National Debt Links

Setting the stage: Republicans Ready for Battle Over Debt Ceiling

Back in the fall, a bipartisan commission made a number of recommendations, which weren't readily accepted by either side.  At the time, conservative columnist David Brooks wrotethat it would probably take a third party or new movement to actually enact these changes, otherwise"we continue on the headlong path toward a national disaster. And along the way our dysfunctional political system will leave all sorts of other problems unaddressed". Meanwhile, liberal columnist Paul Krugman wrote that the commission had been "hijacked" and that the commission was one whose "first priority is cutting taxes, with deficit reduction literally at the bottom of the list" presenting a proposal that "clearly represents a major transfer of income upward, from the middle class to a small minority of wealthy Americans." He concludes that "It’s no mystery what has happened on the deficit commission: as so often happens in modern Washington, a process meant to deal with real problems has been hijacked on behalf of an ideological agenda.

Meanwhile, Republicans didn't react too kindly to the lack of discussion of the national debt in the State of the Union. "The president of the United States is asking us to increase the debt limit. But on Tuesday night, he didn't even address it. And I don't think the American people will tolerate increasing the debt limit without serious reductions in spending and changes to the budget process, so that we can make sure that this never happens again. The other night, all he did was call for more stimulus spending. I think our team has been listening to the American people. They want to us reduce spending, and there is no limit to the amount of spending we're willing to cutJohn Boehnersaid on "Fox News Sunday" the following weekend.

Part of the problem is that Americans don't like the current situation, but they also don't want to cut anything.

Obama and the congressional Republicans have both unveiled budget cuts in the past week. Predictably, neither side is happy with the other's proposal.

In regards to the Republican cuts, Krugman writes that they follow a simple pattern: "Focus the cuts on programs whose benefits aren’t immediate; basically, eat America’s seed corn. There will be a huge price to pay, eventually — but for now, you can keep the base happy." Meanwhile, Paul Ryan's response to the Obama budget was "He's raising spending everywhere.  This is not an austere budget."