Ah, time for the cyclical trotting out of the debt ceiling. This happens every year or so. The debt ceiling is established by a law that sets a limit (or ‘ceiling’) on how much debt the United States can get into. The problem is, at some point our government spends so much money that the debt ceiling must be rasied because the government needs to borrow more money to pay the interest on the current debt.
Read that last sentence again. Our government is borrowing more money to pay the interest on the money it already borrowed. Does anyone else see the problem here?
But, the debt ceiling always gets lifted, because the “full faith and credit of the United States is at stake.” That is a fancy way of saying the US Government pays its bills on time. It must do so, otherwise who would be foolish enough to loan it more money to pay off the interest on the money it already borrowed.
But if the debt ceiling always gets lifted, why even have it? Seriously. Because if the government always raises the debt ceiling, then the ceiling is not serving its ostesible purpose of stopping the government from borrowing ever more money. Not only does it not serve its ostensible purpose, it puts the “full faith and credit of the United States” in jeopardy if the limit is reached and the government sticks to it. In short, the debt ceiling does no good and has a strong potential to do bad.
Solution: get rid of the debt ceiling.
So why, if even I can make the case in four short paragraphs do our politicians who studied at the finest schools like Harvard and Yale not solve the problem? There is only one reason.
Conclusion: US politicians want to have the mostly annual struggle to raise the debt ceiling.
That leaves the question of why. Here is my theory. Our politicians want to cut both retirement programs like Social Security and Medicare and safety net programs (and there but for the Fates go all of us) like TANF, SSI, and Medicaid. These programs benefit normal people such as ourselves. Especially since our politicians have spent the past 50 years or so that benefit the wealthy by impoverishing the rest of us.
There is a bipartisan effort to protect the wealthy and empower them, while encouraging the rest of us to squabble over so-called “social issues.” If you don’t believe me, just compare the rhetoric with the results. Republicans, playing the role of conservatives, bleat on about the virtues of small town America (a.k.a. “main street”), small business entrepeneurship, and traditional values. At the same time, these same Republicans push policies that strip mine the economies of small town, traditional communities while pumping as many opioids as possible in there.
Ever wonder why a poor person (especially a poor Black person) is in prison for selling heroine while nice wealthy folks (especially white wealthy folks) like the Sacklers amass a fortune selling gussied-up heroine? And when public outrage gets too great to contain, the Sacklers receive a slap on the wrist and a sweetheart bankruptcy deal blessed by the Federal judiciary. A judiciary that seems more interested in apologizing to the Sacklers for inconveniencing them than holding them accountable for being drug dealers. To put it bluntly, why aren’t the Sackler’s hitting their knees to put a smile on their celly’s face like the rest would be forced to do if we were to sell drugs?1
The Democrats are no better, and perhaps even worse. For all their bleating about being the champions of the people, they are just as enthusiastic about protecting the wealthy from the people and unions as the Republicans. Just ask a railway worker. In fact, the term “social justice” tells you everything you need to know. Because while they are fighting for “social justice” they are doing nothing to further economic justice. They are big on DEI training while doing nothing to improve the material conditions of the “marginalized” and “oppressed.” It’s always about “centering marginalized voices” (and not bothering to listen) and never about improving the material conditions for marginalized people.2
If you doubt this, consider this fact. While the Democrats controlled the Presidency and both houses of Congress, they managed to pass a bill memorializing the murder of George Floyd, but killed a bill named for George Floyd that would have instituted actual police reforms. The Democrats will don Kente cloth and hit their knees for a photo op, but never do anything that would actually help anyone in a material way.
Face it, at this point if you are a normal person and have faith in either the Democrats or Republicans to do anything for normal people you are being played for a fool. You’re Charlie Brown and our political parties are Lucy holding the football.
That said, let us return to the debt ceiling “fight.” Neither party wants to get the blame for cutting programs essential to normal people. But the debt ceiling fight provides an excuse. The Democrats can say that they did not want to cut essential programs, but they were forced to do so by those dastardly Republicans lest the “full faith and credit of the United States” be besmirched. “Sorry, but we had no choice.” Meanwhile, the Republicans can bleat on about how they struck a blow for fiscal discipline, but those dastardly Democrats didn’t let them go far enough and forced them to do so on the backs of normal people.
The wealthy stay wealthy, the normal people get hosed, and the politicians engage in another round of finger-pointing to deflect from their own agency and complicity in perpetuating the status quo to the benefit of their donors.
When the next election comes, each party will tell me to vote for them because they will fight for my interests (but never actually win that fight), and besides the other guys are worse.
That is why neither party wants to get rid of the debt ceiling. It helps enable the finger pointing.
If you are even thinking about tone policing me about prison rape then I invite you to fuck off for being a derailing, deflecting son-of-a-bitch. Don’t moan about trivialities while the world burns. If you really care about prison rape, do something to fight it instead of bemoaning me talking about it.
Read the linked Dr. Adolph Reed essay. It tells you all you need to know about DEI being a scam to (1) avoid actually doing anything about the legacy of racism, and (2) insure that white people control civil rights discourse.