Pete, this little scenario has been repeated for decades. I don't know how you can characterize anybody as "morons" when they happen to notice that during those decades nothing significant has been done to reduce spending. Without reducing spending it is guaranteed that raising the debt ceiling will be repeated for decades to come or until the rest of the world decides it's no longer in their best interests to subsidize the US. Rather than address entitlement spending, the Obama administration has doubled down on it by adding yet another huge entitlement we all know we can't possibly afford.
And it will continue to go on as long as both sides dont admit it is not the spending but themselves that are the problem. The so called entitlement problem is mostly partisan bull****. It is fraud and waste that is the problem and a nice chunk of that comes from Tea Party members as well, which makes them morons. That one of the first questions a freshman GOP Tea Party politician asked was "when will we get our healthcare covered".. shows how little they actually believe in their supposed views.
Because of the system as it is now, the Federal government is an ATM for politicians in local states. It is funny how especially the GOP types keep going on about state's rights and all that bull****, and with the other hand gladly accept billions in federal funding to balance budgets and keep their administrations running. If these guys were not morons, they would cut off all federal funding and going it alone.. but they know that this would either require massive cuts in their state or raising taxes.. in Texas case.. fees, which would be very unpopular.
Instead they use the Federal system as the big bad blame machine, complaining when there is not enough federal funding when their own funding comes up short, and at the same time complaining about overspending by the Federal system.
And at the same time they attack things like SS and Medicaid/care .. prime targets of the conservative right because it looks like socialism. They of course dont mention that successive GOP President (and yes Democrats as well) borrowed a huge chunk of money from SS which they cant pay back, and hence taking the SS system into trouble... and they also are against any and all attempts to fix the healthcare cost problem the US has, because it will hurt their political backers bottom line. Medicaid/care are only problems because of the private run healthcare systems pressing prices up and up... but instead they paint the whole cluster**** as Medicaid/cares faults.. classic right wing brainwashing.
No where is it stated that default is required.
No but it will happen if just one bill is not paid. And since you cant get enough money in to pay for what you are spending at the moment, then a default will happen. All it will take is some federal employee sueing for not getting paid.. and you are bankrupt.
The question is where the money we have will be spent, and very few in political power are willing to admit that by cutting entitlement spending in areas where it is patently obvious it should be cut, we could make do with what we have. Default is only required if we don't cut such spending or raise the debt ceiling. Find a political operative on the left who is willing to stand up and admit that, and we might make some progress.
We can go on and on debating this, but as long as the US right wing wont admit fully what the basic problems are, and the US left wont admit the same thing, then you are not going to get anywhere.
To fix this you need to means test SS, pay back all the money that was borrowed over the years and increase slightly the retirement age (although that will only increase unemployment but hey!) or even increase what people pay into the system. Point is, SS works and can work in the future. Making it private would be catastrophic, as we have seen in Chile.
To fix Medicaid/care you need to fix the whole healthcare problem.. it is private, expensive and highly inefficient. I am not saying Obamacare is a good or bad thing, but at least it is attempting to tackle the private run healthcare industry and hopefully bring down costs over time. Your healthcare system simply does not work as it should and it is about time Americans and especially the right, wake up and starting admitting this.. only then can you tackle the massive cost problems in the system, all of which have absolutely nothing to do with Medicaid/care. Plus yes, there could be cost savings in the programs.. like not giving 90 year olds cancer treatment and expensive end of life care.... it is their time.. let them go.
Taxes.. you need to actually collect the taxes that people should be paying.. especially the wealthy and corporations. Tackling avoidance and moving around of profits to avoid taxes must be stopped, not only in the US but world wide. It is pushing more and more of the tax burden on those that can barely afford to feed their families, where as the Paris Hiltons of the world can jet around snorting coke in a new country every day if they wanted.
Military spending.. a comprehensive review based on military needs not political bull**** is needed. Bases need closing world wide, and costs in procurement needs more transparency and accountability. There is no reason what so ever to pay 40k for a toilet seat just because it is on a sub.
There is plenty to tackle.. but as long as no one on both sides cant admit what the freaking problems are.. then well...