If it is any indication as to how truly severe the economic situation is, President Obama stated on Tuesday, “I cannot guarantee that those checks go out on August 3rd if we haven’t resolved this issue. Because there may simply not be the money in the coffers to do it,”
It would seem that the myriad talking head economists were a bit premature when declaring “The Recession’s Over”, especially if the US government does not have the money in the coffers to pay retirees their Social Security benefits. Some look at the statement as a form of blackmail being used to scare people into pushing their representatives into making compromises to the national economy.
The Treasury Department has made it known that after August 2nd, it will be unable to pay on all of the bills owed by the government. Various budget analysts have stated that there is actually more than enough money coming in to pay the interest on the debt, but without a raised debt ceiling giving authority to borrow more money, the government would have to stop payment on some of its bills.
Ben Bernanke, Chairman of the Federal Reserve, said that the U.S. would keep paying the interest on government debt even if Congress failed to raise the debt ceiling. “The assumption is that as long as possible, the Treasury would want to try to make payments on the principal and interest to the government debt, because failure to do that would certainly throw the financial system into enormous disarray and have major impacts on the global economy,” said Bernanke.
Still, political rhetoric and the blame game continue to spin around the Hill. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, in remarks on the Senate floor, said, “After years of discussions and months of negotiations, I have little question that as long as this president is in the Oval Office, a real solution is probably unattainable,”.
As the deadline approaches, lawmakers continue to maneuver and push their agendas and the public will have to wait to see what their elected representatives decide. Either the debt ceiling will increase further destabilizing the dollar in the international community, or it will not and the U.S. will begin to default on its obligations, which will have a similar effect. Either way, the waves of the perfect financial storm are beginning to lap on the shores of the land of the free and the home of brave.
Lawmakers from both parties want to use the threat of that deadline to work out a broader package on long-term deficit reduction, with Republicans looking to cut trillions of dollars in federal spending, while Democrats are pushing for a more “balanced approach,” which would include both spending cuts and increased revenue through taxes.
Democratic and Republican lawmakers are expected to hold another round of negotiations with Mr. Obama at the White House Tuesday afternoon on long-term deficit reduction, though talks have yielded little results to date.
Mr. Obama told Pelley “this is not just a matter of Social Security checks. These are veterans checks, these are folks on disability and their checks. There are about 70 million checks that go out.”
If it is any indication as to how truly severe the economic situation is, President Obama stated on Tuesday, “I cannot guarantee that those checks go out on August 3rd if we haven’t resolved this issue. Because there may simply not be the money in the coffers to do it,”
It would seem that the myriad talking head economists were a bit premature when declaring “The Recession’s Over”, especially if the US government does not have the money in the coffers to pay retirees their Social Security benefits. Some look at the statement as a form of blackmail being used to scare people into pushing their representatives into making compromises to the national economy.
The Treasury Department has made it known that after August 2nd, it will be unable to pay on all of the bills owed by the government. Various budget analysts have stated that there is actually more than enough money coming in to pay the interest on the debt, but without a raised debt ceiling giving authority to borrow more money, the government would have to stop payment on some of its bills.
Ben Bernanke, Chairman of the Federal Reserve, said that the U.S. would keep paying the interest on government debt even if Congress failed to raise the debt ceiling. “The assumption is that as long as possible, the Treasury would want to try to make payments on the principal and interest to the government debt, because failure to do that would certainly throw the financial system into enormous disarray and have major impacts on the global economy,” said Bernanke.
Still, political rhetoric and the blame game continue to spin around the Hill. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, in remarks on the Senate floor, said, “After years of discussions and months of negotiations, I have little question that as long as this president is in the Oval Office, a real solution is probably unattainable,”.
As the deadline approaches, lawmakers continue to maneuver and push their agendas and the public will have to wait to see what their elected representatives decide. Either the debt ceiling will i
If it is any indication as to how truly severe the economic situation is, President Obama stated on Tuesday, “I cannot guarantee that those checks go out on August 3rd if we haven’t resolved this issue. Because there may simply not be the money in the coffers to do it,”
It would seem that the myriad talking head economists were a bit premature when declaring “The Recession’s Over”, especially if the US government does not have the money in the coffers to pay retirees their Social Security benefits. Some look at the statement as a form of blackmail being used to scare people into pushing their representatives into making compromises to the national economy.
The Treasury Department has made it known that after August 2nd, it will be unable to pay on all of the bills owed by the government. Various budget analysts have stated that there is actually more than enough money coming in to pay the interest on the debt, but without a raised debt ceiling giving authority to borrow more money, the government would have to stop payment on some of its bills.
Ben Bernanke, Chairman of the Federal Reserve, said that the U.S. would keep paying the interest on government debt even if Congress failed to raise the debt ceiling. “The assumption is that as long as possible, the Treasury would want to try to make payments on the principal and interest to the government debt, because failure to do that would certainly throw the financial system into enormous disarray and have major impacts on the global economy,” said Bernanke.
Still, political rhetoric and the blame game continue to spin around the Hill. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, in remarks on the Senate floor, said, “After years of discussions and months of negotiations, I have little question that as long as this president is in the Oval Office, a real solution is probably unattainable,”.
As the deadline approaches, lawmakers continue to maneuver and push their agendas and the public will have to wait to see what their elected representatives decide. Either the debt ceiling will increase further destabilizing the dollar in the international community, or it will not and the U.S. will begin to default on its obligations, which will have a similar effect. Either way, the waves of the perfect financial storm are beginning to lap on the shores of the land of the free and the home of brave.
Lawmakers from both parties want to use the threat of that deadline to work out a broader package on long-term deficit reduction, with Republicans looking to cut trillions of dollars in federal spending, while Democrats are pushing for a more “balanced approach,” which would include both spending cuts and increased revenue through taxes.
ncrease further destabilizing the dollar in the international community, or it will not and the U.S. will begin to default on its obligations, which will have a similar effect. Either way, the waves of the perfect financial storm are beginning to lap on the shores of the land of the free and the home of brave.
Lawmakers from both parties want to use the threat of that deadline to work out a broader package on long-term deficit reduction, with Republicans looking to cut trillions of dollars in federal spending, while Democrats are pushing for a more “balanced approach,” which would include both spending cuts and increased revenue through taxes.
Tags: debt ceiling, debt limit, social security checks, US debt ceiling, US debt default
