Today's roundup of news concerning the debt ceiling that threatens Social Security checks -- and the U.S. economy:
- The New York Times reports that the Treasury can probably continue to pay its bills for several days after August 2, probably until August 10. Great news. We can keep this crisis going another week!
- Republicans in the House of Representatives are in the sort of disarray normally seen among Democrats. The debt ceiling bill proposed by the Speaker of the House turned out not to save as much money as he had said so it is being revised. More important, the chances of passage of that bill in the House, even after revision, are looking worse and worse as the debt ceiling crisis reveals fault lines within the Republican party. Floor action on the bill has been delayed. If the House cannot pass the Boehner bill, Republican bargaining power decreases and the chances of default increase.
- To rally their troops in the House, Republicans played a video clip from the movie The Town. In the clip Ben Affleck says "I need your help. I can't tell you what it is. You can never ask me about it later. And we're going to hurt some people." He and another character then put on hockey masks, bludgeon two men with sticks and shoot a man in the leg.
- The Dow went down by 91 points yesterday.
5 comments:
The NY Times article is great news for Social Security recipients since their checks go out on the third.
The following is a comparison of previous increases in the nation's legal ability to borrow money, known as the debt ceiling:
Total increase in debt ceiling under Presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton: $3.15 trillion
Total increase in debt ceiling during President Obama's 28 months in office when it hit May 16th: $3.144 trillion
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Under President Ronald Reagan: 17 debt ceiling hikes from $935 billion to $2.8 trillion
Debt ceiling increased $1.865 trillion -- an average of $109.7 billion each hike.
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Under the first Bush administration: six debt ceiling hikes from $2.8 trillion to $4.145 trillion
Debt ceiling increased $1.345 trillion -- an average of $224.1 billion each hike.
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Under Clinton: four debt ceiling hikes from $4.145 trillion to $5.95 trillion
Debt ceiling increased $1.805 trillion -- an average of $451.25 billion each hike.
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Under the second Bush administration: seven debt ceiling hikes from $5.95 trillion to $11.315 trillion.
Debt ceiling increased $5.365 trillion -- an average of $766.4 billion each hike.
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Under Obama: three debt ceiling hikes from $11.315 trillion to $14.294 trillion
Debt ceiling increased $3.144 trillion -- $1.048 trillion each hike.
Anon@10:11 - Social Security in addition to issuing checks on the 3rd of the month also issues checks on the following Wednesdays during the month. So that is probably why the Times article speaks of the 10th of the month.
This is what we need:
http://www.wbal.com/absolutenm/templates/story.aspx?articleid=77385&zoneid=12
http://www.market-ticker.org/akcs-www?post=190845
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