US Treasury secretary says $8.18 trillion borrowing cap might not suffice

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/nation/stories/123005dnnatbudget.1c397fdc.html

Treasury Secretary John Snow on Thursday said the United States could face the prospect of being unable to pay its bills early next year unless Congress raises the government's borrowing authority, now capped at $8.18 trillion.


Mr. Snow, in a letter to lawmakers, estimated that the government is expected to bump into the statutory debt limit around mid-February.

"At that time, unless the debt limit is raised or the Treasury Department takes authorized extraordinary actions, we will be unable to continue to finance government operations," Mr. Snow wrote.

If the department were to carry out various accounting maneuvers – as it has done in the past to avoid breaching the limit – that would free up finances and allow the government to keep paying its bills "no longer than mid-March," Mr. Snow wrote.

Outrageous. Borrow and squander. They spent how much to store ice in Maine?

</Mr. Republican voice>

:sarcasm:

Debt when Shrub took office: $5,727,776,738,304.64
% increase: 41.2%

Estimated debt, January 2009: $11,425,614,948,417.40
% increase: 99%

For comparison, under Clinton:
4 year growth in the debt: $1,029,212,651,712.31 (24%)
8 year growth in the debt: $1,539,684,631,121.04 (36.7%)

I'm guessing we've already come to that point.

When it exploded by 207% under Reagan, from a manageable $930B to 1.9T between '81 and '89 , it was really no longer feasible that we would pay it off. During the last four years of Clinton's presidency we had a surplus of $559B (but the debt still rose $510B) so it would be realistic to pay down a smaller debt. However, the interest alone is now $250B+ per year (we have paid over 45.7B in interest just in October and November) so to pay down the debt would require
A) a balanced budget (LOL)
B) a payment of at least $250B to pay the interest
C) an extra payment of $500B for 16 consecutive years.

Essentially, we'd have to run a surplus of $750,000,000,000 for 16 straight years AND be willing to use those surplus dollars to pay the debt.

Now, if Al Gore had won the presidency and been able put that money in the lock box SNL turned into a punchline things might be a little different...

:think:

Note to congress: Knock it off. You can't have it both ways; giving yourselves bonuses while nixing payments from the people who can most afford to give you the money - especially when it's the same people who you work for...

This has been the repub wet dream for decades, to kill all the social programs in pursuit of war and corporate welfare.

It took them 40 years of maneuvering to get into position to do this, and now they will. It cannot be stopped at this point. They have dug a hole and I doubt we can dig our way out. The dollar will bust, foreign powers will move-in and buy-up at a discount the fed property. This administration and congress will do nothing to stop it. Even many of the Dems are in on this. Does Bush Sr and Prescott Bush's excursions to China during the Nixon days now make sense. We have been sold down the river.

We will see the collapse very shortly. Hold on, it ain't gonna be pretty. There will be an accounting for these treasonous bastards.

Buckle your seat belts. We're going to go down very, very fast. I think 2006 will be it.

There are so many things that are going to happen at once, and they will all hit next year. I've been predicting around February, the shit is going to hit the fan.

(checking my food storage in the garage)