Borrow and Squander

Ok, I give up; can someone please explain to me the mental disconnect that allows the GOP to persist in their asinine tax cuts? If any household, business or other entity ran their affairs in this manner, they wouldn't last a day.

U.S. Treasury Secretary John Snow warned lawmakers on Thursday that a legally set limit on the government's ability to borrow will be hit in mid-February and urged Congress to raise it quickly.

Failure to do so potentially risks throwing the country into its first default in history, Snow warned in what has become virtually an annual rite as U.S. borrowing needs spiral.

I'm especially bothered by the expression "borrowing needs." It is not a need; it's a choice and a very sorry indicator of the priorities of this administration and its congressional enablers. Medicare and Medicaid are slashed so the rich can have tax cuts. "Appalling" doesn't begin to cover it.

Snow said that Treasury, if the debt limit was not raised by then, would have to take "extraordinary actions" to keep paying its bills for everything from Social Security to national defense spending.

Even if Treasury took "all available prudent and legal actions to avoid breaching the statutory debt limit, we anticipate that we can finance government operations no longer than mid-March."

I've got a suggestion: every member of the administration who really doesn't need their federal salaries could forego them. Ditto for those members of Congress voting in favor of tax cuts and debt increases - anyone who can afford to should follow the noble example set by Governor-elect Corzine. Or maybe Congress could pull a Newt and let the government shut down. The tax cuts only benefit 1% of the population, after all; surely moderate Rs up for re-election could be pressured into being reasonable. There's simply no reason they should stick their necks out for the squanderer-in-chief when such reckless financial policy is detrimental to most of the population and the nation as a whole.

The call for an increase in the debt ceiling typically provokes a round of criticism from opposition politicians over excessive government spending and the process is drawn out until nearly the last possible moment.

Well I would hope so. I also hope it doesn't pass. I really think the GOP does this on purpose when they're in power so that when the Dems take the reigns, they're the ones who, of necessity, end up raising taxes. Being the adult is never any fun.