Click for Google Timeline
The sky is falling -again. That’s the word coming out of Washington, and it’s the one subject that both Democrats and Republicans can agree on.
Why the sky is falling is still open to debate, but everyone agrees that it is falling. The national debt ceiling, the amount of money the United States can borrow, will soon be reached, our credit maxed, and the functioning of government accustomed to running on credit will come to a halt.
On the surface, it sounds like a major catastrophe in the making. As one of the major engines of the world’s economy, having the sky fall in the United States would undoubtedly bring a crash to the American economy and worldwide. The richest nation in the world not being able to meet it’s financial obligations is a very bad omen for everyone.
The drama surrounding the issue of United States debt has been a subject of contention since the days of the American Revolutionary War. The story of the debt ceiling can be followed through a Google Timeline starting with 1935 through 2010.
Examining the historical context of the debt ceiling through the prism of history, as presidents and political parties varied, offers a small measure of comfort and a heaping bowl of disgust.
The comfort can be found in examining the news stories available, especially after WWII as America enters the 1950s. Numerous news articles through the decades reflect contention, and near disaster over the debt ceiling debate. Somehow, as a nation, we stumbled through it each time.
The heaping bowl of disgust can be found in those same news stories. Same debate, same stories, same fears, just some of the players have changed. Today it is the Democrats seeking to raise the debt ceiling, while yesterday it was the Republicans. Looking back in history we can see the hypocrisy of hysteria.
( The news stories in the Google Timeline are copies from actual newspapers – use your up/down arrows to navigate through the article)
For Dan O’Dell’s Q&A on the debt ceiling situation, click here.
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Much of the debate surrounding the debt ceiling is a canard, as your article suggests. What is very troubling to me is the increasing politicization of economic policy that seems dominated by extreme elements of both parties.
Sure, we are in a financial mess. The middle class will certainly endure the most sacrifices under either parties agendas. Social Security, Medicare, retirement plans and education funding are all likely targets at the same time that real incomes are falling, high unemployment is structural and house prices are at best stagnant . The tone of the current debt ceiling debate so far has only served to exacerbate these problems. Your historical analysis is correct only to a point. This time it may be different in that our debt is held by foreign interests that may not be inclined to rescue our middle class whose destruction would insure the failure of our democracy. .