Posted on 11/27/2012 7:17:29 PM PST by tobyhill
Congress must raise the debt ceiling before the end of February, and possibly sooner. If it doesn't, the United States risks defaulting on its payments to creditors.
That's the key takeaway from a new report released Tuesday by the Bipartisan Policy Center.
The group, an independent think tank, analyzed patterns in the Treasury Department's monthly cash flow and obligations to assess just how much time it has to continue paying the country's bills in full and on time if lawmakers don't raise the legal borrowing limit.
The debt ceiling is currently set at $16.394 trillion. By the end of last week, the debt subject to that limit had reached $16.268 trillion.
Treasury has been saying for months that it expects the country to hit the debt ceiling by the end of this year. But it says it can stave off the risk of default until sometime in early 2013 through the use of "extraordinary measures," such as temporarily using federal workers' retirement savings normally invested in government bonds.
Those extraordinary measures can provide about $197 billion of breathing room, which could cover the financing needs until sometime in February, the Bipartisan Policy Center estimates.
The United States doesn't bring in enough revenue to pay all its bills, so it borrows to make up the difference. Monthly deficits typically run between $100 billion to $125 billion.
(Excerpt) Read more at money.cnn.com ...
Paying more taxes to government is like giving heroin to a heroin addict.
“If it doesn’t, the United States risks defaulting on its payments to creditors.”
Any countries that lend money to the USA when it is bankrupt with almost $90 trillion in unfunded mandates, which is 550% of its GDP, deserve to lose its money. The USA is like the welfare class who bought houses when they had no money, and it will collapse just as the housing fiasco collapsed.
The sky is the limit.
If the debt ceiling is not raised, the US will not have to default. The US will have to have a balanced budget.
Look at this blog by this economist:
“The fact that we are here today to debate raising America’s debt limit is a sign of leadership failure.” - Barack Hussein Obama 2006
in 4 years $16.394 trillion will be chump change
The debt ceiling is such a laugh. Why have it if we keep raising it?
Stop the clock. Reverse the clock.
Socialism Is Legal Plunder - Bastiat
Pay, pensions and perks of all legislators past and present rescinded until the debt is paid off and a surplus clock starts ticking.
—That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.
Alter it.
It is a tiresome little exercise, isn’t it? I say make the debt ceiling $100T!! That way, we won’t have to raise it again for at least 2 or 3 years.
Close. Geithner is recommending abolishing the debt limit altogether.
The notional derivatives debt is over $600T.
It's silly. These debts cannot be paid. You can raise taxes. You can confiscate wealth. You can inflate the currency. But you'll never pay off a $600T debt.
Solution -- Jubilee. Cancel all the debts. Tell the creditors that they played a good game, but they pushed it too far and broke the bank. Now we all owe nothing, and we start over.
Yeah -- that would really hurt and cause all kinds of trouble. And sticking with $600T debt won't hurt?
JLS~:” If the debt ceiling is not raised, the US will not have to default. The US will have to have a balanced budget.”
“You never want a crisis to go to waste...”- Rahm Emanuel
Since when has Barack submitted a balanced budget that passed any house of congress..... NEVER !!
Why on earth is the assumption always that the first thing we would not pay is our interest payments?
...or in other words, “default” on anything and everything. Yes the logic or lack of is just stunning. Just a bit of political gamesmanship by those who seem to think the economy will just keep on keeping on.
LOL! Let me see if I understand this correctly. There is a date certain after which our creditors will be told we “can’t make the payment”? Really? Being as our “creditor” is The Fed who has been printing funny papers which have been bought by the US Treasury it seems about as serious as Dad trying to get back the advance on allowance he already knows I spent taking Becky Sue to the dance. What we should be telling our creditors is something more like “pound sand”. Those debts were run up by an illegitimate impostor claiming authority he did not have. The biggest “Identity Theft” of all.
Or as P. J. O’Rourke wrote: “Like giving car keys and whiskey to teen age boys.”
The proper thing for Congress to do is to ignore the fiscal cliff and then refuse to raise the debt ceiling. We can confront these problems now, or deal with much worse later.
Starve the Beast.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.