Minor edit w/strikethrough indicating original text on 6/25 AM.
In no way do I think that the role the Federal Debt plays in our economy is a good thing. Increasing debt benefits creditors, and that means it makes life harder for working people. Our current arrangement, increasing the Federal debt in the context of long-term reduction of tax liability of the very wealthy, benefits creditors and makes life harder for working people. That's not a good thing. Everyone should be clear that Democrats, by playing the role of the "sensible" party as regards the debt ceiling, are sensible on the system's terms. Raising the debt ceiling will allow for the smooth functioning of a system that is set up to benefit capital, not labor--not you and me. Raising the debt ceiling is the preferable option only because the consequences to not doing so will harm working people more, in terms of life conditions, than it will the very wealthy.
The important question one can ask is: "why are we in this mess?" I would myself say that the mess is capitalism, not just the debt, but we can go with just the debt. The short answer is that the United States has continually ran up its debt for decades because those with more money--more capital--than they know what to do with have funded it. Indeed, they have required our debt.
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