After a week of nauseating news on Congressional ceiling debates, I found an article by James Galbraith to be refreshing, and a good source for comments to my Congressional Reps on the mindless and juvenile behavior that appears to have seized Washington and many of my fellow citizens:
Never mind that to force default on the public obligations of the United States is plainly unconstitutional. Section 4 of the 14th amendment says in simple language that public debts, once duly authorized by law and including pensions, by the way, “shall not be questioned.” The purpose of this language was to foreclose, to put beyond politics, any possibility that the Union would renege on debts and pensions and bounties incurred to win the Civil War. But the application is very general and the courts have ruled that the principle extends to the present day.
via www.alternet.org
