In a May 19 commentary, UCLA law professor Jonathan Zasloff suggested that if the Treasury ignored the debt limit that no one would have standing in court to challenge it. (He cites a column I wrote on April 29 arguing that the debt limit is unconstitutional.)
In a May 18 commentary, Stanford economist John Taylor said he favored linking a rise in the debt limit to spending cuts. He believes the risks of a debt default are less than the risks of letting the debt rise.
In a May 17 interview, with Ezra Klein of the Washington Post, former Treasury Secretary Bob Rubin said the debt limit should be abolished as an “anachronism.”
In a May 17 commentary, MIT economist Simon Johnson expressed concern that failure to raise the debt limit would disrupt the entire world financial market.
A May 17 report from Morgan Stanley examined the potential impact of a debt default due to failure to raise the debt limit.
Also on May 17, John Tamny of the Cato Institute published a commentary advocating debt default.
A May 16 Congressional Budget Office report found that all of the Republican efforts to cut FY 2011 appropriations actually led to an increase in spending in FY2011, mainly because the Department of Defense was forced to shift some of its spending.
On May 10, the Congressional Research Service published a report presenting all of the roll call votes on raising the debt limit since 1978.
On May 2, the CRS published a report on the history of recent increases in the debt limit.
I last posted items on this topic on May 17.
Bruce Bartlett is an American historian and columnist who focuses on the intersection between politics and economics. He blogs daily and writes a weekly column at The Fiscal Times. Bartlett has written for Forbes Magazine and Creators Syndicate, and his work is informed by many years in government, including as a senior policy analyst in the Reagan White House. He is the author of seven books including the New York Times best-seller, Imposter: How George W. Bush Bankrupted America and Betrayed the Reagan Legacy (Doubleday, 2006).
