by Blake Seitz
It was recently reported by Politico that congressional Democrats hope to raise the federal debt ceiling by $1.8 trillion dollars before the new year.
As the majority party, they will likely get their wish.
Their reasoning behind this move is both practical and political.
Practical: As 2009 winds to a close, the U.S. government is staring at a deficit (the amount of money they spent on the year and could not pay) of $1.4 trillion dollars, the largest amount–when adjusted–since 1945 during the height of World War II.
Political: This move had to happen at some point. Democrats are moving to do it now because the alternative is to do it in 2010, an election year.
A thorough analysis of this year’s budget can be found here, on the Congressional Budget Office’s web site.
Some interesting numbers on the current debt and deficit can be found at www.usdebtclock.org.
