Yes, it is a “stopgap.” Most increases in the debt ceiling are.

The politicians like to portray each debt ceiling increase as an “emergency measure, while we work on getting the fiscal situation under control.” Followed, of course, every few months by another such “emergency measure, while we …”

I think that it was Clausewitz who pointed out that in war, “the important things are simple, but the simple things are hard.”

That maxim is fully applicable to government budgets. Solving “the deficit problem” and “the debt problem” is simple: All Congress has to do is not spend any more money than it takes in.

That’s not complicated, but it is hard, because each and every spending measure has its advocates who will scream bloody murder if “their” program doesn’t get unlimited money, while few spending measures have opponents who are as dedicated to opposing the expenditures as the supporters are to getting them.

A year or so ago, Brian Holtz thought he’d have a laugh at my expense when I suggested that the “national debt” would never be paid off, informing me that nobody “serious” would suggest such a thing. Only a year or so later, the “mainstream” is openly mocking the idea that the debt will be paid. The only real question left is how the default will be structured and handled.