Originally published February 23 2006
Financial expert considers the consequences of exceeding the national debt ceiling
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
Dr. Chris Martenson carefully explains the significance of the federal government's violation of the debt ceiling, which was $184 billion, $5 billion less than the debt as it stands right now, according to reports from the Treasury Department.
Yet the US national debt 'ceiling', the maximum amount of debt the US government may hold at any one time, stands at $8,184 billion -- a full $5.5 billion less.
Although called upon by John Snow, Congress has not yet passed an expansion of the debt ceiling and so the US government is now operating in technical default.
You may recall that when last the debt ceiling was approached in the months surrounding the 2004 elections, the Treasury department furiously employed every accounting trick in the book (and then some) to avoid breaching the limit.
They even went so far as to take the unprecedented step of borrowing $14 billion from the Federal Financing Bank to cover up the shortfall.
Neither have any lawmakers have broached this indelicate subject.
I suppose we could write this off as merely an unsurprising development from a government that no longer bothers to even appear to be adhering to rules, laws and procedures, let alone actually doing so.
But the silence is all the more troubling because there is an unprecedented level of government borrowing on the books for 1Q06 with next 2 weeks (Feb 1st to Feb 9th) an especially busy period of time.
Congress will probably attach a rider to a "must-pass" defense appropriation bill and ironically title it "The Fiscal Responsibility Amendment of 2006".
Since the debt ceiling has been raised 50 times over the past 40 years, hoping for some rational debate on the matter would be an extravagant indulgence.
Leaving aside the issue of a technical default, one wonders why questions aren't being asked about the rate of debt accumulation and whether it's sustainable.
The last debt-ceiling adjustment was $800 billion and was passed in November 2004.
Pay now or pay later but pay we will.
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