AND THE POOR GOING HUNGRY!

I like Obama but I hate government. They don't care about the average Joe and his family. They only care about themselves.

THINK ABOUT ALL THE PEOPLE THAT MIGHT NOT GET THEIR
Social security or VA checks on the first ( this Monday ) because of these jerks.

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ADDED -
This link will explain it all!

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/exclusive/uncle-sam-pay-no-de...

It basically boils down to the fact that we have overspent what we have coming in and now we can't pay the bill. We can only pay it if we borrow MORE. It seems like that is what we need to do now to fix this, but some serious cuts need to be in the works as well to avoid this in the future. Both sides need to come up with something that doesn't screw anyone.

ha ha - I just got a kick out of someone linking a news article to get "educated." You think today's media reports "just the facts" - ha ha.

I appreciate your faith inus, but I'm not sure this is the proper place to get educated on public policy. All you will get here are opinions. I have attached the least partisan explanation I could find. Please don't be offended by the title. I am in no way calling you or anyone else a Dummy. It's just the term used when people are explaingin something in most simple terms possible.

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/debt-ceiling-debate-easy-a...

Government spending needs to : cap, cut & balance

Do a search at www.heritage.org and you will find lots of great info.

FP

Why don't you use the search button at the top right of the screen and see what and how many times this has been discussed here.

If you need it done simply:
Congress is approved (like a credit card) to spend so much money per year (1 Oct to 30 Sep)....if they need more, then they need to raise their limit to spend (the debt ceiling)..

There are MANY who want to point fingers and blame it on Bush...sorry - it's taken 60 years of over spending to get to this point - it didn't happen in 10 years...

This is what Obama said, as a Senator, in 2006:
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 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.