Tuesday, August 2, 2011

The New Debt Ceiling


It  looks as if we have a deal on a new figure. I watched a number of cable and local news shows and heard quite a few commentators and politicians talking about the deal. I listened to opposition to the new statue and I listened to those in favor of it and everything in between. I also heard talk of when we will raise it again (no smirking).

What strikes me is what I didn’t hear from any side. I did not hear one word about not exceeding it so we didn’t have to raise it again. So it seems the shell games just keeps going on.

My numbers my not be precise (as if any government numbers are) but my understanding is that we raised the debt ceiling by about $2.5 Trillion and we have $2.4 Trillion in spending cuts over 10 years  (see Bob’s Budget below). But the cuts aren’t really cuts any more than saying you saved $40K today because you thought about buying a car and decided not to do so.

What drives me nuts over this whole deal is the Orwellian way we have come to use language. It looks like nearly everyone just seems to go along with the distortions with a little winky-winky and pat on the back to each other.

1 comment:

  1. More borrowing to fix a problem caused by borrowing.
    Between 2008 and 2011 this Government borrowed 5 trillion dollars and the GDP increased 700 billion dollars between those same years.
    That means we borrowed and spent 7 dollars for each dollar of GDP increase we had.
    Even the casino would have to shut its doors playing odds like that.
    Our doors are about to shut.

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