US government indebtedness has been the norm in the financial history of the nation. The carriage of debt in Western Europe and North America by governments has been normal for the past 200 years, so the US situation is not unique.
The US has been in debt every year except for 1835. Debts incurred during the American Revolutionary War and under the Articles of Confederation led to the first yearly report on the amount of the debt ($75,463,476.52 on January 1, 1791).
Every President since Herbert Hoover has added to the national debt expressed in absolute dollars. The debt ceiling has been raised 74 times since March 1962,[1] including 18 times under Ronald Reagan, eight times under Bill Clinton, seven times under George W. Bush, and three times under Barack Obama.
The process of setting the debt ceiling is separate and distinct from the regular process of financing government operations, and raising the debt ceiling neither directly increases nor decreases the budget deficit. The US government passes a federal budget every year. This budget details projected tax collections and outlays and, therefore, the amount of borrowing the government would have to do in that fiscal year. A vote to increase the debt ceiling is, therefore, usually seen as a formality, needed to continue spending that has already been approved previously by the Congress and the President. The Government Accountability Office explains, "the debt limit does not control or limit the ability of the federal government to run deficits or incur obligations. Rather, it is a limit on the ability to pay obligations already incurred." The apparent redundancy of the debt ceiling has led to suggestions that it should be abolished altogether. Read MoreRead that again raising the debt ceiling overs the limit on the ability to pay obligations already incurred!!
A Federal budget should have been approved already and at the least a vote should be taken now to approve a "clean' budget that leaves Obamacare alone! It is morally and politically wrong in a democracy to take the government hostage over a law that Republicans have been unable to repeat countless times,and a law that was declared to be constitutional by the Supreme Court!! It's even more wrong, when a majority of Americans i,e, those who voted to reelect the President love the law, and the law is even liked by many of those who oppose Obamacare, when it is called the Affordable Care Act, rather than Islamacare, (which Republicans would call it if they could) or how about Socialismacare that may work for Republicans too, or Hussienacare!! They would rather call the law anything scary instead of calling it by its name, which describes what the law is, an Affordable Care Act!! An Act, no a law, that is in the opinion of many a weak attempt by a country that spends more on health care, than any other developed country in the world, to bring affordable health care to a majority of its people!! A law that actually may leave many of the poorest of Americans still uninsured because Republican Governors refuse to increase Medicaid coverage!! The Affordable Care Act is an attempt to rein in the insurance companies\that make life miserable for many Americans,, but since the insurance companies still are in control, the law may actually end up handing them a financial bonanza!!
If we really want to do something about Health Care and its associated costs, maybe, the country should take a look the Vermont system rather than the Massachusetts system!! Let's look at what they've said and are dong in Vermont....
Affordable, accessible and quality health care is essential for the well-being of Vermonters. Recognizing this fact, since 2006, Vermont has implemented a series of reforms designed to increase access to, improve the quality and contain the cost of health care for Vermonters.
During the last two years, this work continued with enactment of Act 48 (2011) and passage of Act 171 (H.559), signed by Governor Peter Shumlin on May 16, 2012. These laws recognize that health care is a public good, much like electricity. They put Vermont on a path toward an integrated health care delivery system with a budget regulated by the new Green Mountain Care Board, universally available health insurance coverage that is not linked to employment and a single system for administration of claims and payments to providers.
Act 48 and Act 171 leverage the financial assistance made available to states by the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 (also known as the ACA) to maximum effect by creating the required health insurance exchange to serve as many Vermonters as possible. This interim step is the bridge to the Green Mountain Care single payer system which will serve all Vermonters and curb the unsustainable rate of growth in the cost of health care. From Vermont.gov (Emphasis added)Gasp! Health care is a public good like electricity? Universally available health insurance coverage will be made available to all Vermonters!!! There goes the freedom of those Vermonters. Now they will be dependent on the government - so say the Republicans Yeah Right! Oh, I forgot people are much better off when they are dependent on the whims of insurance companies. So much so, that the Republicans would rather destroy the government before they would let that change!! Long live costly, unsympathetic, arbitrary health care!!! Viva la preexisting conditions!! The evil Affordable Care Act must die!! That last statement doesn't quite have the same ring as Obamacare must die, now does it!!
I started this rant wishing that Elizabeth Warren would run for President, well, I'll end it with the ticket of Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders. Yeah that's the ticket of my dreams!! Or maybe we go north and south and a ticket of Alan Grayson (D-FL) and Bernie (I-VT)!! Hey, a liberal can always dream!!
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