Regarding the debt ceiling raise, it's been too often and too easily raised in order to support the borrowing (which is the real risk to our national credit rating)

Curiously, in the 200 year history of the Republic, the only threat to the national credit rating has come when people threaten to stop raising the debt, not when they create more of it. If you want to see what a serious credit crisis looks like, take a look at the times when (that party) has threatened to stop paying the bills. Treasury rates spiked, redemptions soared, the market teetered. (No, the market is not 'the economy' but they are quite closely linked, as a quick glance over 1929 or any other number of incidents should inform.)

The argument isn't really over whether we should spend more, it's over what we should spend it on . Republicans now want to cut both Social Security and Medicare. (I hope they try, and make it loudly known.) Democrats want to cut military spending. Actually, those three things are about the only drivers, the entire rest of the budget is nickels and dimes in the sofa cushion.

It will be interesting to see how it plays out, except I expect the performance caucus to carry the threat further than in the past, with similar and dire consequences. I have - elsewhere - suggested arranging one's portfolio and financials to be prepared to accommodate a different future, one which I hope does not come to pass.