The U.S. has reached the debt ceiling. What are your thoughts on this?

To me, this is just white-washing the main problem.

Congress better raise the ceiling, or else shit is gonna hit the fan. And I mean HIT. THE. FAN.

@bob_ yes, but we’ll feel so much better knowing the debt isn’t increasing.

@cockswain As the article you posted says, this is not about the debt increasing or not, it’s about the U.S. government making whole on its financial commitments. It is literally impossible to close the federal deficit any time soon, so while politicians find a way to do so in the medium term, now they have to raise the damn ceiling.

I know, but this is a political stunt pressured on the GOP by the Tea Party to make the voters “feel” something is being done. At least that’s how I see it.

It’s all smoke and mirrors. I do not believe ONE word from the mouth of big brother.
You’re just spinning your wheels trying to make sense out the senseless.

Count your own chickens. if you have any left in your clutch and then, stuff ‘em in your mattress. lol

Whatever is going to happen is going to happen without our consent.

This has the potential to ruin a struggling economy for no good reason.
Those trying to stop from raising the debt limit are recklessly endangering our financial system.

Raising the debt ceiling will only temporarily delay the inevitable. If the debt ceiling is raised, then the United States will either explicitly default on payments in like 10–20 years, or implicitly by massive inflation. If the debt ceiling will not be raised, and they don’t wish to default, then the government better start slashing the budget.

2nd answer….......

Raising the National Debt is like raising the borrowing limit on a credit card.

The higher the limit and inability to pay it, is how people find themselves in Bankruptcy Court.

Is America heading to Bankruptcy Court?

The Chinese would love this.

The consequences of not raising the debt ceiling are terrible and far-reaching.

It’s the end of the world…debt, disaster after disaster, wars just raging on and not slowing down, who knows what could be next..people start launching missiles and then martial law and it all goes to hell.

Don’t mind me, just checking my survival gear and my food supply…

I’m gonna buy that zombie proof house and build a bunker 10 miles deep then we’ll see whose world is gonna end. Not mine you damn nuclear bomb dropping zombies.

The Chinese will love foreclosing on the USA. How you all feel about learning to speak mandarin???

@rooeytoo Given how much the US owes China, they would be start raving mad to foreclose on them. They’ll tighten the strings and impose a few conditions, certainly, and try to replace the dollar as the world’s reserve currency, but foreclose? Not a chance in hell.

yeah right, and the Titanic was unsinkable!

We have gone from a deficit of about $600 billion/yr to a deficit of $1.7 Trillion/yr. The $600 billion was out of control and I’ve said that many times. But tripling that number didn’t help. There doesn’t seem to be any restraint on spending even though we have finished TARP and Stimulus and all the other supposedly one time shots in the arm. Yet the spending continues at a rate the exceeds revenues by $1.7 trillion every year.

Even if you assume Obama’s number is correct, the tax rates for those making $250K or more are only worth $42 billion/yr. Letting those expire does virtually nothing for the deficit and absolutely nothing for the debt. Most Democrats don’t like the Ryan Plan for reducing the deficit but offer nothing to counter it. Unless there is some plan to lower spending, we are at an impasse. Democrats want the debt ceiling raised but can’t seem to find anything in the budget to cut. That’s because they want to continue with this level of deficit spending.

Even the Ryan Plan doesn’t stop the growth of debt which will exceed $25 trillion over the next ten years even if it is passed. Come on guys, isn’t there some way to dig ourselves out of this hole? Simply passing another hike in the debt ceiling certainly doesn’t address the underlying problem.

@meiosis

China may lose a few hundred billion but they eliminate the US as a force in the world. It may very well be worth the price. How much was it worth to us to have the USSR collapse and end the cold war? It was significant.

@Jaxk Over the next century, the US is gong to lose its pre-eminence regardless, you can be 100% sure of that. Why should the the Chinese shoot themselves in the foot to bring it about catastrophically, when they can nudge it along quite nicely all the while getting richer and richer at your expense? The analogy with the cold war is spurious.

@meiosis

I think you may be underestimating the similarities between the USSR and our predicament today. Debt sunk their economy and they were no longer able to borrow. If that happens here, China will lose their investment regardless. Either through default on our loans or through massive inflation that makes their investment worthless. The only way they salvage their investment is if our economy recovers and our currency becomes stable again. No sign of that coming down the road.

So even if your right about the US imploding within the next century, the Chinese lose their investment anyway. Why not help it along and claim a massive victory?

Who said anything about imploding? The USA will suffer the same fate as all empires, and face gradually. It happened to us (Britain) in the last century and the sky didn’t fall in and we’re still pretty well off, just no longer top dog. The same will happen to whoever takes over next