Dealing with the debt

Washington has been consumed in the negotiations over raising the federal government’s debt ceiling. It is an important issue — without Congress raising the amount of money it can borrow, the federal government could default on some of its debts. That would endanger the country’s credit rating, making it more expensive to borrow money and hurting the U.S. economically.

There has been some speculation that a scheduled meeting Sunday between President Barack Obama and congressional leaders could produce a framework or agreement on raising the debt ceiling. It is expected that any deal would be wide-ranging, including agreements on spending cuts and changes to the tax code.

For a good plan to come out of that, there will have to be some sort of compromise, but so far, Republicans haven’t done much negotiating. They have instead insisted on their way or no way.

Billionaire Warren Buffett, who is known for his conservative investment philosophy, criticized the Republican approach to the issue, noting that the debt ceiling was raised seven times during George W. Bush’s administration without this type of hysteria. In an interview this week on CNBC, he said the Republican leadership was essentially holding the debt ceiling hostage to get its way.

“When you have somebody with a gun to your head, do you really come out with the greatest, most properly reasoned solution to something?” Buffett said.

Of course not.

Republicans are trying to use the issue to gain leverage and implement their narrow ideology, which has been marked by their demand for tax cuts for the rich and their defense of massive tax breaks for oil companies, which say they don’t need them. They are using Friday’s poor jobs report to try to bolster their claims that the wealthy and the corporations need tax cuts to put people back to work.

But many major corporations have been booming. The Wall Street Journal this week reported that the profits of the country’s top companies are expected to be up 14 percent over last year.

Instead of blaming Obama for a lack of jobs, perhaps Republicans should ask the big companies that have enjoyed lucrative tax breaks and incentives that supposedly encourage job creation where the jobs are. If they’re not creating jobs now, why provide any more incentives?

Trickle-down economics just doesn’t work, but that’s the basis for the Republican plan to revive the economy — decimate spending to reduce the debt and give corporations and the rich tax breaks. All that would leave the poor and the middle class shouldering the burden, and that’s not right.

For any deficit reduction plan to work, everyone will have to share in the burden. There will have to be budget cuts, but things like tax breaks for those who don’t need them should also be on the table.

More so, Republicans should drop the ultimatums and the pursuit of their narrow ideology and instead work for the good of the entire country.