Obama & the Debt Ceiling

The President Surrenders was written by Paul Krugman and posted og July 31, 2011. The article records  issues in regards to deal to raise the federal debt ceiling. Krugman also gives an of how a slash in government spending, will depress the economy even further. The article ends with the question "how can American democracy work if whichever party is most prepared to be ruthless, to threaten the nation’s economic security, gets to dictate policy?". This article is Krugman's personal views in the federal debt ceiling.

Paul Krugman's column on the federal debt ceiling gives us an explanation of the plan to raise the debt ceiling and its affects on the already fragile economy. He refers to the spending cuts as being "like medieval doctors who treated the sick by bleeding them, and thereby made them even sicker." The Republican's strive to threaten crisis untill the President surrenders to their policy demands. Krugman states that the President has demonstrated that he cannot stand up to blackmail, and that should be a cause for dismay. According to Krugman the entire American democratic system is being called into question.

1) The federal debt ceiling is legal limit on borrowing by the federal government.
2) America's long term deficit problem is debt.
3) Krugman says "The worst thing you can do in these circumstances is slash government spending, since that will depress the economy even further."
4) I think Krugman says the President surrended because he had the power to disagree and instead gave into the demands of the Republicans.
5) Defense spending is the military budget.
6) The G.O.P stands for Grand Old Party and is the Republican party
7) Krugman's main critisism of how the President handles things is that
8) Medicare is the federal system of health insurance for people over 65 years of age and for certain younger people with disabilities.
9) Krugman's conclusions in the last is that American democracy can not work if policy is contorled by whichever party is willing to be more ruthless.
10) I think that Krugman's political opinions are that he is a Democrat that strongly disagrees with Obama's approach to the deal with raising the debt ceiling.