Today’s NY Times article on debt “default” is point-blank incorrect in headline and substance

American Enterprise Institute ^ | 10/09/2013 | Kyle Hauptman

[honestabe010]

Given how arcane the debt-limit debate can get, wouldn’t it help if we had responsible reporting? Today’s New York Times story by Jonathan Weisman, “Many in G.O.P. Offer Theory: Default Wouldn’t Be That Bad,” seems to get the definition of “default” wrong. Or at least isn’t understanding what the GOP congressman quoted are saying. Default, in the bond market, means missing a bond payment. If you haven’t read it yet, the article quotes various Republicans who are arguing that the government will indeed be able to meet its debt obligations, for some time at least, even if the debt-limit is not raised.

For example, the first politician mentioned, Senator Richard Burr, says “We always have enough money to pay our debt service… You’ve had the federal government out of work for close to two weeks; that’s about $24 billion a month. Every month, you have enough saved in salaries alone that you’re covering three-fifths, four-fifths of the total debt service, about $35 billion a month. That’s manageable for some time.”

Now he may be right or wrong. But his first sentence is arguing that the government will be able to “pay our debt service.” He’s saying there will be no default. This is the opposite of saying “default wouldn’t be that bad.”

[ClearCase_guy]

For many years, the media has been biased and has seen the world in a rather skewed way.

Today, it's different. Today, the media just tells lies. They know that they are telling lies. And they know that you know that they are telling lies. And they don't care.

[SoFloFreeper]

Did you see this from the American Enterprise Institute? :)

Makes me feel good...maybe I ought to apply for a job at some conservative think tanks. ;-)

[wrencher]

The NYT deserves a boycott of advertisers right along with the Sharpton one forming over Ritz Crackers. Who are the NYT’s advertisers?

[ex-Texan]

Please watch the video:

'Dollar valueless, about to crash' - World Bank whistleblower

The sad truth comes out at last. We have a government of greedy idiots favoring pure profiteering and fraud.

All we can do is LOL !

[JimRed]

Neil Cavuto on FOX Business Network pointed out that the debt service is about $35 billion a month, while the tax receipts are about $250 billion. No need to default, and plenty left over for what the Feds SHOULD be doing.