Category: US Debt
The analysis published under this category are as follows.
Wednesday, January 16, 2013
U.S. Debt Ceiling: Why Platinum and Gold Are Not the Answer / Interest-Rates / US Debt
By: Eric_McWhinnie
In the last press conference of his first term, President Barack Obama warned Congress that it must raise the debt ceiling to avoid disastrous side effects. He goes on to claim that failure to raise the ceiling could cause delays in Social Security benefits and checks for veterans. As usual, the two political parties are not expected to resolve their bickering before the last possible moment, which is creating a debate over bandaid solutions. However, ridiculous platinum coins and the nation’s gold reserves appear to be off the table.
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Tuesday, January 15, 2013
President Obama Utilizing Media to Pressure Republicans on Debt Ceiling / Politics / US Debt
By: EconMatters
Let me first state that I am not a Republican or a Democrat, or a Tea Party advocate; I just look at individual issues based upon their merit. The issues and the right solution is what is important to me, and not collective party ideology. But president Obama trying the same tactics of negotiation in the media to frame the debt ceiling debate as the Republicans being irresponsible, and not paying the Country`s bills is just media manipulation at its finest.
This tactic is very transparent and apparent to the educated members of society, unfortunately the tactic worked with regards to the fiscal cliff, and he is hoping to do the same thing again by putting all the pressure on the Republicans with these media shows, and essentially making the Republicans look like the bad guys here.
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Sunday, January 13, 2013
Silly U.S. Debt Ceiling / Default Debate Drama / Politics / US Debt
By: Mike_Shedlock
Of all the over-dramatized nonexistent threats, the silly worry of the day is the US is at risk of default if Congress does not raise the debt ceiling.
Earlier today, I saw a couple of articles outlining how and why a US default could happen. Well, it won't, and there is no need for all the surrounding drama either.
Friday, January 11, 2013
Gargantuan and Growing: The U.S. Debt Figure You've Probably Never Heard Of / Interest-Rates / US Debt
By: EWI
The widely reported $16.1 trillion federal debt is a drop in the bucket
Financial transparency is a must for U.S. publicly traded companies. But if the federal government had to abide by those same regulations, more Americans would know that the often-reported $16.1 trillion federal debt doesn't come close to the truth about the nation's liabilities.
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Friday, January 11, 2013
U.S. $1 Trillion Coin Isn’t the Right Answer to Our Debt Ceiling Crisis / Politics / US Debt
By: Money_Morning
Ben Gersten writes: There's increasing support for the idea of minting a $1 trillion coin to help the United States avoid hitting the debt ceiling.
Even those supporting the idea - including The New York Times' Paul Krugman - admit it sounds "silly," but say it deserves consideration in that it could help solve one of our country's biggest economic issues.
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Thursday, January 10, 2013
Krugman's $1 Trillion Platinum Coin / Politics / US Debt
By: Jesse
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Tuesday, January 08, 2013
Fiscal Cliff Averted, but the Massive Debt Will Limit Government Flexibility / Politics / US Debt
By: InvestmentContrarian
George Leong writes: Well, the doom and gloom of the fiscal cliff was averted in the nick of time, which in turn, pleased Wall Street and gave stocks a boost to begin the new year.
While the deal was a nice compromise between the two parties on the tax issues, there is a lot of work ahead for President Obama, as the statutory national debt limit of $16.4 trillion nears. As of this morning, the national debt balance used for the limit stood at a superlative $16.39 trillion. The headline national debt of $16.43 trillion is actually already above the limit, but don’t worry, the Treasury Department said it will be able to pay its debt payments and bills. Of course, we know this will also hold until the extended deadline on March 1.
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Thursday, January 03, 2013
Cold Hard Truth About the Fiscal Cliff Deal / Politics / US Debt
By: Money_Morning
Martin Hutchinson writes:
In the end, a last-minute deal emerged. Just like that, the fiscal cliff crisis was averted.
In the waning hours of New Year's Day, Congress voted to avoid a large package of tax increases, along with some modest spending cuts.
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Thursday, January 03, 2013
Fiscal Cliff Averted, But Debt Ceiling Looms / Politics / US Debt
By: Asha_Bangalore
Happy new year to all!
We host an open house each January 1. Breakfast is served starting at 9, lunch at 1, and cauldrons of homemade soup at 5:30. By 8, hopefully, the assembled multitude is hale, hearty, and ready to live up to their New Year’s resolutions.
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Wednesday, December 26, 2012
Dysfunctional Washington Leans on Fed’s Money Printing Press / Politics / US Debt
By: Michael_Pento
It should now be clear to all Americans that our government is completely incapable of voluntarily reducing our fundamental problem of excess debt. The inability of Washington D.C. to address spending, even under the duress of a legal obligation to do so, is flagrantly obvious.
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Tuesday, December 18, 2012
Fiscal Cliff Is a Diversion From Dollar Bubble Trouble / Politics / US Debt
By: Paul_Craig_Roberts
The “fiscal cliff” is another hoax designed to shift the attention of policymakers, the media, and the attentive public, if any, from huge problems to small ones.
The fiscal cliff is automatic spending cuts and tax increases in order to reduce the deficit by an insignificant amount over ten years if Congress takes no action itself to cut spending and to raise taxes. In other words, the “fiscal cliff” is going to happen either way.
