CNSNews.com has its marching orders — depict suggestions of eliminating the federal debt limit as increasing it to “infinity” — despite the inconvenient fact that nobody has ever said that word. CNS has already put “infinity” in Tim Geithner’s mouth.
Lest anyone doubts that this deceitful “reporting” is coming straight from the top, a Nov. 30 article by CNS editor in chief Terry Jeffrey carries the headline “Pelosi: Give Obama Power to Personally Lift Debt Limit to Infinity.”
Jeffrey goes on to write that “In effect, under the plan Pelosi is endorsing, the only limit on the national debt would be President Obama’s willingness to borrow money in the name of American taxpayers.” Jeffrey ignores the fact that the debt limit has turned into a political tool in the hands of the opposition — in this case Republicans. As Business Insider reports:
The debt ceiling is a stupid, arbitrary rule that says Congress has to authorize going into more debt, beyond just the vote on the budget itself. It’s the #1 source of vulnerability for the U.S. government. Because the U.S. can create its own money, there’s zero chance of default, unless a committed opposition uses the debt ceiling as leverage to go too far.
[…]In the best of times the Debt Ceiling is a pointless technical vote. In the worst of times, it’s an opportunity for one side to hold the nation’s economy hostage. At no time, is it a useful mechanism for constraining spending, or having a debate on anything.
Jeffrey’s article made no mention of the arguments of those in favor of eliminating the debt ceiling, thus violating CNS’ own declared mission to “fairly present all legitimate sides of a story.”