Constitutionality of the Debt Limit

[David Lockmiller]

I think that the basic argument is that the House of Representatives initiate and approve spending laws. The Senate votes its approval and then the President signs the law expressing his approval of the legislation. Then, if the spending approved by Congress and the President exceeds the debt limit set by Congress, then Congress must increase the debt limit or the nation will default on the national debt with consequences.

The Congress thus has two choices at this point: Increase the debt limit or increase net revenue by some combination of increased taxation and decreased spending. The Republican majority in the House of Representatives say "No" to increased taxation of the obscenely wealthy.

The following is a post that I made on April 24 on a thread I titled "RE: Lincoln's Argument for the constitutionality of Wealth Taxes."

New York Times, The Morning by David Leonhardt, April 24, 2023

The standard measure of a nation’s economic performance is per capita gross domestic product — the value of the economy’s output divided by the size of the population. Today, the U.S. still accounts for almost 25 percent of global output, nearly the same share as in 1990, even as China’s share has soared.

G.D.P. does not measure a typical person’s standard of living. Per capita G.D.P. is an average, and an average can be distorted by outliers. The U.S. is highly unequal, which means that the wealthy take home a larger share of output than in other countries.

Since 2000, per capita G.D.P. in the U.S. has risen 27 percent, but median household income has risen only 7 percent. Income for the top 0.1 percent of earners has jumped 41 percent.