By DR. LARRY MOSES
No One Asked Me But… Ex-president Bill Clinton said if he were in President Obama’s shoes, he would use the 14th Amendment to raise the debt ceiling. Clinton told The National Memo’s Joe Conason that he would invoke a constitutional option and “force the courts to stop me” if a deal could not be reached with Congress.
He further stated, “I think the Constitution is clear.”
At a briefing with reporters, President Obama was asked if invoking the 14th Amendment was an option. He stated he was not a Constitutional lawyer and that his administration was not contemplating the invocation of this Amendment.
However, he must have forgotten to tell Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner. At a Politico Playbook breakfast, Geithner was asked by host Mike Allen about the negotiations over default and the debt ceiling.
Geithner stated, “I think there are some people who are pretending not to understand it, who think there’s leverage for them in threatening a default,” Geithner said. “I don’t understand it as a negotiating position…can I read you the 14th amendment?” Geithner whipped out his handy pocket-sized Constitution to a section he had paper clipped and read, “The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for the payments of pension and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion shall not be questioned.”
That is certainly Section 4 of the 14th Amendment. I didn’t know Geithner even knew the Constitution existed.
It is encouraging that two left wing liberals have decided to turn to the Constitution to validate the actions of this administration. Would it be so when they attack the Second Amendment. May they not object the next time someone asks for proof of qualifications to fill the office of the Presidency of the United States.
Running the risk of being ranked with those who are diehard birthers, let me say the following: It is only logical if one is to run for the office of the Presidency of the United States that one would be required to place on file with the Supreme Court evidence that they are a Native Born citizen who has resided the United States for 14 years and is 35 years of age. These are the requirements for the office listed in the Constitution. Of that, I am sure the Constitution is quite clear.
However, in this case what Clinton and Geithner have done is read the Constitution incorrectly once again. I agree with Mr. Clinton, Section 4 of the 14th Amendment is clear and clearly does not give the President a uni-lateral right to raise the debt ceiling of the United States government.
No one is questioning the debt of the United States and its need to meet that debt. What people are questioning is the wisdom of increasing the debt.
I certainly do not contend that I am wise enough to know the answer to this question; however, this Amendment does not give the President the power to increase, decrease, or eliminate the debt. It does, however, protect those who have loaned money to the federal government, and requires that that debt be paid.
No one asked me but… While the American government owes China nearly 900 billion dollars, it owes Social Security approximately $7.7 trillion. Yes, that is with a T.
The debt the American government is in danger of defaulting on is not the one to China, but the one to those Americans who have been paying into Social Security. The fourteen percent of your wages you have been paying into the federal government each paycheck has been, like most private retirement programs, invested for you. The problem is that the investment has been in the federal government that is now bankrupt.
This would be the same as if you have been investing in the stock market and all your stock had gone south. Sound familiar, 401K participants? Since the government is now looking at the possibility that they cannot meet their obligations, they are trying to paint the Social Security program as welfare. They use the term entitlement interchangeably with the federal give away programs that go to people who have invested nothing but receive federal funds.
The courts have already ruled that Social Security is a contractual right. You cannot take money from people with the promise of a pay off later and them vilify them for wanting what was promised. Can anyone say scam?
This is what the state of New Jersey did with their public employee’s retirement system. They collected the money and used it in the general fund. When things got tight, they had no money to pay the retirees and then called the retirees greedy and inconsiderate for wanting what they paid for.
The federal government collected Social Security with the idea that the money being collected would make the payment due. They then used the excess for the general fund, replacing it with promissory notes called treasury bonds. This worked well when there were a great deal more people working than collecting. As baby boomers retired, and inconsiderately refused to die at sixty-five, less and less people were working to supply the scheme that was being run by the government.
By the year 2037, the money coming in will not exceed the money paid out and the system will fail unless the money owed is called in and the government figures out how to pay off the bonds. That is the real problem with living beyond your means; there is always a day of redemption.
