Posted on 10/07/2013 11:29:25 PM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
My latest piece explains why the business world's expectations on the shutdown crisis -- that the backlash might make Republicans ready to deal on the debt limit -- was folly. Republicans believe that the sequestration fallout, and the shutdown fallout thus far, have been goosed by Barack Obama in an attempt to maximize the damage to their party. That makes them less likely, not more likely, to raise the debt limit in a hurry. The theory that the government could hit the limit then just prioritize spending on debt service, troops and entitlements is widely accepted, more than Democrats like to think.
[snip]
"You gotta take Jack Lew at his word, but from the standpoint of [whether] that puts us in default, technically, no," said North Carolina Sen. Richard Burr. "The federal government still has about 85 percent of the revenues we spend coming in, and all they have to do is prioritize that they're gonna pay debt service first. And that leaves some prioritization for federal programs. I'm not as concerned as the president is on the debt ceiling, because the only people buying our bonds right now is the Federal Reserve. So it's like scaring ourselves."
(Excerpt) Read more at slate.com ...
During the same period, the Treasury turned around and issued another $8,323,949,000,000 in new Treasury securities.
The spread between the old debt held by the public that matured and was paid off during the fiscal year and the new debt that was sold to cover government spending over and above tax revenues, increased the net federal government debt held by the public by $777.223 billion during the fiscal year.
In the previous fiscal year, 2012, the Treasury had needed to redeem only $6,804,956,000,000 in Treasury securities, but then it needed to turn around and issue $7,924,651,000,000 in new securities—increasing the net debt held by the public by $1.119695 trillion......................."
It’s a shell game and the joke is on us. This administration has far surpassed it’s predecessors for reckless spending and the American people are too stupid to understand what is really happening.
Obama has by far, hands down, been the best friend the banksters have ever seen in the White House. On top of that, he is firmly stuck on the academic dreams of socialism and his policies have further weakened the poor economy he inherited. The rats have not passed a budget for a reason and every year without a budget has seen government spending explode as entitlement spending is not capped. Obama even doubled down on entitlements by ramming a new one down our throats that will further tax the productive.
The joke is on our children because we are dumping this mess on young and future Americans. The left believes we have become more sophisticated than our ancestors, but future generations will view us as the most selfish. We have made quite a mess of things and soon the day of reckoning will be here. There are many scenarios about how it ends, but all of them suck.
and that my FRiends is all u need to know...
Think about it...who can write a bogus check to cover the last bogus check you wrote and get away with it?
So Senator Burr's comment is glib at best, in my view.
Eliminate DHS who has twice the budget of the USMC. Eliminate TSA. Stop these retarded wars. Stop foreign aid,, you don’t do charity work with borrowed money. Eliminate the dept of Education. Quit buying rifles for the Cartels. No billion dollar subs as a gift for Egypt. Quit NATO. Eliminate the DOE. Eliminate Obamacare. Build the damned pipeline. Stop 100% of green subsidies.
The list is almost endless,,,,
Good strategy, when the Republicans control all three branches of government.
My question, however, is: what can we do this month?
Get the public's attention.
Ted Cruz and the House are doing that.
But how do we avoid default? (the topic of this thread)
If the Dems won’t cave, then bring on the default. Don’t raise the debt ceiling. Don’t hire back furloughed employees.
Keep the government shut down.
If the Dems never tire of the shutdown, then in a few years everyone will be accustomed to those 800,000 furloughed federal workers never coming back.
Default has a specific meaning, and it does not include total govt spending. It is only the servicing (interest) on the debt already accumulated.
If we don't pay salaries, benefits, etc, it is not technically default. obombers is trying to convice the liv otherwise.
Future generations will be too much occupied with getting enough food and shelter to survive to be much concerned with what their grandparents left them. The history they are taught will be totally invented, anyway, as in the last Great Experiment in the old USSR.
No one can, not even the Federal Reserve. It just catches up to that organization a little more slowly.
When the Republicans control all three branches of government they will be, at best, Bush. There will be no improvement because of Republican control of the elected portion of the government. Republicans, including Tea Party Republicans, will not do a thing to eliminate EPA and Homeland Security or even TSA or any other Federal agency and those agenciess ARE the government. The elected portion provides a lot of fire and thunder but their influence is small, now and growing less.
Those evil white guys some 225+ years ago had just won a war, but were losing the peace. We had enormous debt without the means to repay. Calls to reestablish a monarchy were heard. The future looked bleak.
If there is a way out, it will once again require the diffused goodness of patriotic Americans to fix our problems.
Just as the congress of 1787 was incapable of reform, it is foolish to think solutions will emerge from today's congress. Then as now, a convention of the states to amend our governing document may be our only hope.
The Congress and other elected officials DO NOT KNOW what the meaning of CUT THE BUDGET really is about. They don’t have the “backbone to even address it publicly”.
You are correct that not raising the debt ceiling will necessitate very large spending cuts. But it will not require a default because interest on the debt can be paid with only about 9% of what the government actually collects in taxes.
There is no avoiding collapse... It is just a matter of when and that is up to the Fed and their can kicking.
No— the other issue is the US must redeem T-bills that mature this month— not sure how much that is, but it’s probably far more than the tax revenue coming in.
“Good strategy, when the Republicans control all three branches of government.”
They did. And did nothing with the opportunity.
When they do again, they’ll squander that opportunity too.
The problem is systemic and cultural. Nobody wants to be the one to actually slash spending: others won’t let them, and they’ll be politically (if not metabolically) destroyed if they do. Republicans have no more incentive to stop spending than Democrats do. Won’t get fixed until the fire burns itself out. Only solution is individual: be self sufficient and teach your offspring the same.
There is so much confusion surrounding this issue, particularly conflating non-funding (CR) and the debt ceiling.
Bottom line: unless Congress increases the debt limit, the US will default on its obligations at some point, like a few weeks, after October 17th.
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