“I am writing to request that Congress raise the statutory debt limit as soon as possible," wrote Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson yesterday in a letter to Congress. In a letter to Sen. Reid, Paulson urged lawmakers to heighten the debt ceiling before we pass the $9 trillion mark in October.
Seriously?!? The $8.9 trillion cap (please recall our “how much is a trillion” lesson from yesterday ) must not be enough debt for our nation to bear… why not throw another log on the fire?
“And for what?” you might ask… a rainy day fund? The war on terror? Entitlement programs? The coming energy crisis? No… Paulson seeks more debt allowance so that the U.S. government can borrow money to pay outstanding bills. The money Congress grants him (which it surely will) has already been spent.
What an amazing country we live in. In order to keep up appearances, the man we all “trust” to run the nation’s Treasury would rather sink the nation deeper in debt than dare rattle the world’s cage by questioning the true worth of our Treasury notes, the real purchasing power of our economy and the actual “value” of the dollar.
Finding a way to pay U.S. bills without indebting this country more “would create unnecessary uncertainty for the financial markets and result in costs to the government," said Paulson. Right. So it’s better to go deeper into debt than pay your bills. Where did this idea come from? Oh, yeah, we figured that out in our book Empire of Debt.
Such actions, he said, "should be reserved only for extraordinary circumstances, and should be avoided." Of course, owing the world $8.9 TRILLION dollars is not extraordinary.
Unbelievable.
Seriously?!? The $8.9 trillion cap (please recall our “how much is a trillion” lesson from yesterday ) must not be enough debt for our nation to bear… why not throw another log on the fire?
“And for what?” you might ask… a rainy day fund? The war on terror? Entitlement programs? The coming energy crisis? No… Paulson seeks more debt allowance so that the U.S. government can borrow money to pay outstanding bills. The money Congress grants him (which it surely will) has already been spent.
What an amazing country we live in. In order to keep up appearances, the man we all “trust” to run the nation’s Treasury would rather sink the nation deeper in debt than dare rattle the world’s cage by questioning the true worth of our Treasury notes, the real purchasing power of our economy and the actual “value” of the dollar.
Finding a way to pay U.S. bills without indebting this country more “would create unnecessary uncertainty for the financial markets and result in costs to the government," said Paulson. Right. So it’s better to go deeper into debt than pay your bills. Where did this idea come from? Oh, yeah, we figured that out in our book Empire of Debt.
Such actions, he said, "should be reserved only for extraordinary circumstances, and should be avoided." Of course, owing the world $8.9 TRILLION dollars is not extraordinary.
Unbelievable.
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