Entry 1- Legislative Branch

1) Source:

Re-evaluating U.S. Debt.  September 9, 2010

 http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2005/10/re-evaluating-us-debt/4396/

2) Constitutional Connection:
  
Article 1, Section 8, clause 1 and 2

-"The Congress shall have Power To pay the Debts and provide for the common Defense and general Welfare of the United States.",
-"To borrow money on the credit of the United States;

3) Explanation of Connection:
          During the financial problems that the U.S. is going through, the only way to acquire large sums of money is by borrowing from other countries.Lately, these countries have been China and Japan. The debt we owe to China has more than tripled since 2000 to 2005. While having to pay for the recovery of Hurricane Katrina, and the war in Iraq, along with other things, Congress hasn't wanted to raise taxes, so the only other way for the U.S to be able to pay for these costly expenses, it to borrow money.
          This article demonstrates Article 1, Section 8, Clause 1 and 2 of the United States Constitution. Congress has been given the power to borrow money from foreign countries, but it is also the Legislative Branch's power to pay for the debt that is accumulated from borrowing. This article shows how large the responsibility of Congress is. The welfare and most of the economy depends on Congress making the right decisions to borrow money and to pay the money back. Only Congress has the power make financial deals relating with trade and commerce, therefore it demonstrates federalism at the governmental level. The disputes between debt and loaned money was a great flaw in the Articles of Confederation. After the Revolutionary war, a large amount of money was owed to foreign countries as well as American soldiers. But, the power did not lie on any branch of the government alone.
          If Congress couldn't borrow money from other countries there wouldn't be any way to acquire money in times of great distress when the United States could not afford to pay for their own expenses. But, this way, we can borrow money, as well as loan money to other countries when we need it, and pay them back when we can afford to or in the allotted time. Borrowing money can also be a bad idea, though. Congress must make smart decisions about when it should be done. If the U.S. continued to borrow money, like we did with China, our debt could accumulate to a substantial amount, until we wont be able to pay the country back because we wont be able to afford to. The only way to pay the country back would be to borrow money from another country, but that would just put us in debt too.