what is the us debt limit 
the debt limit is the total amount of money the u s is authorized to borrow to meet obligations such as social security and medicare benefits military salaries interest on the national debt and tax refunds to date the u s government has never defaulted on its debts 12the bottom linethe golden rule that goes deep into ancient history has a more modern incarnation the golden rule of government spending this concept believes that future generations shouldn t be burdened with debt incurred by governments for current day expenditures that long predate them instead it decrees governments should only take on debt to pay for investments that will produce long term benefits for the future a number of countries have experimented with fiscal policy that seeks to adhere to this rule though not the united states it has periodically needed to be suspended in times of financial emergency in fact in the eu borrowing limits are still on a hiatus that began in 2020 