The Basics Behind the Debt Limit Debate: More Partisan than Practical?

kristyReforming Global Finance

by Marian Wang
ProPublica, May 17, 2011, 10:08 a.m.
6 Comments Republish E-mail

Your e-mail

Your name

Friends’ e-mail(s) max 10, separated by commas

Personal message
Print Justin Sullivan/Getty Images file photo
As you may have heard, the federal government hit its $14.3 trillion debt limit yesterday—something the Treasury has been warning Congress about for months. There are a lot of good explainers [1] out there about what this could mean. Some dig into what actions the Treasury might take [2]; others into the oh-so-exciting history of the debt limit [3].

We’ve waded through them and pulled what we found to be the clearest explanations not only of what the debt ceiling is [4] and how it works, but also the fundamentals of whether it’s necessary and why this debate may be more partisan than it is practical.

Click here to read the article