The McLaughlin Group: Navy Yard Shooter, Guns, Fed Reserve, Pope, Debt Ceiling
Pat Buchanan, Eleanor Clift, Mort Zuckerman and Susan Ferrechio discuss.
Showing posts with label ceiling. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ceiling. Show all posts
Saturday, February 15, 2014
Wednesday, February 12, 2014
Lew Urges Debt-Limit Rise as U.S. Nears Borrowing Ceiling
Derek Wallbank and Kasia Klimasinska
bloomberg.com
February 10, 2014
Treasury Secretary Jacob J. Lew urged Congress to raise the debt ceiling as soon as possible, saying U.S. borrowing authority may not last past Feb. 27.
Extraordinary measures begun by the Treasury to remain under the debt limit “are likely to be exhausted in less than three weeks,” Lew said yesterday in a letter to House Speaker John Boehner, an Ohio Republican.
House Majority Leader Eric Cantor’s schedule for votes for next week includes possible consideration of legislation related to the debt limit. No bill has been introduced.
This article was posted: Monday, February 10, 2014 at 3:41 pm
Lew Urges Debt-Limit Rise as U.S. Nears Borrowing Ceiling
Sunday, October 20, 2013
Lew on Debt Ceiling Showdown: Never Again
(Newser) – For lawmakers who might be getting used to last-minute debt ceiling showdowns, the country’s Treasury secretary has a message: Not so fast, sunshine. “The message that we have to send going forward is that there was a turning point on Wednesday night and this won’t happen again,” Jack Lew told Meet the Press this morning, as per Politico. “It can’t happen again. You cannot take a risk with the full faith and credit.”
Lew said that the stalemate “was a political crisis, not an economic crisis,” and that it needlessly handed increased borrowing costs and loss of activity to a still-struggling economy. “It took an economy that is fighting hard to get good economic growth going, to create jobs for the American people, and it took it in the wrong direction. Our job in Washington is to move things in the right direction.” Lawmakers have a new spending deadline on January 15.
Lew on Debt Ceiling Showdown: Never Again
Friday, October 18, 2013
Empire Building, the Debt Ceiling, the Budget Deficit and the “Samson Solution”
Introduction
US and world political and economic leaders are faced with what they describe as a ‘systemic catastrophe’: the inability to pay global creditors, including domestic and foreign banks, investors and governments, who hold $ 16.7 trillion in US Treasury notes. There is a related crisis: the government cannot secure passage of a budget to finance its military and civilian agencies and activities, including large-scale payments to military contractors, the financing of business, agriculture and banking operations and social programs. The raising of the debt-ceiling is central to the functioning of the financial ruling class as it extracts hundreds of billions of tax dollars in interest payments from the US Treasury. Raising the debt ceiling allows the State to keep borrowing and pay its billionaire creditors. In turn, as long as the US Treasury has liquidity, it remains a ‘safe haven’ for investors thus providing guaranteed profits. In addition, as long as the dollar remains the principle currency for global transactions, it allows the US Treasury to print money at will and to borrow at a lower cost – at the expense of its competitors and adversaries.
Financing the budget deficit requires borrowing, which involves the sale hundreds of billions of dollars worth of US government bonds through Wall Street – but at a cost to the taxpayer. The common denominator is that the entire edifice of finance capital and all of its support structures depend on debt financing by the State. By borrowing and then taxing its citizens the Treasury extracts wealth from the vast majority of Americans.
To understand the fight to raise the debt ceiling and to pass a deficit budget it is necessary to analyze the long-term, large-scale sources of State debt.
Imperial Wars, the Ascendancy of Finance Capital and the Debt Crisis
The ever-increasing debt and the constant raising of the debt ceiling is a result of long-term, large-scale military spending to build the US Empire. The imperial enterprise has generated a huge deficit: the cost/benefit ratio has been overwhelmingly negative. Contrary to militarist propaganda, the empire has not been ‘self-financing’: Wars and occupation in Iraq , Afghanistan and elsewhere have cost the US taxpayers trillions of dollars, not off-set by incoming imperial plunder or domestic economic expansion.
