Normally, this forum would be about local issues (and I have another local issue blog post coming out in a few days) but we seem to have an unmoderated national politics debate going on in ... so let's throw some red meat out there for the political hounds to see if we can satisfy some of that pent up partisan ferver.
Topic: Debt ceiling. Try to stay on topic.
The Treasury Secretary is on record as saying that if we don't raise the debt ceiling by the end of March, that we would "risk an unprecedented and economically devastating default on American debt". Then he said, with a little shuffling (temporarily raiding federal employee pension plans) he could pay the bills until August.
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Last time I checked, the interest payments are 5% of the "budget" (the last Congress never passed a budget) and I'm pretty sure we have enough tax revenue coming in to cover the interest on the debt. Is this talk from the Treasury Secretary hyperbole and scare tactics, or is this a real serious problem? What should the Congress and the President do?
Spending breakdown of 3.819 trillion:
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25% - Defense
21% - Pensions
23% - Healthcare
13% - Welfare
5% - Interest on Debt
13% - All other (education, transportation, misc.)
Sources of funds:
56% - Revenue
44% - Borrowing from the unborn (because they can't vote anyway).
