Alternative Universe...Raising the debt ceiling doesn't increase the nation's debt

"Now, this debt ceiling -- I just want to remind people in case you haven't been keeping up -- raising the debt ceiling, which has been done over a hundred times, does not increase our debt; it does not somehow promote profligacy.  All it does is it says you got to pay the bills that you've already racked up, Congress.  It's a basic function of making sure that the full faith and credit of the United States is preserved."

Obama went on to suggest that "the average person" mistakenly thinks that raising the debt ceiling means the U.S. is racking up more debt:

"It's always a tough vote because the average person thinks raising the debt ceiling must mean that we're running up our debt, so people don't like to vote on it, and, typically, there's some gamesmanship in terms of making the President's party shoulder the burden of raising the -- taking the vote.

What our dear leader means is, "Heck, we already racked up the debt. We have already spent the money. This is just the bill coming due." And if you look at it like a 5th grader, maybe you could come to that conclusion. The real world example is that raising the debt ceiling is raising your credit limit on your credit card, and then using that extra limit to pay for more stuff. The Prez is saying "we already bought the stuff, and it is stuff we really need, and contracted for", because we knew that our credit limit was going up. In other words, the debt was there already, now we are just reporting it. 

But it is in fact raising our debt because it allows the government to spend on "stuff" without worrying about paying for it. They will just borrow more. It allows the government to buy stuff without determining if we really need it.

It allows the government to spend on silly stuff like.....

It cost you 300 grand to figure out the first bird on planet earth had black feathers or the Office of Naval Research was able to spend 450 grand to determine that robots cannot maintain a baby's attention or the U.S. Air Force spent more than $680,000 on a study confirming that men look stronger and manlier when they are carrying a firearm or a $500,000 bill for a video game that stimulates a high school prom. 

That is just "stuff" we need. 

 See more here