Anthony Randazzo on a Debt Ceiling Lesson from Europe

American progressives are fond of gazing across
the pond at Europe and wishing the U.S. would emulate it. So as
soon as President Obama started announcing from all reaches of the
country that Congress “must” eliminate the debt ceiling,
progressive cheerleaders echoed his demands, pointing out that most
European countries did not have a debt ceiling.

But Europe worshippers are drawing the wrong lesson
from across the Atlantic, explains Anthony Randazzo. Despite public
protests against austerity cuts, many European countries are
instituting constitutional reforms requiring balanced budgets in
the form of “debt brakes”—a far stronger way to control the
national debt than a debt ceiling.