Repeal debt limit statute

I am writing this letter on May 18. Due to the present debt limit, officials in the U.S. Treasury Department indicate that on or about June 1 the country will not be able to fully meet its financial obligations.

A few opinionated observations. The country's debt should be discussed and measured as a percentage of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and not as a dollar amount. When measured as a dollar amount, the impact of inflation or deflation and the increase or decrease in the GDP are not measured or counted. These items are considered when the national debt is measured as a percentage of the GDP.

I believe the country would be better off without the debt limit statute, and it should be repealed. At the present time it is used as a means by which a disgruntled political party can have two opportunities to try and set the nation's budget. The current 2023 fiscal year started about eight months ago on Oct. 1, 2022. Our elected representatives have only about four more months to draft and enact the budget for fiscal year 2024.

We are dealing with a war in Ukraine, China on the rise, and domestic problems with second class infrastructure and health care which gives us only the fortieth best life expectancy in the world. Our country would be infinitely better served if our representatives were working on next year's budget and not trying to change one which has already been enacted.

JOHN PIEPHO, Cape Girardeau