Raising the Debt Ceiling

A few years ago, popular Comedian Roy Wood Jr. prank called a woman by the name of Barbara and as part of the joke "threatened" to cut her Social Security check.

Her reaction was frank, firm and to the point. There was no way that the government was ever going to even think about cutting her benefits. She claimed that President Bush (who was in office at the time) would need to come to her front door and tell her the check was being cut himself, before she would even entertain the notion of a possible reduction. She even threatened to slap Mr. Wood to sleep over suggesting such an outlandish idea.

I wonder what her reaction would be now, especially considering the partisan battle over raising the government's debt ceiling is threatening Social Security checks and other such programs.

For the uninitiated, the debt ceiling is the legal limit on borrowing by the federal government. The nation’s debt is inching closer to the legal limit of $14.3
trillion.

If Congress does not increase the limit, borrowed funds would not be available to pay bills and the United States may be forced to default on its debt obligations. Congress has until Aug. 2 to do this, before the country goes into default.

So why isn't the ceiling raised and this unpleasant business put behind us? It's because this time, the nation's debt is nearly the size of the entire $15 trillion economy. That and the fact that there's also a lot of bickering between - you guessed it - the Republicans and the Democrats.

Here's how a recent article in USA Today breaks down the score card:

The USA Today article points out that Republicans are adamantly asking for entitlement programs such as Medicare and Medicaid to be included in any potential cuts. The party has said they want tax increases be left out.

The article goes on to say that, President Obama wants to take aim at tax breaks enjoyed by oil companies and others, and he's pushing for a "debt cap" aimed at locking in the savings over five years by forcing automatic reductions if needed.

These issues have the two groups clashing the most.

If the two sides can't come to an agreement, then the outcome will be catastrophic and a bit murky since there is no precedent for this. Social Security Benefits could be one of many casualties over this issue, if it's not resolved fairly quickly.

If that happens, I fear that the economy will have a nuclear meltdown. My parents have been watching this very closely. Both receive Social Security and Medicare. Without these two programs life could be very difficult for them and healthcare costs could mount up tremendously.

Congress needs to resolve this and put aside petty partisan politics and look at the bigger picture. If not, then I think many will feel the frustration of Barbara, only this time it won't be a laughing matter.