Why Refusing to Raise the Debt Ceiling Will Not Result in Default on American Debt

The media, members of Congress, and the President of the United States have gleefully disseminated misinformation about what would happen if we do not raise the debt ceiling by October 17th. The biggest blow these lies encountered was when Moody’s, one of the nation's top credit rating agencies, released a memo on October 7th stating:

“We believe the government would continue to pay interest and principal on its debt even in the event that the debt limit is not raised, leaving its creditworthiness intact...The debt limit restricts government expenditures to the amount of its incoming revenues; it does not prohibit the government from servicing its debt. There is no direct connection between the debt limit (actually the exhaustion of the Treasury’s extraordinary measures to raise funds) and a default...The budget deficit was considerably larger in 2011 than it is currently, so the magnitude of the necessary spending cuts needed after 17 October is lower now than it was then”...

What most people do not comprehend is that the majority of the United States debt is owed to itself, meaning individuals and institutions that purchase treasury notes, the social security trust fund, civilians retirement funds, and of course as the Senator mentioned, the Federal Reserve are the largest holders of the debt. In totality, as of last year, entities of the United States own 65.8% of the national debt. Furthermore, contrary to what many of you have been told, China only owns 8.1% of our debt. The notion that they will or do “own us” is fallacious, their commitment to our currency is much more of a problem for them than us.

Quotes of President Barack Obama on the Budget, Deficit, Debt and Deficit Ceiling
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3076002/posts

“The fact that we are here today to debate raising America’s debt limit is a sign of leadership failure. It is a sign that the U.S. government can’t pay its own bills. ... I therefore intend to oppose the effort to increase America’s debt limit.” — 3/16/2006 Floor speech in the Senate

First, we learned that the federal budget deficit could reach nearly half a trillion dollars next year. Eight years after we had a record surplus, we’re now faced with record deficits. This mortgaging of our children’s future is a direct result of the Bush Administration’s dangerously failed fiscal policies. — 8/9/08 Democratic Radio Address

And, you know, frankly, the last eight years what we’ve seen is moving in reverse. We’ve been moving in reverse. When Bill Clinton was president, the average family income went up $7,500; $7,500. Since George Bush has been president, you know what it’s done? It’s gone down $2,000. Think about that. That’s a $9,500 swing; $9,500. That’s money out of your pocket. That’s money going out of this country because we’re borrowing it from China to send to Saudi Arabia to buy oil. That’s what’s added $4 trillion to our deficit. I mean, think about that. You know, so we’ve created a mountain of debt for the next generation that they’re going to have to pay off. This little guy, he’s not too worried about it right now, but, you know, we’ve created $30,000 worth of debt for every man, woman and child in America. That’s going to have to be paid back. — 9/3/08 New Philadelphia, Ohio

We can’t mortgage our children’s future on a mountain of debt. I look at all these young people here today, and I say to myself, the notion that we are loading up more and more debt on a war in Iraq that I believe should have never been authorized and should never been waged — (cheers, applause) — on tax cuts for multi-billion dollar corporations and some of the wealthiest Americans, that is not a good investment in the future. We can’t run up a credit card, have a party and leave our children to pay the bill. It is time — it is time to put an end to the runaway spending and the record deficits. It’s not how you would run your family budget, and it must not be how Washington handles your tax dollars. It’s time to return to fiscal responsibility and pay-as-you-go budgeting, the kind of budgeting we had in the 1990s. You’ll remember Bill Clinton left a surplus — (cheers, applause) — to George W. Bush. — 10/1/08 La Crosse, Wisconsin

We can’t afford another four years of the kind of deficits we’ve been seeing over the last eight. Young people, you are going to have to pay for this debt we’re piling up. We can’t afford to mortgage our children’s future on another mountain of debt. — 10/2/08 East Lansing, Michigan

The problem is, is that the way Bush has done it over the last eight years is to take out a credit card from the Bank of China in the name of our children, driving up our national debt from $5 trillion for the first 42 presidents – #43 added $4 trillion by his lonesome, so that we now have over $9 trillion of debt that we are going to have to pay back — $30,000 for every man, woman and child. That’s irresponsible. It’s unpatriotic. — Independence Day, 2008, Fargo, North Dakota:

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