Republicans Refuse to Raise Debt Limit
Joe Biden criticized Republicans on April 3 for their refusal to raise the debt limit above $31.4 trillion unless Democrats agree to spending cuts. “They’re putting our economy in jeopardy by threatening to refuse to pay America’s bills that took 200 years to accumulate, by the way,” he said. “Not this year, last year, but 200 years.”
Biden’s purpose was to make Republicans look hypocritical for refusing to let him raise the debt ceiling since conservatives are also partially responsible for the national debt. But his commentary shows no awareness of the threat debt poses to America.
Skyrocketing debt: Biden is correct that it has taken almost 200 years for America to accumulate debt. The last time the national debt was paid off was during a two-year period between 1835 and 1836 under President Andrew Jackson. It took 173 years for America to accumulate the $6.3 trillion that Barack Obama inherited in 2009 when he took office. Obama more than doubled the national debt during his eight years in the White House, leaving Donald Trump with a $14.6 trillion debt.
Trump added $8.2 trillion in only four years, and Biden has added $1.8 trillion so far. If we are keeping score, the government spent $2.9 billion a day under Obama and $5.6 billion a day under Trump. And it is spending $2.4 billion a day under Biden. So Biden is increasing the debt slower than any president since George W. Bush, largely due to the fact that covid-19 spending was approved under Trump’s watch. Yet that doesn’t mean America should keep raising the debt ceiling.
National security: A debt-to-gdp ratio above 100 percent is dangerous. It is often around this point that interest payments have to be deficit financed. This is why the European Union’s Stability and Growth Pact mandates that eurozone members should not allow their debt to grow beyond 60 percent of gross domestic product.
America’s current debt-to-gdp ratio is nearly an alarming 133 percent. The government needs to reduce its debt below $23 trillion as soon as possible. This will require drastic spending cuts that may hurt in the short term.
Prophesied curses: In ancient times, God instructed the Israelites that blessings come from obedience to His laws and curses come from disobedience. In Deuteronomy 28, God specifically warned that debt problems are one of the many curses of disobedience. Specifically, God warned that if His people turned away from Him, strangers would lend them money, but they would not lend money to strangers.
To learn more about the dangers of out-of-control government spending, request our free reprint article “The Biggest Threat to America’s National Security.”
