It's painful to realize that in 2009-2011, we could have repealed, yes permanently repealed, the stupid debt ceiling law.
That session of Congress was not the first time that Democrats controlled the government. We could have gotten rid of this ridiculous, probably unconstitutional law, decades ago.
So here's a piece of advice. Assuming we survive the current crisis, and assuming that the day when we control the government will come again, possibly as early as 2015, we really, really need to get rid of that law.
If we want to reduce spending, then we can reduce spending by selectively reducing relatively less essential or wasteful programs. The debt ceiling law is superstitious, magical thinking, and is like trying to use a sledge hammer to program your VCR (assuming you still have a VCR, of course).
Let's not let another opportunity like that go by again.