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Secretary Geithner Sends Debt Limit Letter to Congress
Treasury Department ^ | December 26, 2012 | Matt Anderson

Posted on 12/26/2012 9:34:07 PM PST by Celerity

Today, Secretary Geithner sent the following letter to Congress regarding the debt limit.

***

December 26, 2012

The Honorable Harry Reid

Majority Leader

United States Senate

Washington, DC 20510

Dear Mr. Leader:

I am writing to inform you that the statutory debt limit will be reached on December 31, 2012, and to notify you that the Treasury Department will shortly begin taking certain extraordinary measures authorized by law to temporarily postpone the date that the United States would otherwise default on its legal obligations.

These extraordinary measures, which are explained in detail in an appendix​ to this letter, can create approximately $200 billion in headroom under the debt limit. Under normal circumstances, that amount of headroom would last approximately two months. However, given the significant uncertainty that now exists with regard to unresolved tax and spending policies for 2013, it is not possible to predict the effective duration of these measures. At this time, the extent to which the upcoming tax filing season will be delayed as a result of these unresolved policy questions is also uncertain. If left unresolved, the expiring tax provisions and automatic spending cuts, as well as the attendant delays in filing of tax returns, would have the effect of adding some additional time to the duration of the extraordinary measures. Treasury will provide more guidance regarding the expected duration of these measures when the policy outlook becomes clearer.

Sincerely,

Timothy F. Geithner

Identical letter sent to:

The Honorable John A. Boehner, Speaker of the House

The Honorable Nancy Pelosi, House Democratic Leader

The Honorable Mitch McConnell, Senate Republican Leader

cc: The Honorable Dave Camp, Chairman, House Committee on Ways and Means

The Honorable Sander M. Levin, Ranking Member, House Committee on Ways and Means

The Honorable Max Baucus, Chairman, Senate Committee on Finance

The Honorable Orrin Hatch, Ranking Member, Senate Committee on Finance

All other Members of the 112th Congress

Matt Anderson is a Spokesperson at the U.S. Department of the Treasury.


TOPICS: Breaking News; Business/Economy; Government
KEYWORDS: cliff; fiscalcliff; geithner; taxes
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Comment #21 Removed by Moderator

To: Celerity

Asset Sales
Although the U.S. Government owns other assets, such as gold, there are prudential or
legal limitations on its ability to sell these assets. Selling the Nation’s gold to meet payment
obligations would undercut confidence in the United States both here and abroad, and would be
extremely destabilizing to the world financial system.

Yeah, that probably is not an option because Ft. Knox probably doesn’t hold any physical gold.


22 posted on 12/27/2012 3:24:08 PM PST by Wisconsinlady (The only thing to stop a bad person with a gun, is a good person with a gun.)
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To: Wisconsinlady

Or China evicts us.....


23 posted on 12/27/2012 6:15:04 PM PST by SisterK (My kingdom is NOT of this world)
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To: weston
Looks like anyone expecting to get a tax refund might be SOL.

Which is why I cut the exemptions to the bare minimum back in May or so. Not expecting a tax refund, or a very small one at the most. I do NOT trust the government with my money. Why should I?

24 posted on 12/27/2012 7:16:13 PM PST by madison10
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To: Celerity
Hey there Tiny Timmy the Tax Cheat. No problem duuuuude.

In about 5 days, once your messiah (lower case is intentional) pushes us off the fiscal cliff, you will have 460 Billion a year in new taxes with only 100 billion a year in actual spending cuts!!! Come on now Timmy, tell the truth. Makes your crotch all tingly and excited doesn't it? Your ho bitch Bernanke makes all the nasty bank mortgage loans you forced them to write go away and suddenly the banks are solvent. Who the hell cares that all those little people become more impoverished. Why at the rate you guys are going, the other 250 million not on food stamps soon will be.

The most absolute immoral thing government does is steal money from the many so the few can continue to sit on their butts. The poor in America are so well off compared to the poor in other countries, it is nearly incomprehensible. Do the poor in other countries get free cell phones, have multiple automobiles, have games consoles, personal computers or iPads, have multiple flat screen TVs ans cable, have indoor plumbing, access to clean water, a credit card to buy food not at the grocery store but every little convenience store in every corner and virtually free healthcare.

There are poor in America who are rich enough to make people still want to come here and.cash in on the gravy train.

25 posted on 12/27/2012 8:45:59 PM PST by cashless (Obama told us he would side with Muslims if the political winds shifted in an ugly direction. Ready?)
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To: DManA

This puts things into a much better perspective as to the present economic situation. and it took a person from Canada to do it !!!

Lesson # 1:

* U.S. Tax revenue: $ 2,170,000,000,000.00
* Fed budget: $ 3,820,000,000,000.00
* New debt: $ 1,650,000,000,000.00
* National debt: $ 14,271,000,000,000.00
* Recent budget cuts: $ $ 38,500,000,000.00

Let’s now remove 8 zeros and pretend it’s a household budget:

* Annual family income: $ 21,700.00
* Money the family spent: $ 38,200.00
* New debt on the credit card: $ 16,500.00
* Outstanding balance on the credit card: $ 142,710.00
* Total budget cuts so far: $ 38.50

Got It ?????

OK now,

Lesson # 2:

Here’s another way to look at the Debt Ceiling:

Let’s say, You come home from work and find
there has been a sewer backup in your neighborhood....
and your home has sewage all the way up to your ceilings.

What do you think you should do ......

Raise the ceilings, or remove the crap?


26 posted on 12/28/2012 6:29:41 AM PST by IM2MAD (IM2MAD=Individual Motivated 2 Make A Difference)
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To: Celerity

Never let a crisis go to waste. They all disgust me.


27 posted on 12/28/2012 9:16:13 AM PST by ASouthernGrl (BHO sucks)
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To: Celerity

Here’s another little shocker for Mr. Tiny Timmy Turbo: Self-employed people making $250K will now be taxed at 39% rate according to your beloved messiah. Add on another 15.3% (or more) for SS and Medicare. That makes a whopping 53.3% federal bite out of every dollar, and that’s not counting any state taxes. Sad news, TTT, those folks are now pushed WAY over on the Laffer Curve and they are NOT going to just keep working for you and the messiah at those kinds of rates...ain’t gonna happen, TTT. They are all going to cut back dramatically and/or just outright quit working at all.
It it gonna get worse, TTT, because they’ll lay off, (if they haven’t done so already) any employees they may have have in order get out from under your messiah’s extortion healthcare plan. So you’re gonna lose all those tax dollars too, TTT. Once that happens on a nationwide grand scale, your golden goose is dead, TTT, your “goose” is cooked!!!. You see, TTT, socialists, cheats and thieves such as yourself eventually run out of other people’s money....and once that hard reality sets in on the “unwashed masses”, those in DC, such as yourself, that were once entrusted by the “unwashed masses” to do the “right thing” will be held responsible in ways that you can’t comprehend or even dream of.


28 posted on 12/28/2012 2:06:06 PM PST by lgjhn23 (It's easy to be liberal when you're dumber than a box of rocks.)
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To: Celerity
The Dishonorable Tax cheat Timothy F. Geithner:

Have you paid all your back taxes yet? You owe me a Social Security Check 1/9/2013.

29 posted on 12/31/2012 2:52:40 AM PST by tdscpa
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To: IM2MAD
*"Total budget cuts so far: $ 38.50"

Wrong.

Total budget cuts so far: $ none.

Total reduction in desired future spending increases mentioned: $38.50.

30 posted on 12/31/2012 3:09:19 AM PST by tdscpa
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