Virginia’s Senate candidates are squabbling. That should not come as a surprise, as that’s what candidates do. However, the most recent tiff is over something quite serious: the federal debt ceiling.
Democratic contender Tim Kaine starts off the sniping by issuing a responding to a George Allen, who said in a television interview that the GOP should use the debt ceiling debate as “leverage” for spending cuts. This is standard GOP talking point material. But Mr. Kaine couldn’t resist the opportunity to tweak his leading GOP rival:
“If he believes that the debt ceiling should be tied to spending cuts, then why did he vote in the Senate to raise the debt ceiling four times while increasing the debt by more than $3 trillion? Perhaps the guy who helped create the problem is not the best person to give advice on how to fix it,” [Mo] Elleithee said.
Gotcha! Yes, George Allen did vote for all those debt limit increase while he was in the Senate so he’s obviously a hypocrite. Or something like that.
Allen’s forces fired back, saying that Kaine was all-in for the stimulus that created no jobs and Obamacare.
Zing! Yes, the former DNC chairman did embrace the much-derided multi-billion dollar stimulus measure that added a fresh new pile of debt on top of the debt Allen voted for during the Bush years. Kaine also staunchly defend Obamacare, which will stain the fed’s balance sheets red for generations. So Mr. Kaine is obviously trying to divert our attention from these wallet busters.
GOP hopeful Jamie Radtke creates a cross-fire, saying that both Allen and Kaine are complicit in the spending mess Washington finds itself in. Meanwhile, Bishop Earl Jackson says he would never vote to raise the debt ceiling.
Duck and cover! Radtke comes closest to the truth, as both political parties have raised the debt ceiling and while paying only occasional lip-service to the notion that we might have a problem.
The debt ceiling has been raised 74 times since 1962 — ten of those occurring in the last decade. Party control of Congress or the White House makes no difference. And the ceiling will be raised again this year, after much hand-wringing and grandstanding. The only question is whether, and for the first time, the political class admits that it has a spending problem, and may need to cut back a little.
It may get ugly, including the possibility of a technical default. Such an event wouldn’t necessarily end economic life as we know it. It might even focus the politicians’ minds just enough to do something radical (no one tell Newt Gingrich I said that).
But in the end, the real problem may not be the federal debt at all, but state and municipal debt (and let’s not forget about state and local government pension costs, either).
Who will bail out the states, counties, cities, school, water, fire and sundry other districts when and if their debts go bad?
You.
