BUFFALO, N.Y. -- The political conversations about if and how to suspend the United States debt ceiling are currently being tied to future spending, including upcoming budget and infrastructure package votes.

However, SUNY economist Fred Floss believes that in reality, the issues should be separate because the country's debt is money already spent.

"It's critically important that the debt ceiling be raised because it could do real damage to the credit of the United States," he said.

Floss said the United States dollar is currently the world's currency, meaning international trades are typical done with U.S. dollars.

"If we lose that ability, then the ability for the Federal Reserve to control the money supply, control inflation and interest rates is not going to be as strong because people will be using other dollars," he said.

The economist said if the U.S. was to default on its loans, other countries will be less interested in holding the currency, making it much more difficult to borrow. It has never happened in the country's history, but has elsewhere.

"Greece would be an example of that and you can see even countries that have come close like Brazil and Spain have had trouble borrowing money when they needed it," he said.

That would potentially mean higher taxes, fewer services or both for the American public. Floss said interest rates for credit cards, mortgages and student loans would go up as well.

"All of those are tied in one way or another to the federal treasury rate so if that goes up, all of those other rates are going to go up so that means you're going to have to pay a lot more money to borrow money," he said.

The economist said questions over the future of the debt ceiling, as well as the threat of government shutdown, could compound to have a major effect on the stock market and believes lawmakers should find common ground before it becomes a major problem.