THE GOP AND THE DEBT CEILING ... ECONOMIC AND FINANCIAL ILLITERATES

If the GOP won't listen to reason on their current threat to ruin America's financial credibility by not raising the debt ceiling, perhaps a word from Warren Buffet will help. Specifically, Buffet discussed our recent political history, and explained, "We raised the debt ceiling seven times during the Bush Administration."

But now, according to Buffet, the Republican-controlled Congress is threatening to "blow your brains out, America" by not raising the debt ceiling. Buffet added that this would ruin America's "debt worthiness over time," and reminded everyone about this bit of financial history too:

We had debt at 120 percent of the GDP, far higher than this [today, about 95%], after World War II and no one went around threatening that we're going to ruin the credit of the United States ... in order to get a better balance of debt to GDP.

Buffet is pointing out one simple fact here. When it comes to our current debt levels (and the GOP's threat not to raise the debt ceiling), we're not near the levels we were at during World War II.

In my view, Buffet is also trying to remind America that, in their quest to discredit President Obama, the GOP has become a party of economic and historical illiterates.

Perhaps Buffet said it best when he commented that if the GOP-led Congress fails to raise the debt ceiling - especially with two wars and the Depression Economic conditions that President Bush dumped on America's lap - it would constitute "the most asinine act" in our nation's history.

Because this debt ceiling game is little more than political theater by the GOP to "get" Obama, I couldn't agree more.

- Mark