I spoke with someone in the office of Lincoln Davis to express my outrage over raising the debt ceiling from $12.4 trillion to $14.3 trillion. They tried to spin the decision as positive by saying “pay go” was also passed.

I’m not sure what type of accounting gimmick this represents, because if you pay as you go then why is it necessary to raise the debt ceiling? I’m not stupid, but I do confess to be ignorant as to why you need to invent practices, devise ploys and distort what should be a simple concept of not spending what you don’t have.

I posed the question where’s the money coming from, and there was dead silence on the other end of the phone line. Well, as a working person, I know where the money comes from and it really scares a significant segment of the population.

Charlsie Estes

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Lincoln Davis is one of the most conservative representatives in the House of Representatives. Congressman Davis voted against the AIG bail out bill, and has been a consistent conservative in Washington. I would like to correct Mr. Estes on his post concerning economics and the deficit, because there are times when the government should deficit spend.

Most Americans deficit spend when they buy a house and finance it for 30 years. They are purchasing something that they could not pay back on their annual salary, so they split it up over a period of years and pay an interest fee for the service. The purchase of a house or car are just two examples where families deficit spend.

All economists agree that when an economy is in a down turn, the right prescription is to deficit spend to pick up the economy. They also agree that when an economy is growing, like it did during the Bush Administration, that the government shouldn't deficit spend. In fact, the Bush administration was deficit spending during their whole time in office. Most conservatives supported the Bush administration.

I have a memory longer than 2 weeks. I remember the so-called conservatives under the Bush administration deficit spending during a time of economic growth. At a time when the country should not have been deficit spending, they were. This deficit spending by the Bush administration ran up the national debt, and when the economy did crash we were already deeply in debt.

Of course, many of these very same conservatives focus only on the amount of money being spent, and not where the money is being spent. Thus, politicos like Sarah Palin the former governor of Alaska, can decry government deficits and at the same time waste the taxpayer dollars of Alaska attempting to get members of her family flown around the country using government funds. This attitude isn't fiscally responsible, but it is the attitude of entitlement. How many times must this country endure "save the country" rackets?

Stephen Durham freethinker1963@yahoo.com