Debt Ceiling Kabuki Theater

I am indebted to The Daily Kos for describing the week-end debt ceiling talks as a Kabuki Theater, for that is surely what these talks have become.

And in the spirit of a fast-moving event, allow me to pass along a description from The Washington Postof last week given by one expert. This expert reminded us that rather than use the Fourteenth Amendment, as others have recommended, the President and the American people should be referring to the budget agreement of last spring which in effect directed the Treasury to spend money for specified purposes. It is now up to the Treasury Department to find sources of money, normally the issuance of certain Treasury instruments, to fund these expenditures. In this sense the debt ceiling is null and void because a newer law (the budget agreement) supersedes an older one (the debt limit).

Remember, the United States government operates on a credit system. This is the meaning of the phrase "the full faith and credit of the United States government." It is the faith of the American people in its government, which is ultimately a government of, by, and for the people themselves. If the people are credit-worthy so should be its government. The reverse is also true.