(IBD) Debt Reckoning: Destroying Obama's Fear-Mongering Myth Of Government Default

Budget Policy: Even if we don't raise the debt ceiling, enough revenue  will still come in to the Treasury to pay our interest, our bonds and essential  services. The government will not shut down— only its ability to borrow.

Like the fiscal cliff, the dangers of hitting the debt ceiling, while dire,  are not necessarily fatal.

It would, however, concentrate the minds of the American taxpayer wonderfully  and force Washington to do what American families do every day around the  kitchen table — take the paycheck and pay the bills in order of priority. Pay  the gas company and the electricity provider and forget that big-screen TV.

It may be time for Republicans to adapt the philosophy of former White House  chief of staff Rahm Emanuel and not let the debt-ceiling crisis go to waste.  It's time to destroy the myth that hitting the ceiling will cause the government  to shut down and force the U.S. to default on its debt. It should force us to  cut spending until we conjured up a sane fiscal policy.

There has been much fear-mongering from President Obama on the issue, and no  small amount of hypocrisy from the spender in chief. This is the president who  once voted against raising the debt ceiling when George W. Bush was in charge  and said the comparatively modest debt the Texas Republican ran up while  fighting the war on terror in a post-9/11 world was "unpatriotic."

In March 2006 when Obama was a U.S. senator, he had no problem voting against  a stand-alone debt-limit extension. The final vote was close — 48 against the  increase to 52 in favor of it.

But back then, he was deeply upset about the then $248 billion deficit. Now  he seeks an unlimited credit card — the power to raise the debt limit  unilaterally any time he needs to.

Just a few short years ago, Obama said "This rising debt is a hidden domestic  enemy" and that "interest payments are a significant tax on all Americans — a  debt tax that Washington doesn't want to talk about."

Read More At IBD:  http://news.investors.com/ibd-editorials/011813-641261-debt-ceiling...