Parallel to the cost of wars and occupations, the rise of finance capital has largely resulted from the pillage of the US Treasury. Huge bailouts, low interest loans, large-scale interest payments on bonds, subsidies and tax exemptions have created a financial ruling class based on maintaining a debt-laden, interest-paying State, which meets its obligations to the creditors while it privatizes (and eliminates) social programs. The result is a ‘poor indebted State’ and a rich and prosperous Wall Street. Wall Street stands to gain trillions with the privatization of the multi-billion dollar health (Medicare) and retirement plans (Social Security): this will form an integral component of the “Grand Bargain” to raise the debt ceiling.
Who are the Beneficiaries of Raising the Debt Ceiling?
The principle and immediate beneficiaries of increasing the debt ceiling are the wealthy, bond-holders and the medium and long-term beneficiaries are the military-intelligence-empire-builders who can continue to secure over $ 700 billion in annual budget allocations. The principle strategic losers from raising the debt ceiling will be the hundreds of millions of beneficiaries of social programs like Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid and their family members. As part of the ‘Grand Bargain’ struck by the Democratic President and Republican Congress – between $ 1.3 trillion and $ 1.4 trillion in social cuts will take effect over the next ten years, according to the Congressional Budget Office. The cuts in Social Security will occur by raising the age of eligibility for full benefits to 70 years, resulting in a loss of $ 120 billion, as many older retired workers would be expected to die before drawing a single payment while millions of Americans will be forced to delay retirement and work an extra five years.
Secondly, the earliest age of eligibility for partial benefits will increase from 62 to 64 years – resulting in an additional loss of $ 144 billion dollars from workers.
Thirdly, the cost of living index would be reduced – a ten- year loss of $ 112 billion dollars.
Fourthly, the calculation for initial benefits would discard the wage-based method for a so-called “price-index”, resulting in American workers losing another $ 137 billion dollars over 10 years. In sum, workers’ social security benefits would be reduced by more than half a trillion dollars – an enormous transfer of wealth to the billionaire creditors, investors and empire builders – all in the name of ‘debt reduction’.
The cuts in MEDICARE and MEDICAID would result in an even more retrograde class polarization. The ‘Grand Bargain’ could lead to additional losses of over $ 419 billion dollars.
The biggest cost to the workers will come in the form of an increase in their monthly premium for physician services (MEDICARE Part B) from the current 25% to 35%, resulting in a loss of $ 241 billion dollars. The second biggest loss to workers will result from raising the age of eligibility for MEDICARE from 65 to 67 years costing workers an additional S125 billion dollars. The third loss for workers will be a $ 53 billion hit from restricting the use of MEDIGAP insurance – supplementary policies that cover MEDICARE cost sharing requirements.
Further cuts of $ 187 billion in MEDICAID– the medical plan for the poor and disabled– would result when the federal government shifts its direct funding to block grants to the states that would severely cut services for the poor – a plan first proposed during the Clinton Administration with regard to welfare funding.
Once these reactionary cuts in basic social programs are in place, the beneficiaries, who are able, will be forced to buy alternative supplementary private medical insurance and private retirement plans, while the poor will go without. The running down of public social services by Wall Street has been a deliberate, cynical strategy to cause popular discontent paving the way for the gradual privatization of services: adding costs, eliminating options and limiting medical treatment, surgery and procedures, especially for the elderly. The privatization of Social Security, MEDICARE and MEDICAID, will maximize insecurity while minimizing services and lead to untreated and under-treated illness, greater suffering and economic distress. Bi-partisan Congressional –White House agreements via the “Great Bargain” to raise the debt ceiling will widen and deepen inequalities in the United States .
In sum, “the Grand Bargain” will cause American workers to lose over $ 1.119 trillion dollars over the next 10 years, leading to a sharp decline in life expectancy, access to health care, living standards and quality of life.
The Samson Solution
Given the harsh terms, which accompany the “Grand Bargain” to raise the debt ceiling, it would be better if no agreement were reached. The financial elite is counting on the ‘Grand Bargain’ to leverage their debt collection over the lives and welfare of hundreds of millions of Americans. It would be better to shake the pillars and pull down this Temple of Mammon (the ‘Samson Solution’) making them pay a price!
The ‘shock and awe’ induced by default would shake the very foundations of the financial pillage of the US Treasury and the taxpayers; default would seriously undermine the financial basis for imperial wars, spying, torture and death squads. The entire empire building project would crumble.