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Sunday, December 16, 2012
Sorting Out a Decade of Debt, Investment Conclusions / Interest-Rates / US Debt
By: John_Mauldin
In today's Outside the Box I bring you two pieces that, at first glance, may not seem to have much to do with each other. First, Bill Gross, PIMCO managing director, runs down the fierce structural headwinds that our hard-pedaling global economy faces over the next decade. I am going to deal at length with not only his GDP projections for the rest of the decade but those of Grantham and others in the last two Thoughts from the Frontline of this year. This is a challenging environment for traditional portfolio construction, but it’s par for the course as we slog through the secular bear market I was first writing about in 1999.
Saturday, December 15, 2012
U.S. Caught in a Alarming Trap of Continuum of Deficit Spending / Interest-Rates / US Debt
By: David_Galland
Late at night on November 6, along with John Mauldin, Doug Casey and a group of partygoers in a café here in Cafayate, we watched on a small television as Obama's contract was renewed by a majority of the mob. As was the case with many readers, I suspect, my initial reaction was disbelief.
While I try not to pay a lot of attention to the careers of individual politicians, but rather prefer to monitor the carnage they inflict on the world in the collective, I sincerely believed that Obama's steady transgressions against commonsense economics, individual liberty and the rule of law would see him unceremoniously turned out.
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Wednesday, December 12, 2012
Why the Ballooning Student Debt Should Be on Your Radar / InvestorEducation / US Debt
By: InvestmentContrarian
John Paul writes: We’re two weeks away from surviving the Mayan Doomsday and three weeks away from stepping over the fiscal cliff. But the unabated student loan debt is just getting warmed up. Instead of dealing with the problem, Washington’s policies continue to stoke the fire. And that economic strain spells continued misery for America’s ongoing credit crisis woes.
Wednesday, December 12, 2012
U.S. Fiscal Cliff Dynamics Explanation: Household Budget and Family Debt Comparison / Interest-Rates / US Debt
By: DK_Matai
Politicians around the world intuitively understand the importance of translating complicated policy and complex laws into language that non-experts, ie, average voters can understand easily. When it comes to US budget numbers and negotiations, financial complexity can be extremely challenging. Many Americans and non-Americans don’t know how many zeros there are in one “trillion,” much less what a trillion dollar deficit means in terms of the world's largest economy and its overall impact on the global financial markets. In a recent poll question, for example, American respondents were given five multiple-choice answers for the question “how many thousands are [there] in a trillion” and just 21 percent answered correctly, barely more than what one would expect if everyone guessed randomly!
Tuesday, December 11, 2012
U.S. National Deficit / Interest-Rates / US Debt
By: Fred_Sheehan
"Under current law, the Treasury is technically allowed to mint as many coins made of platinum as it wants and can assign them whatever value it pleases. Under this scenario, the U.S. Mint would make a pair of trillion-dollar platinum coins. The president orders the coins to be deposited at the Federal Reserve. The Fed moves this money into Treasury's accounts. And just like that, Treasury suddenly has an extra $ trillion to pay off its obligations for the next two years - without needing to issue new debt. The [current $16.4 trillion national debt] ceiling is no longer an issue." - Brad Plumer, Washington Post, December 6, 2012, "Could the 'Platinum Coin Option' Solve the U.S. Debt Crisis?"
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Friday, December 07, 2012
US Debt Crisis, Interest Rates and GDP / Interest-Rates / US Debt
By: Zeal_LLC
With the rancorous fiscal-cliff negotiations dominating newsflow, the markets are rightfully on edge. Will a deal be reached as time relentlessly dwindles, or not? How the fiscal cliff is resolved has massive implications for the US economy and markets in 2013 and beyond. But provocatively, the fiscal cliff is a minor sideshow in the real crisis. The United States of America is drowning under federal debt.
Wednesday, December 05, 2012
California Dreaming: Bankruptcy, Pensions and Taxes / Politics / US Debt
By: BATR
The California Public Employees' Retirement System lives in the rarified air where financial magic somehow materializes to pay for their irrational exuberant pensions. When the drug high is over, the real world requires a harsh penalty for ebullient irresponsibility. The Chicago Tribune reports:
"San Bernardino, a city of 210,000 about 60 miles east of Los Angeles, filed for bankruptcy protection on August 1. Since then, it has halted its bi-weekly, $1.2 million payment to Calpers, saying it wants to defer any payments to the fund until fiscal year 2013-2014. Calpers says the city is already $6.9 million in arrears since August 1.
Monday, December 03, 2012
Doing Away With U.S. Debt Ceiling Drama / Politics / US Debt
By: Peter_Schiff
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner made news last week by proposing to transfer the Congressional prerogative to raise the debt ceiling to the President. The change would essentially do away with the meaningless debt ceiling debates that have become ritual kabuki in Washington over the past few generations. Most Republicans have dismissed the proposal as a blatant executive power grab that will significantly weaken both the Congress and the minority party. While this is certainly true, Congress will only lose a power that it has never shown the slightest courage to actually use. But in truth, the proposal has the merit of refreshing honesty. By telling U.S. taxpayers, and the world in general, that the U.S. government has no intention of ever balancing its budget or limiting its accumulation of unsustainable debt, then perhaps we can begin to have an honest discussion about our economic future. Read full article... Read full article...
Friday, November 30, 2012
NY Fed Mortgage Debt Data Says No US Economic Recovery / Economics / US Debt
By: Raul_I_Meijer
Let me try to keep this short and still make the point I want to make. Lately, I've seen a huge amount of people talking about an economic recovery, certainly in the US, so much so that people who disagree with that assessment are labeled "doomer" or things like that. Again. It's an easy thing to do.