One has to wonder how some Democrats make statements without cringing as the words come out of their mouths.
President Barack Obama made a demand of House Speaker John Boehner near the end of their first White House meeting on the fiscal cliff: Raise the debt limit before year’s end.
Boehner responded: “There is a price for everything.”
Politico reports that Obama and Democrats want a debt ceiling increase (being allowed to borrow more money) written into the fiscal cliff agreement, if it comes to pass, but they refuse to consider offsets by way of spending reductions.
Republicans know it’s a difficult vote for nearly all of their members. They need something to show for it — and to uphold Boehner’s principle that the nation should only acquire more debt if it’s willing to cut an equal amount of spending or save a commensurate amount of money through entitlement reform.
This time, Obama is saying he won’t indulge the speaker.
Boehner shouldn’t expect a thing in return for raising the debt ceiling, and certainly not his demand for spending cuts that exceed the jump in the borrowing limit, Democratic officials said.
“Do you really think we would come up with a $4 trillion grand bargain and then try to find another $1 trillion in cuts to offset a debt ceiling increase? I don’t think so,” said a Senate Democratic aide.
Think about this for a minute.
The U.S. national debt is over $16 trillion (16,309,738,056,362.44). The U.S. is running a $1.1 deficit for 2012, making it the fourth straight year with a deficit over a trillion, according to the
Congressional Budget Office (CBO).
The nation running at a loss already, yet Democrats are balking at cutting an equal amount of spending to the money Obama and Democrats want to borrow.
If we keep borrowing without cutting our spending, how on earth do we ever get out of debt?
We don't.
So, who exactly is being unreasonable here?
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Obama's Economy Has America On A Death Spiral Trajectory