While the State of Texas operates within a spending limit contained in the Texas Constitution, the United States Constitution contains no such limitation. It is the omission of such a spending limit from the Constitution that has allowed the federal government to engage in deficit spending, resulting in the record levels of debt that the taxpayers of the United States must now (or eventually) repay. As a result of this unprecedented and reckless federal spending, President Obama signed the second national debt extension of his presidency on February 12, 2010, increasing the ceiling on the debt from $12.4 trillion to $14.3 trillion. As of August 17, 2010, the United States national debt figure stands at $13.3 trillion.

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