Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said Friday that Congress should stop placing legal limits on the amount of money the government can borrow and effectively lift the debt limit to infinity.
On Bloomberg TV, “Political Capital” host Al Hunt asked Geithner if he believes “we ought to just eliminate the debt ceiling.”
“Oh, absolutely,” Geithner said.
“You do? Will you propose that?” Hunt asked
“Well, this is something only Congress can solve,” Geithner said. “Congress put it on itself. We've had 100 years of experience with it, and I think only once--last summer--did people decide to use it to threaten default on the American credit for the first time in history as a tool for political advantage. And that’s not a tenable strategy.”
Hunt then asked: “Is now the time to eliminate it?”
“It would have been time a long time ago to eliminate it,” Geithner said. “The sooner the better.”
Geithner’s Treasury Department quietly warned at the end of October that the Treasury would reach current legal limit on the federal government's debt by about the end of the year.
In August 2011, President Barack Obama and Congress agreed to lift the legal debt limit by another $2.4 trillion--allowing the government to borrow up to $16.394 trillion. However, as of the close of business on Thursday, the Treasury had only $154.3 billion of that $2.4 trillion in new borrowing authority left.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said last week that the Senate stands ready to increase the debt limit by another $2.4 trillion. “If it has to be raised, we’ll raise it,” Reid said.
Cowboy's and Tea Parties Comments: Are you kidding me? Hey Turbo Tax Tim, does the words "economic collapse" mean anything to you? How about "down graded bond rating"?,.....maybe "national bankruptcy" rings a bell.
This, increasing the debt limit, really is a stupid idea placing the future of this country and our children, their children and our great grand children at signifcant risk.
Imagine a family increasing their credit card limit then using the limit. This is the same thing. The more money the U.S. borrows the more of the national revenue has to be used to pay it off, therefore the less money to pay for anything else from entitlements and handouts to national defense. Anyone who advocates increasing the national debt limit does not have this Country's best interests in mind and in fact is intentionally placing this Country at great risk.
The only way this Country can come out of this spiraling budget disaster is to repeal anti-business regulations from burdening EPA regs to Obamacare and allow U.S. business to expand and fuel higher revenue. The more money people make, the more money they spend, the more tax revenue is collected and the faster we can pay off the debt,....but we have to also cut waste and abuse, and reform entitlement programs.
Senator Eric Cantor and the Republicans has it right with their "You Cut" program and when earlier this year, they would not approve of additional government funding via a Contuning Resolution (CR) unless the Dem's agreed to cutting funding from somewhere else. Remember that we still don;t have a federal budget. Senator Hary Reid will not allo the Senate to consider the House passed budgets and Obama's sole budget proposal was voted down 99 to 0. And the American people still re-elected these Butt Clowns. Unbelievable!
