Monday, April 11, 2011

There is a limit on how much debt the US gov't can have?

The following link has several questions and answers to the current "hot topic" about gov't spending, our debt and the recent aversion of a gov't shutdown. Debt Ceiling: The Battle Heats Up. Feel free to post a thought,  just remember to reference something directly from the article that you are choosing to comment on.

Mr. Thompson

20 comments:

  1. What i don't understand is why we've never heard about this issue before. Yes, they always stress to us about how we're in so much debt, but have never even mentioned let alone made public, the fact we have a debt ceiling. I guess I just wish they would've told us we have a debt limit so maybe people could be more prepared and we possibley wouldn't be in as deep of a hole as we are right now.

    Bri Kasey Hr. 5

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  2. I can't seem to wrap my head around that fact that our Congress has left our nation's debt get so out of control. You'd figure after all these centuries we'd know a better way to manage our spendings. The sad part about the whole situation with the debt ceiling is that as soon as May 16th we will have reached our max number. The fact that this has happened up to 74 times since 1962 makes me feel like our congress shouldn't handle our budget if it has been going on for that long, and the problem still hasn't gotten any better. Having only two choices, both awful, isn't going to be pretty. If only we hadn't let it get so unbalanced.

    Samantha Hertel Hour 5

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  3. One thing that gets me is why we even have a debt ceiling if we just raise it each time we come near it. The debt ceiling has been raised 74 times since 1962. Other countries are probably laughing at us right now. One day China, and other countries we have borrowed money from, will want their money back, and the only thing on the menu will be rice when our country finally wakes up and tries to fix this mess.

    Logan Oesterich Hr.5

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  4. The U.S. needs to learn to live within their budget. We cannot continue to raise the debtceiling, as that does not make the U.S. finanically responsible. As well the U.S. sets a poor example of fiscal responsiblility to its citizens as well.


    Collin Kelley
    Hr. 5

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  5. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  6. Either way, we the people know that we are in trouble. We know that we will get higher taxes and that that government will cut their spendings. The government sets their own price ceiling we get that but, why is there one when they keep on rising it. It mentioned that the government raised the price ceiling 74 times. So whats makes a 75th or 76th time any different. The price ceiling is there to prevent any over spending but the governing always over spends. So, what im trying to say is, it is going to be a horrible fiscal year for us.

    Sanel Zahirovic
    Hour: 1

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  7. Personally, I think the debt ceiling is a complete joke. It's not actually a true limit government sets, because the ceiling can be changed. The article states, "the debt limit is ineffective in controlling spending and deficits." I don't understand why lawmakers wouldn't raise the ceiling considering the negative effects it can cause to the U.S. The two negative effects the article talks about is, " it could either cut spending or raise taxes." Raising taxes would upset U.S. citizens and cutting spending could cripple the world economy. I think the debt ceiling is a joke, but we might as well raise it to try and dodge the negative effects it can have on the U.S.

    Bridget Graves
    Hour:3

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  8. The Debt Ceiling..... What a joke and a good laugh at our government! Why do we even bother having this so called "idea"? Its been raised over 70 times and yet every time it gets close, we extend it out. To me were kicking ourselves now by keep extending it. We need to get some so called "guidance" and get it straight. The government is doing no good raising it because sooner or later were goin to be in so much debt that this country is going to be a bigger mess and other countries will start to come get our money and take our values because we were not responsible enough to watch our debt.

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  9. My opinion about this whole mess is that the government needs to stop raising the debt ceiling. Why have one in the first place if the government will keep on raising it? Eventually the U.S. will be in so much debt that it wont even be able to pay back the borrowed money from other countries and eventually they will want that back. In relut of this will be the fact that the U.S. dollar value will go down and us the citizens of the U.S. will have higher taxes, more debt and alot of stress.

    - Ashley Acevedo , 7th hour.

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  10. We can't keep raising the debt ceiling because if we do the net interest will keep going up and we will have less money to spend on things we need we need to stop spending more than we have! by Trevor hour 5

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  11. I think this "debt celiling" is just a way for the government to make it look like they are trying to do something about our debt. If they were really serious about not going over the ceiling, they wouldnt have raised it 74 times since 1962. Or not so much that number, but if they were serious about it they wouldn't eve have raised it TEN times since '01! We see that we're one of the luckiest and well developed countries in the world, and if the government continues to keep letting us go in debt, we're soon going to be a third-world country because all we're going to be able to do is steady pay our debt back to other countires!

