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The next big budget fight is going to be the debt limit, so it is critical to know when true deadline will be reach. An analysis by the Bipartisan Policy Center projects that the Treasury will no long have funds to pay its bills starting some time between February 15th and March 1st. From the Bipartisan Policy Center:
At this point it is impossible to know what the exact deadline will be. How much money the government takes in over the next several weeks will determine exactly when the limit is hit and since it is tax season that is hard to estimate with precision. The federal government is already taking extraordinary measures to put off the moment for as long as possible.
What is important is that it appears the debt limit will be the first of several budget related deadlines the federal government will be forced to face in the coming months. After the debt limit, which is likely to be reached in late February, Congress will need to deal with the sequestration cuts that would start March 1st. Less than a month later, Congress will need to find a way to keep the government funded because the last six-month continuing resolution ends on March 27th.
It is possible that these will all be looped into one big fight or they could end up a serious of brutal negotiations dragged out over the next two months.
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About FDL Action
Ohohoh, I know how we can fix the debt limit quickly: cut the SS payments by 10%, use a double chained cpi, and raise the retirement age by five years beginning on Feb 1. As we know per the catfood commission, the SS payments cause a major part of the debt because of the “greedy geezers driving their lexuses.”
“Hey, I’m getting a ‘deja vu’ feeling all over again.”
Yogi Berra
PCS to the rescue!
http://bgladd.com/PlatinumCoin2013.jpg
Hmmm …
One big merry-go-round or a bunch of smaller Ferris wheels?
Looks as if we are all going for a ride on the Absurdity Express.
Either we go round and round … or up and over …
And then, we’ll all “get off” at … the same damned place …
However, we can look forward to more rides.
If a government cares not a whit about the will and genuine needs of the people, then how is it legitimate?
If a government persists in protecting deliberate and intentional financial foolishness, otherwise known as fraud, designed to enrich the few and to impoverish the many, then how is such a government of any real use to the people?
If a government spends huge portions of the collective common-wealth on permanent war, then how may it serve the the interests of peace and justice?
Beyond the thrill of the ride, perhaps those things might be pondered?
Ah, well. Thank you, Jon, for looking forward and letting us know what to expect, more or less …
DW
10%? I don’t think so.
According to the link all SS obligations for the month add up to $61.1B.
We’re $175B short.
A 10% SS cut – even a 100% cut – won’t help much.
•President Obama has stated that the 14thAmendmentdoes not provide a reasonable basis for challengingthe constitutionality of the debt ceiling: –“My lawyers…are not persuaded that [the 14th Amendment] is awinning argument.” –Press Secretary Jay Carney:“The 14th Amendment [does not give] the president the power to ignore the debt ceiling– period.”
•Treasury has stated that it has no secret bag of tricks to finance government operations past the X Date
–Treasury will not attempt to “firesale” assets during a crisis
–Other ideas are deemed impractical, illegal, and/or inappropriate(platinum coins, IOUs)
How did we end up with so many idiots, morons, and self-serving assholes in our government. I just don’t remember it being this way before. EVER.
Now, we have Obama who promised “Hope and Change” and all we get from him and what poses as the democratic party is more foolishness, absurdity, capitulation, amd more of the SAME crap we’ve had for the past 12 years.
It’s just inconceivable to me that we could have gotten here and remained here for over a decade.
Well then….Chapter 11. Or..maybe GM can bail us out.
As long as we are stuck in a dialogue of who has paid for/not paid for government, we will never get to human rights, like food, shelter, education, income security, esp. in old age.
We could start with Article 25.
The Declaration of Human Rights.
GM’s going to need some deeper pockets.
We’re projected to be:
$43B short on Feb 15,
$1B short on Feb 19,
$14B short on Feb 20,
$10B short on Feb 21,
$7B short on Feb 22,
$9B short on Feb 25,
$10B short on Feb 26,
$20B short on Feb 27,
$9B short on Feb 28,
$63B short on Mar 1.
And it goes like that all year.
And what if a government becomes destructive of life itself? Well, I guess if they can manufacture consent, then the fraud is self-consistent.
Don’t worry comrade, the Barbarian’s SOB ain’t afraid to be an alarmist.
The very notion of “consent” in a National Security state is ludicrous on the face of it.
Might you say, Ludwig, that “democracy”, as we know it, as “it” is “practiced”, here, is quite as much a fraud as capitalism?
No worries.
Sound well the alarm, hoist high the lanterns!
One, if by capitalism …
Two, if by the manufactured pretense of “democracy”!
And all three, should both be contrived to the same selfish, destructive, and ignoble end.
DW
Well, you must already know my bias, comrade. I do doubt whether more more would risk life and limb for democracy than for capitalism, even if you exclude capitalists’ mercenaries.
But that sort of gets to my theme that the capitalists don’t believe in capitalism – it can’t be fought for any more so you need a national security state to prevent democracy.
Surely the hopeful, hypocrite Jefferson would be more displeased at democracy denied than capitalism gone. Surely? Maybe if I parsed his wordplay further I would get some clue.
Seems, though, his hypocrisy won out in the end.
Another reason I am detached from conservative fraudsters. What have they conserved? The path to doom.
I am from Planet Home, comrade.
And planet home is what, now, ’tis all about.
In the immensity of universe … there is no other.
Catch you later, Ludwig.
DW