- Budget Deficit
- Closed System
- Current Events
- Debt Ceiling
- Economic Policy
- Economic Theory
- Federal Budget
- George Mason School
- Inflation
- Interdependency
- National Debt
- Perpetuity
- Public Choice Theory
The debt ceiling as a perpetual soufflé
As Veronique de Rugy explains, the debt ceiling was initiated in the U.S. in 1917 as a way to ensure responsibility in congress. Since then, government has raised it nearly 100 times. In the last ten years, they have raised it ten times, on occasion, twice in a single year.
To borrow from Jacques Barzun, the constantly rising nature of the debt ceiling resembles a perpetual soufflé. One might wonder when it will be time to stick a fork in it.