Debt Ceiling: I Agree with Mitch McConnell

Take note the time (9:06am) and the date (July 14th, 2011)

You read that right: I Agree with Mitch McConnell (R-KY).

McConnell suggested a strategy to allow the president to raise the debt ceiling. A Bill to increase the debt ceiling would go through Congress, get a disapproving vote, the president would veto it and the debt ceiling would be raised. Politically, this is a great move for the Republican Party, as they could hammer the president about spending cuts after the debt ceiling is raised. His plan was immediately dismissed by the ultra-conservative wing of his party, led by Michelle Bachmann, Jim DeMint and Jason Chaffetz. Chaffetz went as far as to call the plan a "stupid idea."

This was always about politics for McConnell. McConnell was the first to say that the Republican strategy was to make Obama a "one-term president" as far back as November. He is a shrewd politician, and has the experience to back up his strategies. He knows that if the government were to default on its obligations, the party would suffer. This kind of foresight can only come from experience. Chaffetz, Bachmann and DeMint are too extreme and inexperienced.

While I vehemently disagree with McConnell's politics, and his intentions, the idea of raising the debt ceiling and divorcing it from debt reduction debates is something I can agree with. In my last two blogs, I ranted about the importance of separating deficit reduction from raising the debt ceiling because of its affects on the market.

The effects of a possible default have already proven to be somewhat foreboding. This week, Moody's released a statement saying that they are considering a downgrade to the US's AAA Bond Rating. This statement caused international stock markets to fluctuate, as Asian and European investors became nervous. If the US was to default, interest rates on everything from home mortgages to credit cards would go up, hurting consumers trying to dig themselves out of a recessed economy. But,
Bachmann, Chaffetz and (recently) Palin are willing to put the international market on unstable footing and put a heavy burden on consumers in order to reduce the deficit. In other words, they are being whiny children who will hurt anyone to get their way.

McConnell has proven, directly or indirectly, that this kind of political stance is not pertinent and will only hurt his party in the long run. Politics aside, this is a common sense approach to raising the debt ceiling in the most expedient fashion.