The Conservative Pledge to Freeze the Debt Ceiling Is a Looming Disaster

[Tippy]

Led by the advice of Newt Gingrich, the former House Speaker who was the architect of the 1995-96 debt ceiling crisis, many conservatives are clamoring for a repeat of this past episode in recklessness.

By law, a statutory limit restricts the total amount of debt the federal government can accumulate. Only Congress can raise this limit. On the heels of the worst recession since the Great Depression, this “debt ceiling” is projected to be reached sometime in February 2011. Increasingly, conservatives are pledging to vote against any increases to the debt ceiling—even if this means shutting down the federal government. This reckless pledge would have disastrous consequences for the U.S. economy and the global financial markets, and would severely worsen the long-term budget situation to boot.

This conservative pledge has historical antecedents. In the fall of 1995, congressional Republicans refused to raise the debt ceiling for a period of about six months, until they reversed course in March 1996 in response to plummeting poll numbers. This original “debt ceiling crisis,” as it’s become known, was extraordinarily costly, roiling the financial markets and forcing two government shutdowns.

http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2010/10/big_freeze.html

Did you catch the part about why the Republicans had a change of heart???It was their DROPPING POLL NUMBERS.....These Republicans just don't have a clue.

"Republicans refused to raise the debt ceiling for a period of about six months, until they reversed course in March 1996 in response to plummeting poll numbers."

One would think they learned a lesson but it don't sound like they did.....

[Cosmocat]

1. How many times did this morons RAISE the debt ceiling ...

when Bush was president?

I am SURE the "liberal" media will point out their deranged, partisan hypocrasy on that ...

[Billy Burnett]

2. Media paid-for polls are one thing. Running tabulating PCs/software is another.

In the New America, every state uses tabulating computers running proprietary corporate s/w (and many use proprietary corporate s/w voting computers).