Debt Ceiling Arbitrarily Raised

Did you know that the debt ceiling was arbitrarily raised by $51 billion back in July? It seems that Treasury Secretary Jack Lew, an unelected Obama appointee, took it upon himself to raise the ceiling. Without a vote by Congress. Not a word of protest from the Republicans who were elected to keep this from happening. And there was not a word about the raise from the MSM either. Or did I somehow miss it? Please watch this short (1:10) video.

Lew said that the “standard set of extraordinary measures” allows him continually raise the debt ceiling. Lew just arbitrarily gave himself permission to print an additional $51 billion.

Here’s a little nugget of information that you need to (but probably don’t) know. The Budget Control Act of 2011 (Pub.L. 112-25) set the debt ceiling at $16.4 billion. It was supposed to prevent default of the US government on or around August 3, 2011. But (and there’s always a “but” when Dear Leader Barack Hussein Obama is involved), Obama and Congress suspended the debt ceiling from February 4, 2013, until May 18, 2013. Guess how much additional debt was added during those four months. $300 billion. That’s additional debt. Obama and Congress decided in February that they would continue borrowing through May 18, with the new debt limit becoming the then-current limit of $16.4 trillion, plus whatever was added on during the February-May period.

You will remember that the Budget Control Act of 2011 was supposed to obviate the need for any more debt ceiling increases. The act established the Congressional Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction (the so-called “super committee”), options for a balanced budget amendment, and automatic budget sequestration. And you will remember that, during debt ceiling negotiations, Speaker of the House John Boehner said of Lew: “I don’t need somebody who just knows how to say no.” And, that’s the same Jack Lew who, on February 13, 2011, said:

“Our budget will get us, over the next several years, to the point where we can look the American people in the eye and say we’re not adding to the debt anymore; we’re spending money that we have each year, and then we can work on bringing down our national debt.”

Irony of ironies. So, the question is, “Was Lew lying in 2011, did he really believe what he said, or was he just stupid?” Unfortunately, the MSM did not bother to broadcast his statement, and enough low-information voters re-elected Obama.

I guess the $51 billion debt ceiling raise was such a small percentage (3.054%) of the debt ceiling of $16.7 trillion that a protest was just not worth the effort.

Borrow, borrow, borrow. Raise the debt ceiling. And the RNC wonders why the TEA Party is so popular!

But that’s just my opinion
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