Congress Inaction On Debt Ceiling Could Disrupt July Social Security Payments!

http://www.foxnews.com ^

[Retired Chemist]

Treasury's latest action to avoid breaking the debt limit involves temporarily shifting money from both the government securities retirement fund and the civil service retirement and disability fund into non-interest bearing accounts.

Treasury dodged a default in April by temporarily shifting funds from the government securities retirement account.

Though Treasury is shifting some funds to avoid hitting the debt ceiling for a second time this year, those maneuvers won't be useful in late June. That's because the government will have to make $67 billion in semiannual interest payments to Social Security and other trust funds on June 28 -- an amount that exceeds Treasury's arsenal of maneuvers.

"The Treasury faces obligations in late June that, on the basis of current projections, cannot be surmounted without an increase in the statutory debt limit," Treasury said in a statement Tuesday.

Government payments to Social Security recipients in July also could be disrupted. "Lack of certainty ... will challenge the Treasury's ability to ensure timely processing of payments to Social Security and other beneficiaries," Treasury's statement said.

[SteamshipTime]

The Republicans have walked into a fiscal trap. They agreed to minuscule tax cuts in exchange for a dangerous, wealth-destroying federal spending and regulatory spree. The choice the Democrats will offer is: raise taxes and we will agree to raise the debt limit to avoid default. Bush will agree, citing the extraordinary expense of the War on [fill in the blank] and the danger posed by the Canadian and Mexican governments' legalization of marijuana.

The economy, already groaning under farm subsidies, tariffs, oppressive national security regulation, and the government's infinitely expanding consumption of private sector wealth, will stagnate and people will turn out in droves to vote for a real Democrat rather than a Republican pretending to be one. You heard it here first.

[SteamshipTime]

Correction: proposed legalization of marijuana.