How is it responsible for the head of the Federal reserve to be encouraging Congress to raise the debt limit? I don't think it is! I believe that the only way to be fiscally responsible is to stop incurring further debt. The national debt is now so immense that it may never be paid back.
Credit card companies generally will not raise your credit limit unless they are confident that you will be able to pay the balance. However, Congress has the option of raising their own debt limit. How nice that would be if we as individuals could do the same. We could spend ourselves silly without thinking about ever paying our debts.
When an individual reaches their credit limit, they are often told to start by cutting up their cards and not incur any new debt. Next, they are told to establish a budget within their income sufficient to meet there minimum needs. Finally, they are encouraged to negotiate with their creditors and create a plan to repay them. Doing these things is usually quite painful. But, it is effective for getting back on track.
About half of what the US government spends each year is borrowed money. To simply break even and not even reduce our debt, Congress would need to either double the revenue (taxes) or cut expenses (such as defense and social programs) in half. If a congressional representative were to vote either way, they would most likely never be re-elected. Simply put, they can't do it and keep their jobs.
But maybe they should - because it's the right thing to do. Anything else would be fiscally irresponsible.
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