Professor of Doublespeak Obama: Raising Debt Ceiling Does Not Lead To More Debt

[MRK]

http://m.cnsnews.com/mrctv-blog/crai...gh-it-has-over

You couldn't make this up if you tried.

[acptulsa]

No, raising the limit doesn't automatically lead to more debt. Shopping for food doesn't indicate you're hungry, or anticipating getting hungry, either. But if you weren't hungry, and had no reason to believe you were going to become hungry, why would you go to the grocery?

Why do we elect lawyers to positions of power, again? Because, as P.T. Barnum once observed, there's a sucker born every minute?

[CaseyJones]

http://cnsnews.com/mrctv-blog/craig-...gh-it-has-over

Raising the debt ceiling doesn't increase the nation's debt, Pres. Obama declared in a speech today.

Raising the debt ceiling doesn't increase the nation's debt, Pres. Obama declared in a speech today.

In a speech at the Business Roundtable headquarters in Washington, D.C., Obama dismissed concerns about raising the debt ceiling by noting that it'd been done so many times in the past:

"Now, this debt ceiling -- I just want to remind people in case you haven't been keeping up -- raising the debt ceiling, which has been done over a hundred times, does not increase our debt; it does not somehow promote profligacy. All it does is it says you got to pay the bills that you've already racked up, Congress. It's a basic function of making sure that the full faith and credit of the United States is preserved."

Obama went on to suggest that "the average person" mistakenly thinks that raising the debt ceiling means the U.S. is racking up more debt:

"It's always a tough vote because the average person thinks raising the debt ceiling must mean that we're running up our debt, so people don't like to vote on it, and, typically, there's some gamesmanship in terms of making the President's party shoulder the burden of raising the -- taking the vote."

But, isn't the fact that the U.S. has hit its debt ceiling "over a hundred times" - and, thus, has had to keep raising it - proof that raising the limit does, in fact, lead to increased debt?

[donnay]

And if you believe that I have some swampland in Florida I would like to sell you.

[Original_Intent]

The BIG Lie.

[torchbearer]

The Mad King.

[Kords21]

While technically he is correct raising it doesn't immediately lead to new debt, but if you have to keep having this discussion and raising the ceiling because of overspending then you need to check yourself and make some changes to what you're doing. The only reason you need to raise it, is because you've overspent and have to borrow more. The debt/deficit is the red line Obama needs to be worried about, not what Syria may or may not have done.

At any rate, this debt ceiling talk is just theater, the real problem is what happens when other countries stop buying our debt? You can have all the artificial debt ceiling numbers you want, but if no one is willing to lend you the money so you can go into debt to that level than it's moot. The $ won't be the world's reserve currency forever, America needs to get its house in order before those chickens come home to roost.

[acptulsa]

Which came first, the chicken or the egg?

No, a larger credit limit doesn't lead to more debt. But no one who was living within their means ever got their panties in a major knot over the size of their credit limit. Ever.

[HOLLYWOOD]

I'll give you the numbers, right from the .gov mouth. PS: Obama is a Lying Propaganda Puppet... that is all, to fool the FOOLS aka people.

U.S. Treasury Monthly Statement
http://www.fms.treas.gov/mts/mts0813.txt

CBO Reporting on National Debt and Interest Costs
https://www.cbo.gov/publication/21960

In CBO's most recent projections, which assume that current laws remain the same, annual deficits decline from the $1.3 trillion recorded in 2010, but the cumulative deficit from 2011 through 2020 exceeds $6.2 trillion. Borrowing to finance that deficit--in combination with an expected rise in interest rates--would lead to a fourfold increase in net interest payments over the next 10 years, from $197 billion in 2010 to $778 billion in 2020. As a percentage of GDP, net interest outlays would more than double during that period, rising from 1.4 percent to 3.4 percent.

August FY2013 Treasury numbers and projections

FY2013 projected Interest on US .Gov Debt: $414,655,000,000.00

[tod evans]

Just like the bimbo with the platinum card....

[brushfire]

Raising the debt ceiling in order to increase spending - that's the point, isn't it!?

And everyone gave him credit for saying that he inhaled...

