While being first in line to confirm the federal government is way tooooo big, and the military budget should be cut in half for openers and their lavish pension plan abolished, the Ponzi scheme economic structure that was installed in 1913 would precipitate a phenomenal economic collapse if such an undertaking would occur. On the other hand, such a collapse is going to happen anyway. It is all a matter of time. Ref.

Total horse hockey! America does not need to borrow to spend more; it needs to cut costs and redirect resources it has already. Okay, the bills it has already are not negotiable; they have to be paid. The promises it has made must be fulfilled - and that means to the American people, too. A job, however, is not a promise; it is an opportunity. Those in federal employ who fill positions in bureaus and departments that have shown total incapacity to fulfill their mandate - the Departments of Education and Energy, for example - should be disbanded, and the savings redirected to the fulfillment of promises made. Any of us in private sector jobs would be treated the same way if our position was considered no longer necessary in light of cost/benefit analyses; what makes federal (or state or local, for that matter!) employees so special? I know there are some who are crying that thousands of jobs will be lost. Does it really have to be that way? Those who wish to, and who qualify, can join the ranks of the military, retaining a degree of their government benefit and pay while becoming considerably more productive. The rest - those who either do not wish, or do not qualify (or both), to join the military - can take a good old American shot at making a life in the private sector. Just like the rest of us. Let us just proceed on the understanding that raising the debt ceiling is not an option. I have proceeded thus with the not-dissimilar preconception that divorce is not an option; it clears such a choice from the board right from the start, and allows me to focus on the hard choices. Seventeen years of marriage to a woman most men would have divorced (for her depression and medical issues) years ago, and I keep finding new reasons to stay with her. If I can do that, America can find better ways to deal with debt than making more debt to hide the old debt with (kind of like lies, innit?). Like my dad used to tell me, "whenever you have a choice to make, pick the hardest and least-fun of the lot; it is usually the best choice in the long run, and it builds character." Deus Patria Sic

Here’s what then-Sen. Barack Obama said on the Senate floor in 2006: “The fact that we are here today to debate raising America’s debt limit is a sign of leadership failure. It is a sign that the U.S. government can’t pay its own bills. It is a sign that we now depend on ongoing financial assistance from foreign countries to finance the government’s reckless fiscal policies.”

It was a blast by the freshman lawmaker against a Bush request to raise the debt limit to $8.96 trillion.

http://napervillesun.suntimes.com/business/3347211-420/debt-government-limit-trillion-com.html