The debt ceiling debate is political theater. But even so, it's revealing the deceit and inherent contradictions of the liberal obsession of spending other people's money.

Lie: Obama can't guarantee Social Security payments
Truth: Obama is lying to scare senior citizens

On Tuesday, July 12th, President Obama stated "I cannot guarantee that those checks go out on August 3rd if we haven't resolved this issue. Because there may simply not be the money in the coffers to do it."

This is a lie.

The revenues that the government has been receiving over the last two months (since we hit the debt ceiling) are sufficient to cover interest on the debt, Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, veteran benefits, wages and insurance benefits for federal workers...

Thus, since hitting the legal limit on the federal debt on May 16, the federal government could have spent its $296.176 billion in new tax revenues to pay for its combined $270.151 billion in expenses for interest, Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, Veterans Affairs and federal workers wages and insurance benefits and still had $26.025 billion in additional tax revenue to spend on other government activities.

For another $2.198 billion, for example, the government could have covered all Justice Department programs between May 16 and July 7--thus bringing its surplus revenue for the post-debt-limit period down to $23.827.

For another $11.233 billion, the government could have covered all its Housing and Urban Development programs between May 16 and July 7--thus bringing its surplus revenue for the post-debt-limit period down to $12.594 billion.

For another $6.988 billion, the government could have covered all its Federal Highway Administration programs between May 16 and July 7--thus bringing it surplus revenue for the post-debt-limit period down to $5.606 billion.

The only reason senior citizens and those in need would not receive their Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid is if the president (or Treasury Secretary Geithner) intentionally decides not to pay those benefits.

Hurting the elderly and the poor would be a conscious decision by Obama based on how he decides to prioritize payments. If this administration voluntarily hurts the vulnerable of this society, I hope those individuals will remember that Obama used them as political hostages when it comes time to vote in 2012.

Lie: There is a Social Security trust fund
Truth: If there were a trust fund, the government wouldn't need to borrow money to send benefit checks

If there were truly a Social Security Trust Fund, Social Security could just dip into that trust fund to keep covering benefits until a debt ceiling deal was made. The fact that Obama is claiming that the current impasse would imperil Social Security payments is proof positive that there is no trust fund.

The trust fund isn't going to run out in a few years. It's already empty.

Many people have been saying this for years... decades even. I wrote about this specific topic last August. This same reality is what caused the Myth of the Clinton Surplus (Clinton didn't have a real surplus in his last years and Bush didn't turn the non-existent surplus into a deficit).

I also revisited it in March 2009 when I wrote: "Social Security has been subsidizing the federal budget for decades... now the federal budget is going to have to pay back all that money and essentially subsidize Social Security... I expect as the looming Social Security crisis becomes discussed more often, it will be more and more clear that the Clinton Surplus was, indeed, a myth."

We've reached that point. The fact that the debt ceiling is being used as a weak excuse to avoid making Social Security payments is evidence that no trust fund exists. The government has been pillaging and spending Social Security funds as soon as they were collected from taxpayers for decades.

Lie: Without raising the debt ceiling, the government will default
Truth: The government will only default if Obama chooses to

As explained earlier in this article, the government is collecting enough revenue to be able to pay interest on the debt, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and most other "essential" expenses.

Yes, parts of the government would have to shutdown or send out partial checks. But the major parts of the government could operate normally with the existing revenue even if the government was unable to borrow more.

As I wrote about back in May, we will only default on our debt if Obama chooses to do so by failing to prioritize payments. If he fails to do so, then there will be a default, interest rates will spike, investors will stop lending to the U.S., and Obama will be forced to prioritize anyway.

So we'll only have a debt crisis if Obama chooses to have one.

Lie: We need to raise taxes
Truth: The taxes being discussed wouldn't solve the problem and would hurt the economy

President Obama has been arguing for a "balanced" approach--which basically means some spending cuts and some tax increases.

However, this is just political grandstanding.

The amount of money involved in his proposed tax increases are absolutely irrelevant given the magnitude of the deficit. Even if Republicans caved and gave Obama all the tax increases he's asking for, the deficit would still be leading us towards an increasingly inevitable bond crisis.

And although the amount of money the taxes would raise would be insufficient to meaningfully change our fiscal course, they would be enough to cost jobs in an already weak economy.

Lie: Republicans should compromise on spending cuts and taxes
Truth: Republicans were sent to Congress to STOP Obama

The "truth" response pretty much says it all...

Republicans should hold fast to their positions of cutting spending and not increasing taxes because that's exactly what they were elected last November to do.

America is tired of the excessive spending that's increasing out of control. We don't want to increase our taxes to try to keep up with politicians who will always find more ways to spend more of our money. Rather we want government to start tightening its belt like the rest of the country. Real tightening, not government smoke and mirrors.

Lie: It's the "end of the world" if the debt ceiling isn't raised
Truth: We can't stop our debt problem with more debt

Sure, it's possible that rating agencies will give us a bad rating. It's probable that interest rates will rise. This will ripple throughout the economy and it may be painful.

But even international organizations are saying that interest rates must rise. The artificially low interest rates may easily be doing more damage than good... who wants to loan money when the interest rate they'll be paid is so low?

And the worst that can happen is that borrowing money will become so expensive for the government that it will no longer be able to borrow money and live beyond its means.

Which means fiscal conservatism and fiscal responsibility would follow.

Truth: THIS MAY BE OUR LAST CHANCE

The truth is that this might be our last real opportunity to get our spending under control.

I've written about this year being our last chance. I've written about the coming U.S. bond crisis. I've also written about the probability of QE3 which threatens inflation and the value of the dollar.

The debt ceiling is our "fail-safe" on government spending. Republicans must stand firm and draw this line in the sand no matter how painful it becomes... economically or politically. As difficult as it will be for the politicians to stand their ground now, it'll only be harder later.

Because if Republicans flinch and allow the debt ceiling to be raised without significant spending cuts, we most likely won't have another good opportunity to address spending until after the presidential election. And experts have said that it's entirely possible that we'll have a debt crisis in the United States before then.

And, worse, if Republicans don't stand strong on reducing spending and holding the line on taxes now, there's very little reason to expect that they'll do so later.

And if that's the case, it's just a matter of time before we go bankrupt.

So this is a fight we must have and must win.