    Kayla M hour 5

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  12. My opinion about the debt ceiling is that we need to either stop raising it or not even have one at all. Why have one when the debt ceiling can be changed anyways? The government needs to take control of their spendings. We have borrowed so much money that we are never going to be able to pay it back. When we are more then 14 trillion dollars in debt and it's still going up, we are going to end up in big trouble. The article said that the debt ceiling has been raised 74 times since 1962. What's going to stop them from raising it again and again. We need to fix our debt before more problems come from it.

    Amber Murrell
    hr 3

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  13. Since 1962, the debt ceiling for the United States has been raised 74 times. I believe that the US needs to take control of all of their spendings and start working to pay back some of this debt. We are over 14 trillion dollars in debt and we are going to keep going into debt if they keep raising the debt ceiling. What the point in even having a debt ceiling if we have already raised it 74 times? I think that the US needs to control their spendings and fix our debt problems.
    Nicole Fabian Hr 3

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  14. I have a very bad feeling about this issue. One question I want to ask every single of American is why shouldn't we fix this nation debts right away? I MEAN NOW, why one always thinks next generation will fix this problem, or think one could do nothing about it? Being born in new generation, I would say, No, fix it now, do not leave this problem to us, it is an excuse to say so,be more responsible. who ever come up with the idea of raising debt ceiling, please also come up with the idea of solving it. And please make this nation free of debts, if possible lessen the debts not the good of you or me, but for the good sake of every single American. But, you maybe say "who cares?"

    Pavchay
    Hr. 5

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  15. The whole concept of the debt ceiling seems pointless to me if all congress has to do is pass a law that allows them to raise it. As long as congress knows that they have the power to keep increasing the amount of debt they can go into, they will never have the need to maintain a balanced federal budget.
    Jessica Sands Hr 3

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  16. Something needs to be done about our economy. End of story. Something needs to change dramatically before anything gets better. Each president claims that he has ideas of how to get us out of debt, but when it becomes necessary for this to happen, it is "not the time." If this continues on, the United States may not remain the powerful country that it is today. Because the debt ceiling has been raised and adjusted 74 times since March of 1962, everyone thinks, "Why not one more time?" This may be true; it may have little effect overall if we raise the debt ceiling one more time, but I ask everyone else, "What happens in 70 years when the debt ceiling is raised 74 more times?" Something needs to change, and fast. Debt may just be a number to some people, but the fact is that the more we raise the debt ceiling, the deeper we grow in debt. The deeper we grow in debt, the farther we dig ourselves into this deep whole. One day our economy may just crumble. I'm not saying that it's a bad idea to raise the debt ceiling; I'm simply saying that something needs to change drastically if we do continue to raise the debt ceiling. I'm not quite sure what exactly needs to be done, but I'm scared for our country's economy, and I feel that something needs to change.

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  17. I think it is a good thing that we have a limit on how far we can go into debt. A debt ceiling is a good fail safe to make shore things don't get out of hand. However at a debt of over 14 trillion dollars we are coming vary close to the 15 trillion dollar limit. I can not see the U.S. suddenly stop spending and turn it all around. Maybe after we reach the limit we can hopefully start to get on the right track.

    Max Topic

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  18. Why do we even have a debt ceiling, I honestly think its stupid because all we do is dig further and further into debt and just raise the debt ceiling when we pass the original one. I just think that they should take away the power to the congress of passing a law that makes the debt ceiling go up. Were just shy of our newest limit and I feel like we'll fly past it in no time.

    -Pat Windish, hr 3

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  19. There is a limit, yes. and i believe we should do everything we are able to do to not hit the ceiling! the dept ceiling goes up means we go farther in dept. that will not help the country even if the Gov. thinks it will. it is just pushing the problem away why not just solve it now. we have identified the issue. now lets get rid of it!

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  20. There is a limit, yes. and i believe we should do everything we are able to do to not hit the ceiling! the dept ceiling goes up means we go farther in dept. that will not help the country even if the Gov. thinks it will. it is just pushing the problem away why not just solve it now. we have identified the issue. now lets get rid of it!
    -Dylan Arends-

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