Default on the National Debt Should Never Be an Option

The most recent crisis over the debt limit has been averted, and the legislation in control approved by responsible parties. Senators Stabenow and Peters and Congressmen Walberg and Huizenga as representatives for Berrien County unanimously supported this act and approved forwarding to President Biden for his signature.

Thanks to the solid bipartisan majorities in both houses of Congress for demonstrating fiscal sanity in spite of those who preached destruction of our economy rather than compromise.

In a recent letter to this paper I reported:

“Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics, has stated that ‘a prolonged impasse over the debt ceiling would cost the U.S. economy up to 6 million jobs, wipe out as much as $15 trillion in household wealth, and send the unemployment rate surging to roughly 9 percent .’”

Though this crisis has been averted through our democratic process, we must remain diligent as we move toward the next Presidential Election. In a recent town hall event televised by CNN, Donald Trump took a dangerous position on the then active debt-ceiling negotiations. He stated that “if the Democrats do not give in to Republican pressures for spending cuts, it would be fine to let the government default on its debt.”

To take such a position in light of the economic chaos it would create both here and world-wide demonstrated the absolute disrespect Trump has for all Americans save for the exceedingly small minority, himself included, who would figure out a way to benefit from everyone else’s misfortune.

It would never be fine for the US to default on its debts! Donald Trump must never be allowed to get any closer to the White House than his current residence in Florida!

Ed Shaffer