As the kite gets higher…

I can’t get over the idea some people have that the recognition of financial reality constitutes “terrorism,” but it isn’t just limited to angry leftist writers. The latest is Joe Biden.

Vice President Joe Biden joined House Democrats in lashing tea party Republicans Monday, accusing them of having “acted like terrorists” in the fight over raising the nation’s debt limit, according to several sources in the room.

Biden was agreeing with a line of argument made by Rep. Mike Doyle (D-Pa.) at a two-hour, closed-door Democratic Caucus meeting.

“We have negotiated with terrorists,” an angry Doyle said, according to sources in the room. “This small group of terrorists have made it impossible to spend any money.”

“I did not use the terrorism word,” Biden told CBS Evening News anchor and managing editor Scott Pelley.

Well, I guess if we’re going to get pedantic, technically, Biden did not say “terrorism.” He said “terrorists.”

I have spend enough time with the Tea Party “terrorists” to understand what he and the Democrats mean. They believe passionately that any serious attempt to stop the imminent bankruptcy of the United States constitutes terrorism.

Whether a default would cause the profligate spenders to slow down their spending, and whether that would stave off bankruptcy, I can’t say for sure. I’m also not sure that wrecking the once vibrant U.S. economy will necessarily ensure the triumph of socialism that so many people think it will. What I am sure of is that things will get uglier. Much uglier.

As the economy continues to stumble into depression, the debt is growing by leaps and bounds.  Each increase is the largest in U.S. history:

The bill to increase the federal debt limit that has been put before Congress today would increase that limit by up to $2.4 trillion, which would be the largest increase in the debt limit in U.S. history by a margin of half a trillion dollars, according to records published by the Government Accountability Office and the Congressional Research Service.

In fact, according to records published by the Congressional Research Service, if the current bill is passed and the debt limit is increased by $2.4 trillion, the two largest debt-limit increases in U.S. history would come in back-to-back years, both during the presidency of Barack Obama.

Up until now, the largest increase in the debt limit was the $1.9 trillion increase passed by Congress and signed by President Obama on Feb. 12, 2010. That law increased the debt limit from $12.394 trillion to $14.294 trillion.

And remarking the obvious or demanding the application of common sense is seen as terrorism. Is it terrorism to try to stop the debt from being allowed to exceed the gross domestic product?

It is about to do just that.

From the Wiki entry on the subject:

Gross debt has increased over $500 billion each year since fiscal year (FY) 2003, with increases of $1 trillion in FY2008, $1.9 trillion in FY2009, and $1.7 trillion in FY2010.^[4] As of June 29, 2011, the Total Public Debt Outstanding was $14.46 trillion and was approximately 98.6% of calendar year 2010’s annual gross domestic product (GDP) of $14.66 trillion.^[2][5][6] Using 2010 figures, the International Monetary Fund places the total U.S. public debt at 96.3% of GDP, ranked 12th highest against other nations.^[7] Together with the budget deficit, this debt was one of the reasons given by Standard & Poor’s to downgrade the United States’ credit outlook to “negative” on April 18, 2011.^[8]

96.3%. Got that? And remember, it does not include so-called “entitlement” obligations. Here’s more from the Wiki Terrorist Manifesto entry on United States Public Debt:

The U.S. government is committed under current law to mandatory payments for programs such as Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. The GAO projects that payouts for these programs will significantly exceed tax revenues over the next 75 years. The Medicare Part A (hospital insurance) payouts already exceed program tax revenues and Social Security payouts exceeded payroll taxes in fiscal 2010. These deficits require funding from other tax sources or borrowing.^[17]

The present value of these deficits or unfunded obligations is an estimated $45.8 trillion. This is the amount that would have to be set aside during 2009 such that the principal and interest would pay for the unfunded commitments through 2084. Approximately $7.7 trillion relates to Social Security, while $38.2 trillion relates to Medicare and Medicaid. In other words, health care programs are nearly five times as serious a funding challenge as Social Security. Adding this to the national debt and other federal commitments brings the total obligations to nearly $62 trillion.^[18] However, these amounts are excluded from the national debt computation.

Nice. So if the entitlements are included, we are already way past the bankrupt stage. Hence the concern of the people who are being called “terrorists.”

If we analogize to a bankrupt business or a child with a runaway checking account, it is irresponsible to spend more than you have. The government is of course doing exactly that, and a number of taxpayers are now saying “If you keep writing those checks, they will bounce!”

Those who insist on writing the bad checks anyway are saying it’s terrorism to try to stop them, or to allow them to bounce if they don’t stop.

A novel definition of terrorism. What I think is going on is desperate maneuvering driven by the certain recognition of inevitable collapse if things go on like this, which they will. So those who insist on writing the bad checks are setting the stage to blame those who refuse to go along with what amounts to a national check kiting scheme.

When the checks bounce, it will thus be the “fault” of the “terrorists” who said it was time to end the kiting.

What will be missed is that once it is clear that the money is not there, the kite will crash anyway.

MORE: Commenter Randy said,

…just once, I’d like to see someone from the MSM call one of these Dem pols on their hypocrisy.

I’m afraid it’s just the opposite. Here’s a New York Times columnist egging them on in a piece titled “Tea Party’s War on America.”

You know what they say: Never negotiate with terrorists. It only encourages them.

These last few months, much of the country has watched in horror as the Tea Party Republicans have waged jihad on the American people. Their intransigent demands for deep spending cuts, coupled with their almost gleeful willingness to destroy one of America’s most invaluable assets, its full faith and credit, were incredibly irresponsible. But they didn’t care. Their goal, they believed, was worth blowing up the country for, if that’s what it took.

Bankrupting the country is just peachy. But trying to stop the bankruptcy is “blowing up the country.”