True, in the short-run, the workers and middle class would also suffer from a default. But the discredit of the ruling political parties, the political elite and Wall Street, could lead to a new political alignment, which would fund social programs by, in David Stockman’s phrase, “soaking the rich” – raising corporate taxes by 50%, imposing a financial transaction tax of 5%, uncapping the social security tax and collecting taxes on overseas US multi-nationals’ profits. Additional billions would be saved by ending imperial wars, closing bases and canceling military contracts. Tax reform, imperial dismantlement and increased domestic investment in productive activity would generate domestic growth leading to a budget surplus, extending MEDICARE to all Americans, reducing the age of retirement to 62 and providing a living wage for all workers!
Empire Building, the Debt Ceiling, the Budget Deficit and the “Samson Solution”
Wednesday, October 16, 2013
The Biggest Scam In The History Of Mankind (Debt Ceiling Truth)
More: http://www.hiddensecretsofmoney.com You are about to learn one of the biggest secrets in the history of the world…it’s a secret that has huge effects for everyone who lives on this planet. Most people can feel deep down that something isn’t quite right with the world economy, but few know what it is. Gone are the days where a family can survive on just one paycheck…every day it seems that things are more and more out of control, yet only one in a million understand why. You are about to discover the system that is ultimately responsible for most of the inequality in our world today. The powers that be DO NOT want you to know about this, as this system is what has kept them at the top of the financial food-chain for the last 100 years…
Learning this will change your life, because it will change the choices that you make. If enough people learn it, it will change the world…because it will change the system . For this is the biggest Hidden Secret Of Money. Never in human history have so many been plundered by so few, and it’s all accomplished through this…The Biggest Scam In The History Of Mankind.
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The Biggest Scam In The History Of Mankind (Debt Ceiling Truth)
Thursday, October 10, 2013
Republicans consider short-term U.S. debt ceiling increase
reuters.com
October 10, 2013
U.S. House of Representatives Republicans are considering signing on to a short-term increase in the government’s borrowing authority to buy time for negotiations on broader policy measures, according to a Republican leadership aide.
How long the increase might suffice – a few weeks or a few months – was unclear. But agreement by Republicans and Democrats to raise the debt ceiling would at least stave off a possible default after October 17, when Treasury Secretary Jack Lew has determined the government will no longer be able to borrow.
President Barack Obama has said he would accept a debt ceiling increase of limited duration as long as no strings were attached, except perhaps a non-binding agreement to discuss policy issues.
This article was posted: Thursday, October 10, 2013 at 9:29 am
Tags: domestic news, economics
Republicans consider short-term U.S. debt ceiling increase
Wednesday, October 9, 2013
Oliver Willis: Fox"s Erickson Issues New Debt Ceiling Marching Orders To GOP
Fox News contributor Erick Erickson is urging conservatives in Congress to separate the debt ceiling and budget fights as part of a strategy to “undermine Obamacare,” and is attacking Republican leaders who he claims want to merge them and preserve Obamacare.
Under the headline “This is the Strategy. Now Do It.”, Erickson, whose bellicose strategies are often favored by Tea Party members, writes on his RedState blog that “Republican Leaders are begging us to merge the continuing resolution fight and debt ceiling fight” because “They want to conflate it with the debt ceiling so they can do a grand bargain and leave Obamacare alone. He singles out Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) for criticism over his October 8 Wall Street Journal op-ed on debt ceiling negotiations, stating that that Ryan “wants a grand bargain and not once mentions Obamacare. Not once.”
Media Matters for America – County Fair
Oliver Willis: Fox"s Erickson Issues New Debt Ceiling Marching Orders To GOP
Don"t Confuse the Debt Ceiling With Default
The federal government will default on its debt only if President Obama wills it. House Republicans, by refusing to raise the debt ceiling until they obtain budget reforms, may be the country’s last hope to avoid a financial ruin.
Each month, the government collects $ 250 billion in taxes, and pays $ 23 billion in interest to public bondholders. If Washington can’t borrow more money, it will not be able to spend all that it has planned. It comes down to who gets paid and what doesn’t get bought.
Americans are not deadbeats. Families without enough money to do all they like pay their mortgages and credit cards, and cut back elsewhere. So must Washington.
Treasury Secretary Lew says he can’t set those priorities. In an emergency, as the government’s chief financial officer, that is exactly what he is paid to do. However, cutting back entails postponing, for example, the expansion of Medicaid as required by the Affordable Care Act and grants to universities for faculty summer money.
