Geithner : What would be Very Last Debt Ceiling Request; Says "A Lot"

[smithtg]

Its all a charade including the guy who asked the question

article here:

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2012/03/21/geithner_asked_what_would_be_very_last_debt_ceilin g_request_says_a_lot_would_make_you_feel_uncomfort able.html




http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=gIp4JvKL9Oo

[Zippyjuan]

A "last debt ceiling request" would require Congress to balance the deficit and even perhaps run a surplus to try to pay down the debt. The head of the US Treasury (Gaitner) is not a part of that process. When Congress does spend too much and needs to borrow more money, then Gaitner is needed since they are responsible for issuing more debt but Congress decides how much. He works for them. He can't say how much they will choose to overspend so he cannot possibly answer that question. Enough to cover all future obligations?


"If this were the last debt ceiling increase you could ask for, the final one, and you had to make it large enough for all current and future obligations, what would the request need to be?" Congressman Trey Gowdy (R-SC) asked Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner at a Capitol Hill hearing on Wednesday.



Typically the debt ceiling has been rasied a couple times a year- in the past it just didn't make as much news as it does now.

[smithtg]

A "last debt ceiling request" would require Congress to balance the deficit and even perhaps run a surplus to try to pay down the debt. The head of the US Treasury (Gaitner) is not a part of that process. When Congress does spend too much and needs to borrow more money, then Gaitner is needed since they are responsible for issuing more debt but Congress decides how much. He works for them. He can't say how much they will choose to overspend so he cannot possibly answer that question. Enough to cover all future obligations?



Typically the debt ceiling has been rasied a couple times a year- in the past it just didn't make as much news as it does now.

i agree with most of your points. But in some ways he is the national 'account'. Managing and knowing what the debts the country has is really part of his job. Sure he doesnt know how much the sailors in the capital are going to spend but he should at least have some sense on what we owe now.

the idea that the ceiling raising was regular business is what got the country into the mess that its in. Its crazy that RP's message doesnt resonate when it comes to balancing the budget and actually not borrowing over our head. But in some ways that is how half the country lives anyway or they are leeching off the government just to eat, so they dont care what the losers in DC do with our taxes