Snow: $8.18 TRILLION Debt Limit Not Enough! Spending Ends In Feb

[stopbush]

if the debt limit isn't raised.

Conservatives. Right.

WASHINGTON – Treasury Secretary John Snow on Thursday said the United States could face the prospect of not being able to pay its bills early next year unless Congress raises the government's borrowing authority, now capped at $8.18 trillion.

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

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"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," 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," Snow wrote.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/business/20051229-1414-debtlimit.html

[BlueJazz]

1. Good Grief..Maybe I'll just call Visa and get my limit raised to 1 Million

I mean..I'll probably have a better chance of paying that off than we'll ever "Payback" 8 1/2 Trillion..Sigh..

[ny_liberal]

17. Link to official debt site

http://www.publicdebt.treas.gov/opd/opdpenny.htm

[gratuitous]

2. Eight Trillion Dollar Debt Limit

How odd that we were paying that debt down just a few years ago. Then the Republicans got their greedy mitts on the federal coffers again, and wowee look at the debt balloon!

Think the DNC could make some political hay out of this? I mean, if it's sporting to do so, you know. Wouldn't want to take unfair advantage of the GOP for their gross incompetence.

[Al-CIAda]

3. I'm sure the DLC will advise against such criticism as 'extreme' ideas.

[mom cat]

5. They would not want to step on the toes of their benefactors.

[TheCowsCameHome]

4. Hey John, Help us out. Give back some of the $$$ you stole from CSX.

[lapfog_1]

6. Heck, that's only

$28,525 for every man,woman, and child in the US.
Or about $99,000 per family. Heck, that's only an additional $720 a month per family for the
next 20 years. No problem! (heavy sarcasm)

I wonder when the next Tbill auction happens... will there be any buyers? And why?

[snippy]

7. This is the fourth time Bush has had to have the debt limit increased.

A comparison of government spending and the annual federal deficits accumulated since 1960 under republican presidents and under democratic presidents shows that republicans are bigger spenders and run much larger deficits than democrats. Bush has been about average as a big spender for republican presidents. If Bush was a democrat he would be the biggest spending democrat since WWII.

Of the slightly more than $4.2 trillion in accumulated deficits since 1960, more than $3.9 trillion has been accumulated under republican presidents while only about $244 billion has been accumulated under democratic presidents.

And of the 15 times since 1960 that the annual deficit has exceeded 3% of GDP, every single time it was under a republican president. In that time the annual deficit has never exceeded 3% of GDP under a democratic president.

[ny_liberal]

15. yeah, truly incredible

eom

[NanceGreggs]

8. Yeah, sure!

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

Unable to continue financing government operations? Fine with me. The 'government', under the Bush Administration, is now completely expendible - they do NOTHING, except hand out taxpayer dollars to cronies, Big Business, Big Pharma, Big Oil, waging war, plus corporate welfare and tax-cuts for those who certainly don't need it.

As for paying the salaries of elected officials, well, so few of them actually EARN their salaries, there's no loss there. How many US taxpayers WANTED their elected representatives to approve tax cuts for the rich, and bankruptcy laws that favour banks and credit card companies' profits over their own financial welfare? They're paid to REPRESENT their constituents, not to BANKRUPT them.

Snow is the financial equivalent of Micheal Brown - incompetent to the core in his current position. If he thinks the debt limit needs to be raised yet again, let him put his OWN money where his mouth is - he can 'lend' every penny he has to the Bush government, and hold his breath waiting for a 'return' on his investment.

[global1]

9. Don't Raise The Limit - Leave *Co In The Situation Where He...

will be unable to continue to finance government operations. Let the 'merikun sheeple see him for what he is.

[NanceGreggs]

13. Amen to THAT!

As I pointed out in my post (above), he's just wasting the money anyway, so why give him more? What teeny-tiny percentage of what he borrows actually benefits the average American?

If he needs a few bucks, let him go to his friend, Paul 'This War Will Pay For Itself' Wolfowitz, or beg a handout from Halliburton ...

[Kansas Wyatt]

16. BushCo: Allow us to keep spending more on the Military Industrial Complex

And Corporate Welfare, or we are going to have to cut off Social Security payments to pay for them. They don't want to have to settle for spending what's left in the Social Security Trust like income tax revenue, they want to spend all payroll taxes on the Military Industrial Complex and Corporate Welfare or place a lien against the entire Trust.

The only "extraordinary actions" BushCo. will take, is to cut off Social Security payments and that is all.

[LittleClarkie]

10. Isn't this about the time last year that they asked for a raise?

I seem to remember it being one of the speeches Kerry gave on the Senate floor before the end of the 108th Congress.

[stepnw1f]

11. Unfucking Believable

They have bankrupted our government.

[Justice Is Comin]

12. Dorgan predicted they'd be

raising this pirate flag shortly in tne new year. Well plan for the made in America sign to read--made in China now...ALWAYS.

[Rainscents]

14. This is insane!