According to analyst Veronique De Rugy the of federal spending for the past 3 decades is shown in the graph below. It would appear that the Iraq and Afganistan wars did not cause excess borrowing, probably due to an adequate economy to support them. That changed in 2008.



Another analyst, this one on PBS Nightly News last night, claimed that if the debt ceiling is not raised, then the government will have only 60% of its needed funding for the duration of the period during which the government can't borrow above the ceiling to pay its debts. So what would be cut? Defense or Social Security? Now if the Congress had not stolen all the funds out of Social Security long ago, then SS would not be on the table.

Apparently that's why Bernanke is in play, claiming the Fed will buy. Is that a circumvention of debt somehow?