Debt Ceiling: Both Sides Need To Come To Agreement Soon

Mike & Friends Blog

Dan Rackley

Dan Rackley is a US Naval veteran living in Philadelphia and a contributor to "Will They Ever Trust Us Again?"

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July 12th, 2011 2:43 PM

Debt Ceiling: Both Sides Need To Come To Agreement Soon

Sometimes it seems that the ultra partisan nature of American politics is absolutely befuddling. Many a time, if you are in the need to be thoroughly confused; turn on CNN or any of the cable news channels. Take the fight between the Republicans and Democrats concerning the national debt ceiling. For those that are unfamiliar with what the debt ceiling actually is, here’s a capsule definition. The debt ceiling is pretty much the amount that the government’s national debt is allowed to get to before they can keep spending any more money. If the United States national debt reaches a certain point, and said point isn’t allowed to get any higher, several government services would cease to function.

Like I stated before, you get a room of Republicans and Democrats together to order coffee, and it could be weeks or months before they decide to have Arabica or French Roast. So in one light it’s not surprising all of the problems they are having coming to an agreement on this. But both sides are going a little too far. They are trying to reach a compromise without being willing to actually compromise on anything. Both sides seem to have a “my way or the highway” attitude. This was seen earlier in the year with the last minute averting of a government shutdown. The GOP side did everything in their power to bring the government as close to a shutdown. At the last possible second, they and the Democrats came to some kind of a temporary agreement on a budget.

Now we have this situation with the debt ceiling; which is equally befuddling. President Obama wants to do something relatively reasonable. He wants the richest people in the country to pay a slightly higher tax rate. Which in the terms of some of the super wealthy in this country, raising their taxes wouldn’t necessarily affect them. Does anyone in the GOP think that Donald Trump or Steve Jobs would be standing in line at a public assistance office because Obama wanted to raise their taxes a little bit. They must think so, because that seems to be their lynchpin in this latest clash between Obama and the GOP. They are going all out in their efforts this time to help sink the ship just to embarrass the captain.

Obama is not innocent in this either. In the interest of being absolutely fair here, he announced in an upcoming interview for CNN, said that if the two sides do not come to an agreement; then things like Social Security checks will not be sent out. Sure, he is absolutely speaking the truth here. He is taking the effect of an agreement not being reached and pinning it on the GOP. But at the same time, he is scaring the great number of people that for one reason or another need those Social Security checks. Both sides need to realize that the 2012 election is not far off. If they want to disagree with each other, fine. If they want to sling mud at each other, that’s fine too. But do not toy with the lives of the American people by having a shouting match that should be saved for the campaign trail. It’s almost as if they are trying to get as many digs on each other before they are allowed to do it uninterrupted.

If both Obama and the GOP were interested in coming to a conclusion on the debt ceiling, they would have done it a long time ago. But no matter what your politics, this is a clear case of people caring more about embarrassing the other side than it is about the American people. And it’s disgusting and both sides should be ashamed of themselves. Save the attack ads for the campaign.