As we know the federal government can pay for expenditures only if Congress has approved the expenditures. If the total expenditure exceeds revenues collected then there is a deficit within the budget, and the only way that can be paid then is through the Department of Treasury to borrow the shortfall amount by the issue of debt instruments. The federal law states that there is a borrow limit for the government which is set by the debt ceiling, which only can be increased by a vote from Congress.
As of May 2011, based on Wikipedia, approximately 40 percent of US government spending relied on borrowed money. By raising the debt ceiling allowed the federal government to continue to borrow more to support current spending levels. If the debt ceiling had not been raised, the federal government would have had to cut spending immediately by 40 percent, affecting many daily operations of the government, besides the impact on the domestic and international economies.
With that said, Who's at fault, and how do we fix this $14,952,275,165,133.20 debt?
As of May 2011, based on Wikipedia, approximately 40 percent of US government spending relied on borrowed money. By raising the debt ceiling allowed the federal government to continue to borrow more to support current spending levels. If the debt ceiling had not been raised, the federal government would have had to cut spending immediately by 40 percent, affecting many daily operations of the government, besides the impact on the domestic and international economies.
With that said, Who's at fault, and how do we fix this $14,952,275,165,133.20 debt?