By not raising the debt ceiling, congress is not reneging on bills already racked up. The existing debt — which can be serviced by paying the interest due — covers those obligations.
Raising the debt ceiling simply permits Congress to run up new bills. And abandoning that debt ceiling discipline, as many in the financial community suggest, to let congress to spend as it pleases would be the peak of folly.
Studies by the Congressional Budget Office and Medicare and Medicaid actuaries plainly indicate if the government continues taxing, spending and borrowing as current law requires, then all Americans, and not just the wealthy, will be paying greater shares of their income on taxes and private health insurance. Federal spending on Social Security and health care will rocket and squeeze out spending on roads, education and other worthwhile activities.
Over the next several decades, budget deficits and the national debt will jump to unbearable levels.
The interest rates investors demand to purchase government bonds and resulting debt service will cripple Washington much as those did Greece and Italy in the years before their crises.
Economic growth will slow to a snail’s pace and working Americans will become much poorer. In the end, Uncle Sam will default on its bonds and pension obligations to the elderly, and many Americans will again be deprived of decent health care.
The president says lift the debt ceiling and he will negotiate on those issues. However, any solution requires raising the Social Security retirement age from 66 to about 70 to accommodate Americans living longer, and finally doing something about the prices of health care services and drugs.
Yet, Obama has repeatedly stated he will not raise the Social Security and Medicare eligibility ages. During the fiscal cliff talks, he refused to consider with Speaker Boehner entitlement reforms to address escalating health care costs.
In the United States, the average cost of an angiogram is $ 914 but in Canada $ 35, the price tag for an MRI is $ 1,121 but only $ 319 in Holland, and the painful list goes on.
Neither Democrats nor Republicans are willing to address those discrepancies in the implementation of the ACA or proposals to replacing it.
Only taking the money away will force politicians to deal with the painful truth: the price of health care, not access, is the real problem, and America’s health care system is likely the most inefficient and bureaucratically corrupt on the planet.
When a board of directors considers whether to permit a CEO to take on more debt, it asks whether the business will spend the money wisely.
Americans would be nuts to want congress to lift the debt ceiling so that the Washington establishment can continue profligate policies that will eventually bankrupt the nation.
Don"t Confuse the Debt Ceiling With Default
Tuesday, October 8, 2013
FTSE LIVE: China warns US "clock is ticking" on raising debt ceiling
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The FTSE 100 has dipped 8.8 points to 6,428.5 as investors stick to the sidelines while the US budget stand-off continues into a eighth day.
Investors are increasingly worried that Republicans and Democrats won’t reach an agreement on raising the US debt ceiling ahead of the October 17 deadline, triggering a default that would cause havoc on financial markets and damage the economic recovery.
Pressure is mounting on the warring parties to make a deal. China – the second-largest holder of American debt after the US itself – has warned the ‘clock is ticking’. US Treasury Secretary Jack Lew said: ‘Congress is playing with fire’.
US crisis: Treasury secretary Jack Lew, left, has warned ‘Congress is playing with fire’ over debt ceiling
Christine Lagarde of the IMF said last week it was ‘mission critical’ that the US resolves the crisis.
Renowned billionaire investor Warren Buffett believes there will be a last-minute deal, recently commenting to CNBC: ‘We will go right up to the point of extreme idiocy, but we won’t cross it.’
Adding to the negative sentiment, growth in China’s services industry slowed last month and optimism over the business outlook weakened, signalling that the recovery in the world’s second biggest economy is likely to remain fragile.
Capital Spreads trader Jonathan Sudaria said: ‘With such huge uncertainties in the market at the moment, no one has the confidence or nerve to place any sizable positions.’
‘The bulls are cautious of a prolonged stalemate and the bears are fearful of any surprise deal being done so the only trading of note is by those taking profits after the September run up.’
European stocks drifted lower in thin trading volumes as the US budget impasse kept investors on edge yesterday. The FTSE 100 Index was down by more than 50 points during the session though it later recovered ground to close 16.6 points off at 6437.3.
Investors’ risk aversion has risen sharply in the past few days, with the CBOE Volatility index, or VIX – popularly known as the ‘Fear Index’ because it is a measure of market anxiety – jumping 16 per cent yesterday to its highest level since June. The VIX has surged 48 per cent over the past three weeks.
