US Government is in technical default
As of January 26, 2006, our national debt was $8,190,567,748,779.48-- that's $8.191 trillion. Yet the US national debt 'ceiling' stands at $8.184 trillion - a full seven billion dollars less. Although our congress has been called upon by US Treasury Secretary John Snow, it has not passed an expansion of the debt ceiling, and so the US government is now operating in technical default.
In addition, there is an unprecedented level of government borrowing on the books for 1st Quarter 2006 in the next 2 weeks (Feb 1st to Feb 9th)-- an ambitious $70- $80 billion in Treasury paper will hit the market. As far as I have been able to determine, it is illegal for the Treasury to engage in additional borrowing above the legal debt threshold, so one wonders to what sort of emergency action congress will be forced to take.
Factoring out the plundering of excess Social Security contributions, the US government borrowed
$52B in 3Q05, $96B in 4Q05 and expects to borrow $171B in 1Q06. This national debt has become a monkey on our backs, for congress and the president has not addressed how we are to pay it down. Yes, they are worrying some about the annual federal budget deficits they have been piling onto the national debt; however, they seem to be leaving the national debt problem for future generations of citizens to tackle. Yes, we in America have always made the country a better place for our children and grandchildren; but I'm afraid we have given up on that value. Vote Out Incumbents for Democracy will continue its drive for replacement public servants to our fiscally irresponsible incumbents, until the critical issues like our national debt are addressed.
Sources: Bureau of the Public Debt, SafeHaven
Comments
It will now take 139 years to pay off the National Debt, as it grows and grows and grows.
There will be painful consequencesfor so many decades of fiscal irresponsibility by bought-and-paid-for incumbents.
BTW, they just raised interest rates again ! The signs are there. Even the rose-colored-glasses-wearers are beginning to worry.
Posted by: d.a.n | January 31, 2006 11:17 AM