Debt Watch

As we approach financial armageddon, with the imminent breaching of the federal debt limit, we would like to say two things.

One: President Obama needs to take control of this situation.  Many have suggested that Obama invoke the 14th Amendment, which has a clause stating that "The validity of the public debt of the United States . . .shall not be questioned."  Others have suggested Obama could simply declare a sort of  financial emergency to unilaterally raise the debt ceiling--akin to Abraham Lincoln suspending habeas corpus during the Civil War.  Either approach may run afoul of constitutional law, something of which President Obama, a constitutional scholar is well aware.  Nevertheless, in times of crisis, leaders lead.  Obama could (and probably should) seize the initiative and then dare Republicans in Congress to defy him.  He might lose in the courts, but at least for the meantime, a crisis could be averted.

Still, if we hit the debt ceiling, and no solution is found, then the Treasury Department will have to decide which bills get paid.  We have a simple suggestion: Those federal payments earmarked for people and projects in the districts of those Republicans (and any Democrats) opposed to rasing the debt limit should simply not be made.  We're sure their constituents will applaud their financial rectitude and ideological purity, while they wait for their social security checks that never show up.

Once again, you're welcome, America.