govt shutdown looms

[Danzig]

so...much hand-wringing is going on, and i just had a client come by and mention that social security checks could stop coming. so, i looked into it-sure enough, if the govt defaults, ss would be affected. so, some reading turned me to other subjects, other articles, and finally, i wondered....why is there a debt ceiling? when was it put in place? so, of course, i asked the mighty google god...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/...fecd_blog.html

The article notes that the debt limit generally was raised without controversy until a White House request to raise the limit in 1953 was sidetracked in the Senate, “where the ceiling was viewed as an instrument for forcing economy on the executive branch of the government.”

Hmm, that sounds familiar.



and the last of the article:

The debt limit was originally conceived as a way to make things easier for Congress, because lawmakers were tired of having to issue bonds for specific purposes. (Congress, after all, had already decided to spend the money.) But then Congress often finds a way to make the easy stuff harder.

Indeed, when he was a senator, President Obama also refused to approve a debt-limit increase in 2006 without a plan to reduce the deficit. The president now acknowledges that was a “political vote, as opposed to doing what was important for the country — which he regrets.

[Danzig]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History...ling_increases


A statutorily imposed debt ceiling has been in effect since 1917 when the US Congress passed the Second Liberty Bond Act. Before 1917 there was no debt ceiling in force, but there were parliamentary procedural limitations on the level of possible debt that could be held by government.

US government indebtedness has been the norm in United States financial history, as well of most Western European and North American countries, for the past 200 years.

The US has been in debt every year except for 1835.
Debts incurred during the American Revolutionary War and under the Articles of Confederation led to the first yearly report on the amount of the debt ($75,463,476.52 on January 1, 1791).
Every President since Herbert Hoover has added to the national debt expressed in absolute dollars.

The debt ceiling has been raised 74 times since March 1962,[1] including 18 times under Ronald Reagan, eight times under Bill Clinton, seven times under George W. Bush, and three times under Barack Obama.

[Danzig]

i love history, i'm such a geek:


Prior to the Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974, the debt ceiling played an important role since Congress had few opportunities to hold hearings and debates on the budget.[8] James Surowiecki argued that the debt ceiling lost its usefulness after these reforms to the budget process.[9]

In 1979, noting the potential problems of hitting a default, Dick Gephardt imposed the "Gephardt Rule," a parliamentary rule that deemed the debt ceiling raised when a budget was passed. This resolved the contradiction in voting for appropriations but not voting to fund them. The rule stood until it was repealed by the Republican Congress in 1995.


now, that gephardt rule makes complete sense. how could it not? too bad it was repealed...not that it matters, we haven't had an actual budget in YEARS.

[Danzig]

[b]In 2011, Republicans in Congress attempted to use the debt ceiling as leverage for deficit reduction. The delay in raising the debt ceiling led to the first ever downgrade in the federal government's credit rating. The credit downgrade and debt ceiling debacle contributed to the Dow Jones Industrial Average falling 2,000 points in late July and August. Following the downgrade itself, the DJIA had one of its worst days in history and fell 635 points on August 8.[14] The GAO estimated that the delay in raising the debt ceiling raised borrowing costs for the government by $1.3 billion in 2011 and noted that the delay would also raise costs in later years. The Bipartisan Policy Center extended the GAO's estimates and found that the delay raised borrowing costs by $18.9 billion over ten years.[/B]

f***ing brilliant. raised borrowing costs by 18.9 billion.... and of course, those who don't study history are doomed to repeat it.

any guesses on the next downgrade? what it'll cost? that they only extend by six weeks, so we can keep arguing while solving nothing?

[jms62]

CNBC reporing OBama rejected offer for stay.

[bigrun]

Originally Posted by jms62

CNBC reporing OBama rejected offer for stay.

Anyone know what the offer was
Repukes weren't talking after the meeting

[Danzig]

Following talks, President Barack Obama rejected a Republican plan that would postpone a possible U.S. default, because it would not also reopen the federal government.

WASHINGTON — On a day crammed with rising and falling hopes, President Barack Obama and congressional Republicans groped inconclusively Thursday for common ground that could avert an economy-tanking default and possibly end the 10-day-old partial government shutdown.

"We expect further conversations tonight," Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., said cryptically at nightfall, after he, Speaker John Boehner and a delegation of House Republicans had met for more than an hour with Obama at the White House.

The White House issued a statement describing the session as a good one, but adding, that "no specific determination was made."

The up-and-down day also featured a dour warning from Treasury Secretary Jack Lew, who told lawmakers that the prospect of default had already caused interest rates to rise — and that worse lay ahead.


http://news.msn.com/us/obama-house-g...utdown-impasse

[Danzig]

http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slate...og_day_16.html

light at the end of the tunnel?

[randallscott35]

Good times ahead for all. Raise a glass.

[Danzig]

http://news.msn.com/us/senators-seek...p-effort-flops

Originally Posted by randallscott35

Good times ahead for all. Raise a glass.

we need term limits, asap!


"People are so tired of this," President Barack Obama said Tuesday in an interview with Los Angeles TV station KMEX.
....understatement of the decade.

[dellinger63]

We definitely don't need any more community organizers.

[randallscott35]

Originally Posted by Danzig

http://news.msn.com/us/senators-seek...p-effort-flops





we need term limits, asap!


"People are so tired of this," President Barack Obama said Tuesday in an interview with Los Angeles TV station KMEX.
....understatement of the decade.

No fu.cking sh.it