When Alexander Hamilton, as the first Treasury secretary, starting in 1789, began issuing debt to borrow on the good name of the new government of the United States until now, there has never been a default on its loans. Ever. That’s 234 years of paying its obligations despite a Civil War, a Great Depression and a couple of world wars.
The long streak was going to stop, said Janet Yellen — Hamilton’s successor as the 78th secretary — when the cash would be exhausted and creditors would have gone unpaid.
That was the prescription urged by Dr. Donald Trump, becoming a deadbeat nation, showing once again his unfitness to hold public office.
Instead, President Joe Biden signed into law a compromise agreed to with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy to suspend the government’s debt limit until 2025. Hamilton can continue to rest in peace, and Yellen can pay the bills that come due tomorrow. ...
Biden gave the first Oval Office address of his term to urge more bipartisanship, like the deal he forged with McCarthy. ... Only the partisan extremists rejecting the package.
How could anyone actually vote against this? To push the government into default to stop a West Virginia pipeline project? To throw 8 million Americans out of their jobs rather than have childless 50-year-olds who get food stamps work just like childless 49-year-olds who get food stamps must work? To bring calamity to global markets to keep in place the COVID freeze on student loan repayments?
What would Hamilton think?
