Reply #97: Yeah, please let's not abuse the pres for following the law [View All]

[Yo_Mama]

The 14th amendment thing is extremely novel, to say the least. It's a unique theory that has never been advanced before, and it appears to flatly contradict the language on congressional powers.

I believe the president would be rebuffed by the SC if he tried to use that legal theory to raise debt. In any case, there would be extreme doubt about his authority to do it.

So now consider the practical aspects if the president went ahead and directed Geithner to go raise money on his own:
-Some treasuries out there might not be "legal" debt, and therefore Congress could repudiate them. I would think this would be a worse crisis for investor confidence than any other alternative. Certainly rates would jack up.

-Congress would dissolve in internal bickering over the president's actions, and many Democrats would find themselves on the opposite side of the president. Eventually Congress is responsible for handling this, so the president might well have weakened his own coalition.

-Next time you have a president you don't like in there, the precedent would be set for the president to go start his own bombing campaigns and raise his own money to pay for it. This is the worst of all possible outcomes for the US. Heck, the current one is not too far from this right now.