The debt deal is done. I’m very glad. We were exactly 3 days from declaring default, and the damage would have been severe and long lasting.

There are a lot of commentators out there answering the wrong question – who won? Or which party got the best part of the bargain. It is like a game of poker, and who has the higher pile of chips.

What all this negotiated deal boils down to, is a deal that lasts until January 2025. Perhaps there is an extra four months with extraordinary accounting measures. Of course, nobody really knows who will be at the table in 2025. Could definitely be worse. One little misjudgement, and we could be in a world of hurt.

After President Biden and Majority Leader McCarthy agreed on the terms of the agreement, the House Committee on Rules had to decide whether to allow the bill to go to the floor of the House. The committee consisting of 13 members had 3 days to decide. The committee was split 6-6 with one undecided.

Representative Thomas Massie from Kentucky was at this point in the driver’s seat, determining whether or not we would go run out of funds to pay our nation’s bill. And it didn’t look good, because it sure sounded like he was going to block the vote from coming to the House. But he voted Yea and the bill kept on rolling. How does one person get so much power?

The question is does this debt limit ceiling do any good? If it does any good, why is it that not a single country other than Denmark, has an absolute limit on the money the government is allowed to borrow. In Denmark the debt ceiling is set so high, there isn’t any intense negotiations to raise it.

In fact, the debt ceiling limit does no good at all and the risks of missing the deadline are sky high. Neither political party should be allowed to hold the US economy hostage to demand certain concessions. The US must pay for its obligations. The deficit is created when spending is higher than revenues, thus the remedies are either increase revenues or cut spending.

Spending is controlled in the budget process, which by our Constitution is the responsibility of Congress. A debt ceiling is redundant, and for the good of our country needs to be repealed.

We are not headed towards bankruptcy. Believe me, there are countries in huge financial turmoil. The US is not one of them. People rush to withdraw money from banks as a country is in turmoil. In the US, they save more in their bank account.

When grandparents see the birth of a grandchild, their perspective has to change, to a much longer view. There are a lot of good things government is doing right now which will help the next generation. Access to higher education and better health care have come a long way, but the progress must continue. The next generation will have to deal with climate change and use of alternative fuels. Not easy choices.

The debt ceiling is a relic, created by my generation and should end with my generation. Once gone, nobody is going to bring it back.

Link: Raise the debt ceiling. Then fix our democracy.

Stay tuned,

Dave