US debt limit really doesn't limit debt

Everyone probably knows by now that the US has finally reached a debt agreement to avoid default. Rather then blogging an article about the details of the deal (you can find those everywhere) I thought I would link this one:

http://www.seattlepi.com/news/article/US-debt-limit-really-doesn-t-limit-debt-1681790.php

Because there are so many paragraphs I would like to highlight in this article (I would end up copying and pasting nearly the entire article into this post), I've decided to just assume people read it and pull out a couple of points that I find interesting.

1. The debt limit has been raised 78 times since 1960.
2. In 2006, when Obama was a senator, he voted against a debt level increase and said that raising the debt limit was 'a sign of leadership failure'. Obviously he's eating his words now. He has since called his vote in 2006 a mistake and said 'That was just an example of a new senator making what is a political vote as opposed to doing what was important for the country".
3. The spending cuts that were announced can't be forced upon future congress. There is precedent for congress voting against previously established cuts and doing as they wish.

My opinion on the whole situation is that the U.S. does need to put in place large long term budget cuts as well as have tax reform. The cruel reality of borrowing (as anyone with a credit card has experienced) is that you do have to pay the money back and you do have to cut back on your lifestyle/benefits. I just had the hard lesson thrust upon me by choosing to repay a credit card and that forced me to cut back on nearly all my discretionary spending. The point is that just because you are a government it does not make you exempt from having to tighten your belt in times of financial strain. This is something that the Greeks have learnt the hard way. Obviously some people will get angry and protest as they feel that they were not the ones who got them into this mess and that they are being treated unfairly. While this has some merit (though I do believe people should always be aware and critical of how the government is spending their country's money) it does not change the fact that the belt must be tightened. It instead highlights issues within our current system of government.