Viral

More dollars than galaxies in the Universe

As Congress turns its attention to the budget and the country’s fiscal situation, the debt ceiling debate that has been simmering underneath the surface could come to a boil in the near future.

The Treasury Department estimates that the United States will reach its debt limit between April 15 and May 31. Administration officials are ringing alarm bells and warning of dire consequences if the $14.3 trillion ceiling isn’t raised.

“Republicans in the Senate will not be voting to raise the debt ceiling unless we do something significant about the debt,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said earlier this month. “I don’t think he [Obama] has to lay out in public exactly what he’s willing to do, but we need to begin serious discussions, and time’s a wasting.”

Senate Republicans reportedly are working on a Balanced Budget Amendment, a Constitutional amendment that would require a balanced budget every year, as a condition to raising the debt ceiling.

The Tea Party’s influence could make negotiations more challenging, especially if the two parties and Obama cannot find a middle ground on how to cut entitlement programs.

Treas. Sec. Geithner warned that a failure to raise the debt limit would mean the government would not be able to make the payments on the current debt, which stands at $13.96 trillion. “Even a very short-term or limited default would have catastrophic economic consequences that would last for decades.”




  1. dusanmal says:

    “Treas. Sec. Geithner warned that a failure to raise the debt limit would mean the government would not be able to make the payments on the current debt, which stands at $13.96 trillion. “Even a very short-term or limited default would have catastrophic economic consequences that would last for decades.”” – BS to scare people. It have been clearly proven that amount of income of USA Govt. >> amount of scheduled debt payments. That is why USA can still get new loans. People lending us are not idiots well, not all of them, those at Fed’ do qualify).
    Scare tactics.
    Not raising debt ceiling means that we would be forced to make balanced budget. That is not a bad thing. Quite the opposite.

  2. jbenson2 says:

    It’s time to stop kicking the can down the street. This has to be addressed, not in a few years, but now.

  3. ECA says:

    WWMCCCD

    What would my credit card company do?

  4. jbenson2 says:

    And when has Treasurer Secretary Geithner been correct on any of his plans? So we are supposed to trust his judgment now?

  5. KiltedTim says:

    The republitards can’t fix this. The Democrooks can’t fix this. The Tea Baggers can’t fix this. You know who could have fixed this? Ross Perot… but only if he’d been given the opportunity to execute both houses of congress and hire replacements using a sane businesslike method of determining who was qualified for the job, then running the U.S. government like a business.

    It’s too late. The only realistic answer at this point is to raise the debt ceiling. So everybody just get over it and move on.

  6. Mac Guy says:

    #5 – Horseshit. This could have been avoided, but people are too damn stubborn and are unwilling to let go of their precious little pet projects back home.

    It’s time we returned government to its rightful place: a system that sets up laws and protects our borders, not a system that doles out cash to people sitting on their asses.

  7. Ah_Yea says:

    Mac Guy is absolutely right.

    Unfortunately, as we have seen in Wisconsin, Ohio, California, New York, etc. that Mac Guy’s “people are too damn stubborn and unwilling” is right on the money.

    It’s time to realize we are all screwed. So much for the Good’ole US of A!

  8. KMFIX says:

    Thanks Bush! You were awesome!

  9. MikeN says:

    >You know who could have fixed this? Ross Perot

    Nope. Try reading his budget plan. The budget was balanced in Perotland by getting Japan and Germany to pay $100 billion each for defense.

  10. EnemyOfTheState says:

    Borrowing $.40 of every $1 spent. My children will be pissing on the graves of our “leaders” for years.

  11. eighthnote says:

    #6 “It’s time we returned government to its rightful place: a system that sets up laws and protects our borders, not a system that doles out cash to people sitting on their asses.”

    I hope you’re including the grossly overpaid asses planted in posh chairs in corporate executive suites – paid for by government subsidies.

  12. msbpodcast says:

    In #2, ECA asked: WWMCCCD?

    They would immediately raise the interest rate on your balance, tell you to cut up your card/credit instruments until further notice and give you the phone number of a credit counselor.

    Imagine if the United States had to go back to the electronic equivalent of a cash society…

    No government, federal, state, regional or civic, could spend any money that wasn’t already in their coffers.

    No more relying on income projections which turn out to be wrong when some or other sector(s) of the economy goes south.

    Think it wont happen? Think again… The bankers are getting nervous about the value of the currency.

    A brick doesn’t care how much you paid for it, its still a brick, but you may require a wheelbarrow full of dollars to get your hands on it to throw through a bank window.

  13. bobbo, words have a meaning and a context says:

    Tax the corps as they should be. Not that hard.

    “But the USA has the Highest Corp Tax Rate in the Developed World!” /// And yet the news is how many of them pay ZERO US Income tax. Saw a bit that some 20 years ago, Corp income tax was about 30% of Federal Revenues. Today it is 6%.

    Not that hard: tax based on where revenue is generated–ie, point of sale. Not where some papers where filed or where 5 corporate officers have a summer home.

    Just LOOK!!!!

    Silly Hoomans. Taking food from poor kiddies to overfeed the rich.

  14. McCullough says:

    I’m all for taxing the corps, Apparently this administration, as well as the previous admins are not.

    BUT….even if they did, what makes you think they won’t just pass the costs along to the slaves?

    It’s our corrupt, in their pocket, government that’s the problem, the corps will do what they can get away with.

    Dumbocrats and Repugs….Fuck all.

  15. bobbo, the evangelical anti-theist says:

    McCullough: of course corp tax is paid by the consumer==but only those who partake of the products, just exactly the way it should be.

