Thoughts on debt ceiling

The upcoming sequester of federal spending is receiving a great deal of attention in the news media. This sequester is a reduction in federal spending, which was enacted by Congress last August in order to avoid exceeding the debt ceiling.

To quote James Fallows of the Atlantic magazine, there are two sentences which should be part of any discussion of the debt ceiling. They are:

1) "Raising the debt ceiling does not authorize one single penny in additional public spending."

2) "For Congress to decide whether to raise the debt ceiling for programs and tax rates it has already voted into law makes exactly as much sense as it would for a family to decide whether to pay a credit-card bill for goods it has already bought."

In considering the debt ceiling, I would call the reader's attention to the point of view of the Economist magazine. This is a conservative publication which consistently favors privatization of government activities and deregulation of private businesses. It said:

"In a modern economy where governments routinely encounter large deficits that have to be covered by issuing bonds, having Congress vote separately to issue the debt it has already decided to create … is a gesture of metaphysical silliness with potentially catastrophic consequences."

We are running the risk of bringing important government functions such as defense, airport security and food inspection to a standstill. Instead of the greatest country on earth, we are behaving as if we are a decadent empire.

JOHN PIEPHO, Cape Girardeau