If mindless growth is the ideology of the cancer cell, then this is what your country’s government looks like …
Less than a year after sneaking a $789 billion increase into a $787 billion bailout bill, the U.S. Congress is planning to raise its debt ceiling by an unprecedented $1.5 trillion to cover a record federal deficit in 2010.
Their brazen “uppage” of an already ridiculous credit limit would increase the amount the U.S. government can borrow to a whopping $13.6 trillion – although most analysts expect the country to breeze past that mark sometime next fall.
The total national debt is currently $12.06 trillion – meaning we will hit our current debt ceiling of $12.1 trillion any day now.
That has President Barack Obama and Congressional Democrats – who have already obligated the U.S. Treasury well past the current debt limit – clamoring for another increase.
“We ought to pass a debt limit extension that gets us through next year,” House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer told reporters Tuesday, saying that the $925 billion debt increase the U.S. House approved earlier this year is already insufficient.
The U.S. government has raised its debt ceiling 76 times since 1960, including five times since March of 2006.
In fact, we’ve more than doubled the current debt ceiling over the last seven years.
Mindless, mindless, mindless …
Oh, and this fiscal grave we’re digging ourselves is every bit as much former President George W. Bush’s fault as it is Obama’s …
WEB EXTRA
By Cooter Brown December 2, 2009 at 8:11 am
If’n furst ye dont secede, try, try again! Why does we gots t’ go down wit th’ ship? Luvin’ da forced union mo dan libertie iz un ov th’ biggest problems in Amerika!
By McFailure December 2, 2009 at 8:30 am
Let’s not forget that it was with Gresham’s leadership that the $787 billion dollar bailout passed.
By dirtbogger December 2, 2009 at 9:27 am
Cooter it will get worst before it gets better. After this system collapses like the WTC, we the people must put it back together and not allow those in power that create the problem use their liberty and solvrenty free solution to put it back together. The empire cannot be maintained after the comming dollar collapse.
By Liberty For Me December 2, 2009 at 9:30 am
Dont even start with the Obama ,Bush bullshit….this is not about parties.This is about the federal government.It may be getting sped up with each new president.But this has been going on with every president since Nixon….We better wake up and stop it next election or we are toast.I dont believe enough people even watch the news to know what is happening outside of Facebook….So till we are homeless and foodless…I dont see people getting an education on what a Republic is supposed to be.
By Jim C. June 3, 2011 at 2:00 am
The ultimate problem is that the whole economy NEEDS to GROW to pay off interest on debts and constantly take on new loans (see “fiat currency” topics). It’s a fundamentally corrupt system that will crash sooner or later on this finite planet. Money is trying to grow forever but physical resources can’t.
You can no more grow an economy forever on a big planet than you can on a small tropical island. The scale is the only real differences. And why would anyone want their island or planet to get ever more crowded? Growth is a zero sum game in a finite space.
Many conservatives understand the limits of money but pretend that the Earth has supernaturally infinite physical bounty (e.g. Julian Simon), so they decry environmentalism and claim that lowering taxes will solve everything. They don’t recognize the concept of geological & ecological debt. Monetary debt is more of a surface symptom and/or a measure of net greed.
Endless economic growth is only possible with endless energy growth, and Peak Oil seems to be putting the brakes on it as of 2008. Growth cessation is a much-needed societal change, but people may react in dangerous ways as they try to keep the growth fantasy alive.