    As to the universal perfidy of “leaders,”–don’t confuse the various issues. Different solutions for different problems. Looks like a system of public finance is a necessary element of any real political reform.

    After you fuck all, wipe yourself off, and address the various issues. “To each, according to their needs.”

  16. McCullough says:

    OK. I get it. GE which paid zero tax, should be taxed more, and then raise prices so the consumer (i.e. TAXPAYER) can cover said tax increase. That will show those evil corps.

    Makes perfect sense.

  17. Memphis says:

    Folks, the debt as of March 24 was 14,172,734 with a limit of 14,294,000. We are a LOT closer than they are reporting.

  18. deowll says:

    #18 You should have added Carl Marx to that quote. A man noted more for his ideals than economic skills.

    #17 of course business will do what it can get away with. The problem is the government is as dependent on having a healthy economy as any tick is on having a healthy host and the US economy is not robust. Many countries are doing much better.

    The more you bleed it the weaker it gets and the less money you have and once that turns into a vicious downward spiral fixing the problem is going to be about as pleasant as removing your own gallstones with a jackknife.

    Something history says a few people have actually manged to do and survive but I believe most people who found themselves in those straits died.

  19. MikeN says:

    >OK. I get it. GE which paid zero tax, should be taxed more, and then raise prices so the consumer (i.e. TAXPAYER) can cover said tax increase. That will show those evil corps.

    Makes perfect sense.

    Yes it does, because some other corporations will see their tax lowered, and those customers will pay lower prices. Lower tax rate with less loopholes, so you don’t reward the companies with the lobbyists.

  20. Lou Minatti says:

    It cannot be paid back. We will default or the Fed will inflate our way “out.” The only good thing is most other countries are in even worse shape. It’s a race to the bottom.

  21. bobbo, the evangelical anti-theist says:

    Corporations paying taxes is very much akin to a “consumption tax” which is favored by most economic theorists as it encourages savings, efficiency, lower prices, cost of production etc.

    But I don’t care if Corps were allowed to be untaxed==just don’t say they still then pay too much in taxes.

    bottom line: government should not spend more than they take in.

    Honesty, transparency, pragmatism. A system that takes food from people who are on the bottom rung of society, or today who go out on strike for better wages/conditions, while creating more dodges/cuts for the SUPER wealthy just doesn’t make any sense.

    Just LOOK: wealth accumulation at the top % of the country is at a peak level. No matter how you cut it: its not fair. That causes/justifies REVOLUTION.

    And its past time.

  22. SimonSezz says:

    McCullough, no, GE should pay taxes like it is supposed to, and then lower their profit margin by a hundred million dollars and still be very profitable.

  23. waiting for godot says:

    The sooner we crash this system the sooner rebuilding can commence.

  24. Sister Mary Hand Grenade of Quiet Reflection says:

    Donald Trump has a plan to wipe out the deficit with a one time tax on people that make more than $10M a year. Excellent idea and I’d sit on his face for that if his hair wasn’t so fucked up.

  25. Dallas says:

    Let see. We have a herd of sheeple here that voted for George Bush (twice) and now “outraged” at the results.

    You pathetic shits really need to stay out of the way, STFU, and not vote for a decade. You’re sorry ass pick of a buffoon leader added trillions of debt on the heals of surplus going in. If I could only hit you sorry as pussies up side the head with a shovel I would. Now you want to open your pie hole with another idea. Yeah right.

    Obama has turned around the economy from the sorry ass condition that you and Bush left it. A trillion dollar war and another trillion dollars in tax cut spending. Yeah, spending you ignoramuses.

    Preventing raising of the debt ceiling now is cutting off your own dick just to spite the Negro president. You would rather plunge the country into a recession and have your spawn sheeple unemployed just to get another hairball puke or teabagger in power. Shameful.

    Guess what? Your gonna lose like the teabagger witch from delaware, the 900 year old gum flapper from arizona and the dumb ass from Alaska. That’s what. At the end of obama’s 2nd term, my hope is the military is 30% smaller, more nimble, more lethal. The Christian Taliban in congress is banished and we have a entitlement reform that dealt with properly. We finally have a leader in the oval office with the right ideas. Your ideas clearly sucked so stfu and go suck up to your company for a Christmas turkey while adults are cleaning up the shit you left behind.

  26. nobody says:

    Don’t worry $14.3T is only about 2.5X the average income per household. That’s only like having another mortgage each, one for your house and another one for the country

  27. dadeo says:

    “More dollars than galaxies in the Universe”

    At least they express it in terms everyone can wrap their brain around.

  28. Pedro's Pet Donkey, says:

    pedro, my homey,

    quit your whining. you sound pathetic.

    has that green fungus around your asshole cleared up yet? remember, just because you love being poked up the ass doesn’t mean others do. talk about loving Koch.

  29. LibertyLover says:

    You want to see what happens when you have the second highest corporate tax in the industrialized world?

    http://tinyurl.com/4o84bav

    Don’t blame just Bush in this mess. It’s been going on through administrations for a century.

    And then there is this one.

    http://tinyurl.com/4vn3ldt

    Turns out the top 1% of wage earners in the country fund 38% of the tax revenues. And since their salaries are tied so closely to the stock market, when their incomes are cut in half, the tax revenues go with it.

    So go ahead people — keep raising the taxes on the rich. Keep raising taxes on the corps. Eventually you have neither and still have a pile of bills to pay.

  30. Mr. Fusion says:

    The simple solution is to bring back tax rates to reasonable levels.

    The last decade has shown us how wrong the Regressives are when they tell us “tax cuts create jobs.” If that were true then we would be swimming in jobs right now.


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