What if the government shut down… and nobody noticed?

Threats of a looming government shutdown have become so commonplace that few take notice anymore. While most are averted through Congressional action after the requisite measure of partisan political posturing and wrangling in the nation’s Capitol, occasionally, as now, such a shutdown is not averted and actually takes place.

After warnings so dire they make it seem that the world is coming to an end, if the government “shuts down”, when it actually occurs, few Americans notice. At least they feel no great disruption in their daily lives.

This raises salient questions — “If a government shutdown doesn’t really affect Americans’ daily lives, how necessary is most government spending?” They tell us that essential workers and programs will continue during the shutdown. ”Shouldn’t all government spending be for things which are ’essential’?…Can we get rid of the things which aren’t?”

Why has this become so common?

The answer is simple — the federal government continues to borrow and spend more and regularly exceeds the limit on what it is allowed to borrow. 

It’s sort of like your bank telling you that, based upon your income (ability to repay the debt), this is the most expensive house you’ll be able to buy. That seems reasonable and sensible for most family budgets, but not for the federal government. You see, Congress simply keeps borrowing and spending more… and more… and more, without any foreseeable way to pay it back, and the federal debt continues to not only grow, but to skyrocket, exponentially.

As a result of all that, Americans are occasionally reminded of the debt crisis, when a threatened “government shutdown” looms and that only happens when federal government spending has shattered the debt ceiling previously set, for a reason! A previous Congress believed we should not go deeper in debt than a specific point and succeeding Congresses simply ignore the limit.

Who cares about the federal debt?

We all should, because it’s ultimately money that we all owe! The question of how we’ll ever pay it back is seldom even asked, anymore, and we’re saddling our children and grandchildren with an unbearable burden. Someday, somehow, someone will need to “pay the piper”.

The History of the United States debt ceiling

The US debt ceiling was created in 1917, during World War I. Of course, with inflation, the value of a dollar has changed quite a bit since then so an occasionally increase in the ceiling may be warranted, but not what we’ve observed in recent history as the practice has been abused.

One example was the “Gephardt Rule”, a parliamentary rule proposed by then Rep. Richard Gephardt (D-MO), passed in 1979. It deemed that the debt ceiling was automatically raised whenever a new budget was passed by Congress. The convenient method for Congress avoiding having to deal with actually voting to increase the debt ceiling, when spending exceeded it, was repealed in 1995. Since then, at least Americans hear about it when the debt ceiling is increased. The question is whether we pay enough attention or even care.

Congress was once more responsible with debt limits. It actually lowered the debt ceiling by $25 Billion in 1946, after World War II, and did so again in 1956 (by $6 Billion), in 1960 (by $2 Billion), during President Eisenhower’s administration and twice in 1963 (by $3 Billion and $5 Billion, respectively, during John F. Kennedy’s presidency.

While it was increased at least 90 times in the 20th century, such increases have become more frequent and (for anyone actually paying attention) more troubling, in this century. It was increased 7 times while President George W. Bush was in the White House and 11 times during President Obama’s time in office and it only continues to grow.

The federal debt ceiling has been increased twice already, this year, prior to the current “crisis”!

Some believe that allowing the federal government to shut down to call attention to the problem is not a bad thing. After all, they note, few will be negatively affected, at least in the long term (temporary suspensions in pay for some federal workers will be covered when the shutdown ends).

The problem is that such an event typically calls attention to partisan wish lists and other games and political standoffs, rather than spotlighting the real problem—Our government is spending more than it ever has, more than we can afford, and more than we can ever realistically hope to repay.

Our nation’s debt is the largest in the world. Mere interest payments on the federal debt consume large portions of our federal budget. 

Maybe it’s time of all of us to hold the feet of those we elect to represent us in Washington to the proverbial fire and insist that they begin living within their means and actually spending less (not more) than what our taxes bring in, and begin paying down our national debt.

After all, ordinary Americans need to live within their means. Shouldn’t our government do so, as well?