[puppetmaster]

http://m.cnsnews.com/mrctv-blog/crai...gh-it-has-over

You couldn't make this up if you tried.

So why raise it?

[Lucille]

It is, technically, true
http://voxday.blogspot.com/2013/09/i...ally-true.html

...It's true. Just like increasing your credit limit on your credit card doesn't increase the amount of money you owe; you don't owe more money until you go out and spend more. However, the fact that you are asking for a higher credit limit does, in most circumstances, indicate that you intend to spend more money than you presently can.

I'm going to miss the Obama administration. I knew it would be amusing and incompetent, but I had no idea he would take it to this level.

[Prominence]

Wow is all I can say. Try to rationalize this comrades:

http://www.mrctv.org/videos/obama-ra...over-100-times

http://cnsnews.com/mrctv-blog/craig-...gh-it-has-over

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Obama: 'Raising the Debt Ceiling...Does Not Increase Our Debt,' Though It Has 'Over 100 Times'
September 18, 2013 - 3:54 PM

By Craig Bannister
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Raising the debt ceiling doesn't increase the nation's debt, Pres. Obama declared in a speech today.



In a speech at the Business Roundtable headquarters in Washington, D.C., Obama dismissed concerns about raising the debt ceiling by noting that it'd been done so many times in the past:

"Now, this debt ceiling -- I just want to remind people in case you haven't been keeping up -- raising the debt ceiling, which has been done over a hundred times, does not increase our debt; it does not somehow promote profligacy. All it does is it says you got to pay the bills that you've already racked up, Congress. It's a basic function of making sure that the full faith and credit of the United States is preserved."

Obama went on to suggest that "the average person" mistakenly thinks that raising the debt ceiling means the U.S. is racking up more debt:

"It's always a tough vote because the average person thinks raising the debt ceiling must mean that we're running up our debt, so people don't like to vote on it, and, typically, there's some gamesmanship in terms of making the President's party shoulder the burden of raising the -- taking the vote."

But, isn't the fact that the U.S. has hit its debt ceiling "over a hundred times" - and, thus, has had to keep raising it - proof that raising the limit does, in fact, lead to increased debt?

[Cleaner44]

Next he will say that up is not up... it simply is a direction that is opposite of down. Silly voters get easily confused.

[HOLLYWOOD]

The House of Representatives are debating the 'Debt Ceiling' 'ObamaCare' show... there's a bunch of self absorbed freaks in the floor show.

Just the interest increase Y-O-Y on the debt could of paid for dozens of programs or reduce the deficits, both of which, Obama constantly boasts about. He's silver-tongued devil playing the 'Chicken-Egg Game' with the people's money, debt, and inflation.

I guess Obama also forgot to mention the downgrade to America's AAA credit rating too.

[brushfire]

I've been watching the MBS and home loans. With the QE taper threat we'd seen really odd things like Jumbo's going for less than 30 year fixed conventional. Historical correlation between market behavior and rates seems to no longer apply - lots of odd behavior which I believe is the "malinvestment" the Austrians have been warning about. With the taper threat tentatively gone, there is more of this odd behavior. <brace_for_impact>

[Danke]

Ordering another beer when I'm drunk usually means I'm gonna drink it, unless I pass out and collapse first.

[69360]

[Brian4Liberty]

Obama made a lot of great points in his speech on the debt... in 2008.

Obama’s 2006 speech on the debt limit

“Mr. President, I rise today to talk about America’s debt problem. The fact that we are here today to debate raising America’s debt limit is a sign of leadership failure. It is a sign that the U.S. government can’t pay its own bills.”



Here, Obama is sounding a bit Tea Partyish.



“It is a sign that we now depend on ongoing financial assistance from foreign countries to finance our government’s reckless fiscal policies. Over the past five years, our federal debt has increased by $3.5 trillion to $8.6 trillion. That is ‘‘trillion’’ with a ‘‘T.’’ That is money that we have borrowed from the Social Security trust fund, borrowed from China and Japan, borrowed from American taxpayers.”



Obama’s language is remarkably similar to charges made by the Mitt Romney campaign against Obama during the 2012 election, though Romney mostly focused on the debt held by China. (Japan was ignored.) When Obama took office in the midst of the Great Recession, the total national debt was $10.6 trillion; it is now $16.4 trillion.



