Good points on the debt ceiling

James Fallows makes two points that pretty much everyone should know, but are apparently completely unknown to pundits (and Mitch McConnell) and most of the GOP:

1) Raising the debt ceiling does not authorize one single penny in additional public spending.

2) For Congress to “decide whether” to raise the debt ceiling, for programs and tax rates it has already voted into law, makes exactly as much sense as it would for a family to “decide whether” to pay a credit-card bill for goods it has already bought.