If we thought that Indian politicians are totally lacking in sharam and izzat, which they are, the Republicans are not far behind. As President Obama explained, raising the debt ceiling is nothing to do with fresh spending but to pay old bills already accepted by the Congress. Apparently the debt ceiling has been raised over 70 times in the past 50 years so there is no reason to block it now. Especially since around 70% of the total debt of $ 14 trillion dollars was racked up by Republican presidents. Before Ronald Reagan total debt was just $ 1 trillion. Reagan increased defence spending on stupid projects like Star Wars systems, which were never going to work, and gave away permanent tax cuts adding $ 1.9 trillion to the debt. George Bush Sr added $ 1.4 trillion on the first Gulf war and due to recession but his son George Bush Jr added a humongous $ 6.1 trillion on unnecessary tax cuts and war in Afghanistan and an illegal one in Iraq. Considering that he inherited a collapsing economy Obama has only added $ 2.4 trillion, a quarter of the total added by the Republican presidents. Yet the House Republicans, led by Tea Party jehadists, want to cut the deficit without any increase in taxes and continue to filibuster in the Senate. Obama is also to blame. He was elected on a promise of increasing taxes on people earning more than $ 250000/year and that should have been his first act as president when he had majorities in both the chambers of the Congress. Clearly the Republicans are sold out to various interest groups who pay for their campaign expenses and are willing to sell the country for their sponsors. Politicians everywhere are dishonorable knaves.