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Timothy Geithner: Debt Limit Will Be Reached December 31
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/26/timothy-geithner-debt-limit_n_2366583.html?utm_hp_ref=business
U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said Wednesday that the nation's statutory debt limit will be reached on December 31 and the Treasury Department will take "certain extraordinary measures" to postpone the date.
In a letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), Geithner said that the measures would add about two months -- or an additional $200 billion -- to the limit under normal circumstances. However, given the tax and spending uncertainty due to the so-called fiscal cliff, Geithner said, he cannot predict how much time the measures will actually allow.
The debt ceiling is the legal limit for Congress to borrow money. The 2011 summer debt ceiling crisis caused Standard and Poor's to downgrade the credit rating of the United States and contributed to economic turmoil before Congress and President Barack Obama reached a deal to raise the limit.
The letter from Geithner to Reid comes as the fiscal cliff is set to happen at the end of the year, with no apparent deal close in Congress. The cliff will bring austerity -- a combination of spending cuts and tax increases -- which many expect to slow economic growth in the coming year.
(more at link)
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customerserviceguy
(25,183 posts)Maybe he calculated it using Turbo Tax.
abelenkpe
(9,933 posts)I do hate the timing...
BlueStreak
(8,377 posts)Obama is apparently going all in to capitulate on every possible thing before New Year's
What is wrong with this man? Why can he not see that he has all the leverage AFTER we go over the cliff?
I don't disagree with the idea of raising the ante to force the issue of the debt ceiling at the same time we deal with the other issues. That is smart. But if Obama is doing that to try to shove some half-assed giveaway deal through the House before Jan 1, that is terrible.
Do it, but do it NEXT WEEK.