Senate Democrats and Mitch McConnell introduced a bill to increase the United States’ debt ceiling to Googol Dollars. They cited the need for “increased borrowing power” in order to keep the country’s economy afloat.
Many in Congress believe the best way to address the nation’s growing debt crisis is to increase the debt. Some believed that should eliminate the Debt ceiling all together. This would allow the government to borrow as much money as it needs without any pesky restrictions.
Some Republicans objected to the idea of no debt ceiling at all. As a compromise between Rhinos and Democrats, Googol was selected. “We wanted to have some limit on the Debt to try to keep responsibility in the government.” said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. “As an added bonus there could be advertising revenue from Google.”
Critics of the move warn that googol is literally 1 with 100 zeros. The proposed limit is around 3.125 x 1086 times the current limit. Some proponents have argued that Americans just want a limit. They are no more likely to understand how large a googol is than a trillion. They just see them as really big numbers. Many don’t even know their own gender and that is only 2 possibilities (depending on who you ask).
Despite the concerns of some lawmakers, the new legislation is expected to pass with overwhelming support. “We are a great country, and we deserve to have basically unlimited borrowing power,” said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer. “Now let’s go out there and paint the town red, errr ummm blue!”
The exact consequences of this kind of change remain to be seen. However, many Americans are already struggling with inflation which would dramatically increase under this plan. Should this pass the Senate it might stall in the House which the Republicans are in control. In the meantime, some lawmakers will be hard at work to spend all dollars the limit provides, regardless of what it is. Maybe in the next omnibus spending bill, Just like they did last year, Democrats are keen to create a situation where they can blame Republicans for creating a manufactured crisis by not raising the debt limit. This even though they are the ones who spent all the money. We here in DogFacePonia believe at this time next year, they will be pushing for the limit to be Googolplex.
Image From: “10¹⁰⁰ (ten to the power one hundred” (CC BY 2.0) by dullhunk