"The "debt ceiling" is a self-imposed line of credit. How does increasing it make the US a better credit risk?"
You (and the Republican party) are setting up a false dichotomy. The decision at hand is not "should we raise the debt limit today, or should we reduce the deficit?" We need to raise the debt limit in the short term, while also reducing the deficit in the long term, in a responsible way. Nobody is threatening to downgrade US debt tomorrow if we raise the debt ceiling, but there's a serious risk of it happening if we choose not to raise the limit.
Certain conservative politicians want to frame the debate as an immediate crisis because it's convenient for their political aspirations, not because refusing to raise the debt ceiling is an intelligent thing to do.
Actually, you were. (The credit rating agencies have govt monopolies. They're not disinterested parties. It also doesn't matter what they think because they're not lenders.)
> You (and the Republican party) are setting up a false dichotomy.
I'm not setting up a dichotomy at all. I asked a simple question, namely, how does increasing the US' line of credit make the US a better credit risk? I asked that question because that's your claim. I said nothing about the deficit.
As reducing the deficit "in a responsible way", which lender is saying "I won't loan money to the US govt because it's reducing its social security/military/medicare/medicaid spending?"
Seriously - I want names. Will China reduce its lending? How about you (assuming that you've been buying treasuries).
Yes, lenders care if you skip on repayments, but your argument assumes that they want to continue other spending. Some supporting evidence would be nice.
You seem to have trouble making an argument without using political references....
I'm not re-stating a talking point. Moody's has already threatened a downgrade of US Treasuries based on the talk of a default: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/moodys-ponders-us...
"The "debt ceiling" is a self-imposed line of credit. How does increasing it make the US a better credit risk?"
You (and the Republican party) are setting up a false dichotomy. The decision at hand is not "should we raise the debt limit today, or should we reduce the deficit?" We need to raise the debt limit in the short term, while also reducing the deficit in the long term, in a responsible way. Nobody is threatening to downgrade US debt tomorrow if we raise the debt ceiling, but there's a serious risk of it happening if we choose not to raise the limit.
Certain conservative politicians want to frame the debate as an immediate crisis because it's convenient for their political aspirations, not because refusing to raise the debt ceiling is an intelligent thing to do.