Who gets the gold and who gets the shaft?

Over the next few weeks, the manufactured crisis over the “debt ceiling” will reach its boiling point

- Jesse Jackson

But this is pure melodrama, badly overacted with the outcome already known. The real question is about our priorities – and about who gets the gold and who gets the shaft.

On the debt ceiling, President Biden says he won’t negotiate over raising it. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy says Republicans won’t raise it without negotiations. This is like teenagers playing chicken in cars racing toward each other – only in this case--a crash would blow up the world economy. That can’t happen – and so it won’t. The United States will pay the debts it owes. Our full faith and credit will not be trashed.

That will still leave the question about our priorities and the national budget. Who pays, and who benefits? Here – beneath the posturing – is the real deal. Here’s a handy guide to what’s in the deck.

First on our annual deficits. The best solution to the deficit is economic growth. When the economy grows, more people get jobs and raises. As wages and profits rise, the government collects more in taxes and pays out less in support – on everything from unemployment insurance to welfare to food stamps. Deficits come down.