The Debt Ceiling is not a very complicated issue, but is still the subject of vehement debate. According to the Treasury Department, the Debt Ceiling is a limit that was imposed by Congress in 1917 on how much money the Federal Government can borrow to meet its existing legal obligations such as Social Security and Medicare benefits, military salaries, interest on the national debt, etc. This limit has been raised many times over the past century. The debate right now is not really whether to do it again (we have to), but how to address the unsustainable hemorrhaging of our Nation’s treasury funds.

Conservatives would like nothing more than to attack the Federal budget with a twelve pack of red pens, believing that a blank check for Ukraine or transgender awareness programs in foreign countries may not be the best use of US taxpayer money while our country is $31.5T in debt. They argue we have a spending problem. Conversely, Democrats see little urgency. They argue that demanding cuts to the budget or objecting to digging our massive fiscal hole even deeper is just mean Republicans being mean. It is evident that these leftists did not hear the adage that “money does not grow on trees” enough from their dads when growing up, but perhaps we should expect no other viewpoint from the same people who believe the best way to address the opioid crisis is to provide addicts with free syringes. Democrats will tell you we have a revenue problem because we are simply not taxing rich Americans enough, but this is merely a talking point for shameless politicians who cannot do math and/or thrive on class warfare. If we taxed every American billionaire at a 100% rate, we would not have enough money to run the country for a year given our current budget. That’s just math.

Let’s look at this issue simply.  Imagine a family business.  The business produces $1M in goods per year.  Due to reckless spending over many years, the family’s debt is $1.2M, or 20% more than they produce.  Their situation is made worse by the fact that their annual expenses currently exceed their revenue by 28%. Now, the father insists everything is fine and doesn’t want to make any changes, warning that the entire business could crumble if any financial discipline is instituted. The mother acknowledges that money needs to be spent to keep the lights on, but before she agrees to any more debt, she wants to go through their finances and eliminate any wasteful spending. She knows for a fact that their business has been foolishly spending money on the expenses of competing businesses as well as paying employees who refuse to work. She loves the business and her family. She wants them both to not only survive but do well. She knows that following their current path only leads to ruin.

Would you call the mom’s position unreasonable or irresponsible? The media would. That is, that’s how they describe Republicans who want spending cuts to our incredibly bloated federal budget in order to preserve whatever financial stability remains in our Republic. Discretionary spending has soared almost 40% since 2017. Our Federal Government has grown into an insatiable monster that devours cash at an insane rate, paying for things our founders never intended. Despite what the media tell you, it is not insane or irresponsible to fight raising the ceiling without identifying cuts. Insanity would be to keep spending more than we take in and think we’ll be able to keep the lights on in the future.