The debt ceiling package put forward by Speaker John Boehner would increase the nations borrowing limit by $1 trillion, which would cover borrowing for about another six months. On the other hand Senate Majority leader Harry Reid’s plan would raise the debt ceiling by $2.7 trillion, which means it would about a year and a half until Congress would need to pass another debt ceiling increase.

Obviously Reid’s debt ceiling increase is larger and would be good for longer than Boehner, but that doesn’t make Reid’s plan a long term solution. It is simply that not as short a short-term solution.

While it is true the Boehner bill would likely mean that we would have this same stupid fight again in six months, with Reid’s bill we would still likely have to go through this same stupid artificial hostage crisis game again expect in 16 months.

What is so infuriating about this is that there is no reason we can’t have actually long-term permanent solution. Instead of raising the debt ceiling by $1 trillion or $2.7 trillion we should simply eliminated the concept of the debt ceiling entirely. Congress could just pass a law saying that it authorizes the Treasury to borrow whatever amount is necessary to pay to fulfill the nation’s obligations, unless Congress passes another law saying otherwise.

The debt ceiling is an incredibly stupid idea that serves no useful purpose. The only thing its existence can ever do is cause problems if used in an idiotic political pissing match, like the one taking place right now.

It would make the Democratic rhetorical case against opposing Boehner’s plan much stronger, because it is only a short term solution. It would be much better if they actually had the decency to call for a permanent solution to this stupidity, instead of a slightly longer short-term fix.