“And over the next five years, between now and 2011, the president’s budget will increase the debt by almost another $3.5 trillion.”



It actually increased $5 trillion by the start of fiscal 2011.



“Numbers that large are sometimes hard to understand. Some people may wonder why they matter. Here is why: This year, the federal government will spend $220 billion on interest. That is more money to pay interest on our national debt than we’ll spend on Medicaid and the State Children’s Health Insurance Program.

“That is more money to pay interest on our debt this year than we will spend on education, homeland security, transportation and veterans benefits combined. It is more money in one year than we are likely to spend to rebuild the devastated gulf coast in a way that honors the best of America. And the cost of our debt is one of the fastest growing expenses in the federal budget.”



Despite the increase in the debt the past seven years, interest costs actually have dropped, to about $200 billion a year, because interest rates have fallen so much during the economic slowdown. But if interest rates go up again, interest expense will soar.



“This rising debt is a hidden domestic enemy, robbing our cities and states of critical investments in infrastructure like bridges, ports and levees; robbing our families and our children of critical investments in education and health-care reform; robbing our seniors of the retirement and health security they have counted on.

“Every dollar we pay in interest is a dollar that is not going to investment in America’s priorities. Instead, interest payments are a significant tax on all Americans — a debt tax that Washington doesn’t want to talk about. If Washington were serious about honest tax relief in this country, we would see an effort to reduce our national debt by returning to responsible fiscal policies.”

“But we are not doing that. Despite repeated efforts by Senators Conrad and Feingold, the Senate continues to reject a return to the commonsense pay-go rules that used to apply. Previously, pay-go rules applied both to increases in mandatory spending and to tax cuts. The Senate had to abide by the commonsense budgeting principle of balancing expenses and revenues.

“Unfortunately, the principle was abandoned, and now the demands of budget discipline apply only to spending. As a result, tax breaks have not been paid for by reductions in Federal spending, and thus the only way to pay for them has been to increase our deficit to historically high levels and borrow more and more money. Now we have to pay for those tax breaks plus the cost of borrowing for them. Instead of reducing the deficit, as some people claimed, the fiscal policies of this administration and its allies in Congress will add more than $600 million in debt for each of the next five years. That is why I will once again co-sponsor the pay-go amendment and continue to hope that my colleagues will return to a smart rule that has worked in the past and can work again.”



The rules were restored in 2010.



“Our debt also matters internationally. My friend, the ranking member of the Senate Budget Committee, likes to remind us that it took 42 presidents 224 years to run up only $1 trillion of foreign-held debt. This administration did more than that in just five years.”

This is also similar to another line used by Romney against Obama during the 2012 campaign.





“Now, there is nothing wrong with borrowing from foreign countries. But we must remember that the more we depend on foreign nations to lend us money, the more our economic security is tied to the whims of foreign leaders whose interests might not be aligned with ours.

“Increasing America’s debt weakens us domestically and internationally. Leadership means that ‘the buck stops here.’ Instead, Washington is shifting the burden of bad choices today onto the backs of our children and grandchildren. America has a debt problem and a failure of leadership. Americans deserve better. I therefore intend to oppose the effort to increase America’s debt limit.”



***

Reading the speech seven years later, Obama is correct that it was a political vote. He never really explains what he would do differently or how he would provide leadership on reducing the deficit. He just decries the rising debt, though he hints at possibly supporting tax increases, since he complains that tax cuts have been deficit-financed.

After Obama finished speaking, Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) rose to rebut his comments.

“Mr. President, I urge my colleagues to vote in favor of final passage. Raising the debt limit is necessary to preserve the full faith and credit of the U.S. government.

“We cannot as a Congress pass spending bills and tax bills and then refuse to pay our bills. Refusing to raise the debt limit is like refusing to pay your credit card bill — after you’ve used your credit card.

“The time to control the deficits and debt is when we are voting on the spending bills and the tax bills that create it. Raising the debt limit is about meeting the obligations we have already incurred. We must meet our obligations. Vote for this bill.”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/...fecd_blog.html