| "The federal debt limit is a strange quirk of U.S. budget law: since debt is the consequence of decisions about taxing and spending, and Congress already makes those taxing and spending decisions, why require an additional vote on debt?" During the administration of former President George W. Bush -- who added more than $4 trillion to the national debt --Congress voted to raise the debt ceiling no less than seven times. Failure to raise the debt limit which would, among other things, disrupt payments on existing debt could convince investors that the United States is no longer a serious, responsible country, with nasty consequences. Furthermore, nobody knows what a U.S. default would do to the world financial system, which is built on the presumption that U.S. government debt is the ultimate safe asset. Instead, they're using the threat of a debt crisis to impose an ideological agenda." |
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At www.nytimes.com
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