Long before Republicans used it to perpetrate economic terrorism by kidnapping the good faith and credit of the US, I thought the debt ceiling was a foolish idea. Our debt, proportionally to GDP, has been much higher, and the debt ceiling has never prevented Congress from spending one thin dime. The only purpose it has ever served has been to facilitate political posturing, until Republicans used it to blackmail the nation. I’m not the only one, who things we should scrap it.

Representatives Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), Hank Johnson (D-GA) and Jim Moran (D-VA) have introduced legislation to completely eliminate the federal debt ceiling, but the bill has little chance of survival with Republicans in control of the House. "The debt ceiling is truly arbitrary and has nothing to do with the deficit," Nadler said in a statement. "The debt ceiling does not prevent the United States from incurring new debts, but has become a cudgel with which Republicans are holding our economy hostage and punishing the millions of Americans who are struggling." Public opinion of Congress plummeted after the contentious federal debt ceiling debate in July. According to a CBS News/New York Times poll released shortly after the debt ceiling bill was signed into law, 72 percent disapproved of how Republicans in Congress handled the debate, and 66 percent of Americans disapproved of how Democrats handled it. The poll was conducted on August 2 and 3, immediately after lawmakers and the president reached an agreement to would raise the debt ceiling until 2013 and cut the federal deficit by about $2.1 trillion over a 10-year period… [emphasis added]

Inserted from <Raw Story>