The Truth About The Debt Ceiling and Why Boehner Won’t Fix Anything

Have you ever wondered why the United States government spending is really out of control?  Have you ever questioned why no one ever does anything about it?  Have you ever wondered why Congress didn’t even pass a budget last year?  The answers to these questions are in fact far more troubling than the enormous size of the debt itself standing above $14,327,436,000,000.00 (that’s trillion for those who have to count the zeros) and rolling upward faster than the price of gasoline.

The current debt ceiling authorized by Congress in the United States is $14.294 trillion. As of the date of this article (and according to usdebtclock.org) the government is drawing very close to that ceiling limitation with debt applicable to the limit surpassing $14.252 trillion.  They are slated to hit the ceiling like a freight train around May 16th unless more borrowing authority is approved.  Take a minute and ponder these numbers for a minute before you read on.  Let the word trillion linger on your tongue momentarily before you start the next paragraph.

Now the majority of the 112th Congress wants to raise this threshold, including Speaker Boehner, who ran his 2010 campaign alongside Tea Party conservatives with a platform of reigning in spending (laughs out loud).  I can already hear the sentiment of animosity against the Speaker resonating throughout his home in Ohio’s 8th District, a conservative stronghold, because these folks are about to be tossed under the bus by their guy and they know it.  The reason Congress has a lower than ever approval rating among the population is because all of them (Democrat and Republican alike) are completely out of touch with common middle class America that actually has to stick to a budget.

The Republicans have sought spending cuts all year long (and have actually realized very few of them).  The Democrats have sought new borrowing rights all year long (and are almost certainly going to get them).  The question leading into a heated 2012 election cylce is going to be who has the fortitude to fix this country?

Speaker Boehner is casting doubt about it being the Republicans.  He has yet to show strength and he is going to alienate a massive number of his base if new borrowing rights are approved.

I have heard horror stories of what will happen if they do not open up new borrowing limits.  Babies, for instance, will reportedly go hungry.  Grandma and Grandpa apparently will starve to death, the seas will undoubtedly boil and martial law will take hold.  Then after that perhaps the alien invasion will start.  Perhaps.  But there’s another possibility that is much more likely and ironically an absolutely never before tested theory in our country.  Just don’t raise the ceiling.  Maybe if new borrowing isn’t approved Congress would finally be forced to stop spending money it doesn’t have (and never will have) like drunken sailors at port.  Will the full faith and credit of the U.S. government be at stake?