Looking beyond the current debt crisis, the Obama Administration (and future presidents for that matter) should expect continued stiff resistance from the Congress whenever the ceiling needs to be increased. No one likes to vote for a debt ceiling increase; there’s no clear upside and plenty of down, particularly for members of Congress who were elected promising to hold the line on spending and taxes.
Moreover, the composition of our accumulated debt is incomprehensible; just seems to be a growing miasma of political toxicity – a debt blob. Notwithstanding imaginative, though apparently unworkable, short-term fixes like the platinum coin, there needs to be consideration of ideas beyond the binary choice of Congress either enacting a debt ceiling increase or failing to act and putting the nation into default. Keep reading →
With the “fiscal cliff” closely looming on the horizon, the post-election honeymoon is over for President Barack Obama. Both parties must work to avert the pending spending cuts and tax hikes that will take place should a compromise not be reached by December 31.
Little doubt remains that the Pentagon budget will flatten or contract in coming years. Scaling back on performance and adopting a more austere approach to meeting the country’s evolving defense needs are viewed as a necessary consequence.
The failure of the Congressional Super Committee last month initiated a new phase in the defense spending debate.
This August was a little different than most in Washington and not just because of earthquakes and hurricanes. The anxiety surrounding the federal sector is palpable after a year marked by spending debates that nearly shutdown the government in April and took the country to the brink of default in early August.