Seems like some of our Members of Congress have their panties in a wad over the debt ceiling.
At the same time, I also have the impression that almost everyone agrees it’s a good thing to have a ceiling.
But maybe it’s about the height of the ceiling? Maybe not everyone has the same idea about that?
I have a ceiling at my house, and it’s constructed at a fairly reasonable height. Not too high, and not too low.
Which is to say, it’s high enough that I don’t bump my head against the ceiling lamps, but it’s also low enough that I don’t watch all my heat drift up into the ozone layer… like what happens to the millionaires here in Pagosa, with their 40-foot-high cathedral ceilings.
I can’t imagine a house, that doesn’t have a ceiling. And that goes double for the House of Representatives.
The photos I’ve seen of the House of Representatives show a ridiculously high ceiling.
Like this photo:
Can we even imagine how expensive it is, to heat this room in the winter? Apparently, the federal government thinks money grows on trees.
And… isn’t that a big yellow hole in the ceiling? Looks like a big yellow hole, to me.
If I had a hole that big in my ceiling, I would get it fixed.
The photo also shows a few of our elected representatives sitting around in chairs, checking their text messages or daydreaming. None of them look terribly anxious or agitated.
I can tell you, if I saw a hole in my ceiling the size of that hole, I wouldn’t be sitting around looking relaxed.
Back when I was still married, Darlene and I had a ‘debt ceiling’ of sorts. Each of our VISA cards had a maximum amount. But whenever we maxxed out one of the cards, another bank (or the same bank) would send us an invitation for a new card with another maximum amount. So our combined ‘VISA ceiling’ kept getting higher and higher, until it looked sort of like the ceiling at the House of Representatives.
Obviously, there was a hole in the ceiling, and nothing was going to stop our combined debt from heading into the stratosphere.
Finally, I did what I had to do…
I registered Republican.
Darlene begged me not to. But I really had no choice. How else were we going to get our debt under control?
Sadly, it turns out that the Republicans have been jacking up the federal debt ceiling just the same as the Democrats. For example, Trump started out with a debt ceiling of $18.1 trillion; bumped it up to $19.8 trillion in 2017; another bump to $22 trillion in 2019. Then he said, “Hell with it!” and simply suspended the debt ceiling completely. When he left office in January 2021, the federal debt was, like, $27 trillion.
If anyone knows how to say “Hell with it”… it’s Donald Trump.
Joe is not noticeably different.
Anyway, I’m still a Republican. That is not the reason Darlene divorced me, though. She had other reasons.
But what I found out was, when you get divorced, sometimes the VISA people lose track of you.
If only the Congress could get a divorce, somehow.
Underrated writer Louis Cannon grew up in the vast American West, although his ex-wife, given the slightest opportunity, will deny that he ever grew up at all.