But why should working people, who did not cause the crisis and are not responsible for it, be made to pay the price through the evisceration of social benefits?”
'Debt ceiling “clash” will lead to major cuts in social spending'
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2023/01/27/ykkx-j27.html
Added from article:
'The debt crisis is real enough, as the accompanying graph demonstrates. Total US government debt was $5.6 trillion in 2001, when George W. Bush entered the White House. Eight years later, after a massive tax cut for the wealthy and the launching of major wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the national debt was $11.7 trillion, more than double, an increase of $6.1 trillion.
'The national debt increased another $8 trillion under the Obama administration, from $11.7 trillion to $19.8 trillion. Major extraordinary outlays included the bailout of the US financial system and the auto industry in 2009, after the Wall Street collapse, the continuing wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and the new wars in Libya and by proxy in Syria. There was also the continuing cost of the Bush tax cuts, most of which were retained as part of a bipartisan deal between Obama and the Republican-controlled Congress.
'The Trump administration racked up as much debt in four years as Obama had in eight years, largely due to further tax cuts for the wealthy in 2017, as well as a continuing gusher of new spending for the Pentagon to prepare for future wars with Russia and China. A huge round of corporate bailouts during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic brought the total new debt to $8.3 trillion.'