Priorities

Hey, no big deal if the U.S. government murders people in other countries.

No big deal if it sends people off to be tortured. 

No big deal if if holds people indefinitely without due process. 

But God forbid it should miss a bill payment!

That Pesky Debt Ceiling

The central government is again getting close to its debt ceiling. Fearing another game of chicken between the White House and congressional Republicans, the risk of default, and another downgrading of the U.S. credit rating, some people want President Obama to bypass Congress and raise the ceiling by executive order. Others would dispense with the ceiling altogether. Obama vaguely says he will not go through what he had to go through with Congress last year. I hope they don't raise the debt ceiling. In fact I favor repudiation of the government debt, since it is based on the immoral power to wield aggressive force. A voluntary government creditor takes his chances.

Here's the one thing that I find amusing in this discussion: Pundits and others who favor limitless government insist that raising the debt ceiling won't permit the government to spend more money; it merely let's the government pay its current bills. If that is so, it's not very comforting. It means the government incurred obligations without knowing for sure that it would have the money to pay its bills. Why is it allowed to do that?

Oh, that's right. It's the government.

Budget Cutting, Washington-Style

HT: John Stossel

Op-Ed: A Cheer and a Half for the Tea Party.

Were it not for the Tea Party, the debt-ceiling controversy might never have taken place. Kudos on that count alone.

The rest of the op-ed, "A Cheer and a Half for the Tea Party," is here.

TGIF: The Debt Sky

Since the sky is now apparently the limit, I rechristen the debt ceiling “the debt sky.” But seriously — no, that was serious.

The rest of TGIF: The Debt Sky is here.

Op-Ed: “Shared Sacrifice”: Obama's Demagoguery

The most offensive claim made during the debt-ceiling controversy is that there’s a moral equivalence between cutting government spending and raising taxes.

Read the rest of the op-ed here.

Default ... or Renege?

Via Don Boudreaux, Roger Garrison notes that one cannot choose to default.

As he wrote to Boudreaux:

You mention, though, that the government could “choose to default.” Well, if default means that you’re unable to pay, then “choosing to default” must mean that you “choose to be unable to pay.” Hey, that really does sound like government-speak. But I think a more accurate and more revealing term is “renege.”

Speaking for myself, reneging in this case would to some small extent liberate the taxpayers from an unchosen obligation, so it would not carry the moral taint that private reneging on debt obligations does

The Debt Controversy

Here are a couple of things I published yesterday on the debt controversy:

TGIF: Bondholders and Victims

Op-Ed: The Debt-Limit Crisis

Debt Ceiling Shattered April 15

Much attention is directed to the approaching congressional vote on raising the debt limit, which makes the following mysterious.

According to the U.S. Treasury, the $14.294 trillion limit was exceeded on April 15. See it for yourself here.

The latest figures to the penny:

Total Public Debt Outstanding

April 14: $14,270,792,119,184.89

April 15: $14,305,336,580,992.11

April 18: $14,309,159,097,877.65

April 19: $14,320,468,555,091.68

HT: Ken Sturzenacker