Stocks to watch today:
Robert Walters: Trading statement.
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FTSE LIVE: China warns US "clock is ticking" on raising debt ceiling
Friday, October 4, 2013
Focus on debt ceiling as U.S. shutdown drags on; Obama cancels trip
1 of 9. Empty tables and chairs are seen outside the main headquarters of FEMA, which is partially closed, during day three of the U.S. government shutdown in Washington October 3, 2013.
Credit: Reuters/Gary Cameron
(Reuters) – The shutdown of the U.S. government appeared likely to drag on for another week and possibly longer as lawmakers consumed day three of the shutdown with a stalling game and there was no end in sight until the next crisis hits Washington around October 17.
Bowing to the reality that the impasse requires him to remain in Washington, President Barack Obama canceled plans to attend summits in Indonesia and Brunei next week. Earlier this week, he canceled visits to Malaysia and the Philippines because of the shutdown.
October 17 is the date Congress must raise the nation’s borrowing authority or risk default, and members of Congress now expect it to be the flashpoint for a larger clash over the U.S. budget as well as President Barack Obama’s healthcare law.
The situation gives “every appearance of getting dangerously close to the conversation on the debt ceiling,” said Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic minority leader of the House of Representatives.
In fact, she said, “We’re in the conversation on the debt ceiling.”
At the same time, hopes that the debt ceiling fight could be resolved without a catastrophe were raised by reports in The New York Times and Washington Post that House Speaker John Boehner told other lawmakers he would work to avoid default, even if it meant relying on the votes of Democrats, as he did in August 2011.
A spokesman for Boehner would neither confirm nor deny the reports, restating previous public statements by the speaker that “the United States will not default on its debt.”
Senator Charles Schumer, the second-ranking Senate Democrat, reacting to the reports, said, “This could be the beginnings of a significant breakthrough.”
The New York senator added, “Even coming close to the edge of default is very dangerous,” as he urged quick passage of legislation to raise the $ 16.7 trillion cap on borrowing.
There was little action along with the talk on Thursday. The Republican-controlled House continued what has become a long process of voting to fund publicly popular federal agencies – like the Veterans Administration, the National Park Service and the National Institutes of Health – that are now partially closed.
Republicans know that neither the Democratic-controlled Senate nor Obama will go along with such an approach, but it allows them to accuse Democrats of working against the interests of veterans, national parks and cancer patients.
House Republicans on Thursday began lining up 11 more bills to fund targeted programs. They are to fund nutrition programs for low-income women and their children, a program to secure nuclear weapons and non-proliferation, food and drug safety, intelligence-gathering, border patrols, American Indian and Alaska Native health and education programs, weather monitoring, Head Start school programs for the poor and other aid for schools that rely heavily on federal assistance.
Disaster assistance also is slated for temporary renewal under the House measures, as well as a bill to provide retroactive pay to federal workers during the government shutdown.
“We’re trying to see if we can get the Senate and the president to start talking to us, on anything. They’re just not talking to us,” said Republican Representative Mario Diaz-Balart of Florida, explaining the tactic.
The bills are likely to be debated on the House floor over coming days, not all at once. Democrats have rejected the piecemeal approach and Obama has said he will veto the measures.
‘STOP THIS FARCE’
In a speech at a Maryland construction company on Thursday, Obama challenged Republicans to “stop this farce” by allowing a straight vote on a spending bill. He reiterated he will not negotiate on the spending bill or the debt ceiling.
Obama said there were enough Republicans willing to pass a spending bill immediately if House Speaker John Boehner would allow a vote on a bill without partisan conditions attached, a so-called clean vote. But Obama said the speaker was refusing to do so because “he doesn’t want to anger the extremists in his party.”
“My simple message today is ‘Call a vote,’” Obama said. “Take a vote. Stop this farce, and end this shutdown right now.”
Work in Congress was interrupted on Thursday afternoon when the U.S. Capitol was locked down briefly due to gunshots fired outside the building. One female suspect was shot dead after a brief car chase across downtown Washington. Police said it appeared to be an isolated incident.
The security alert halted work in both the House and the Senate and briefly diverted attention from the shutdown that took effect at midnight on Monday, leaving nearly a million federal workers sidelined without pay and many others in the private sector suffering from the knock-on effect.
The Capitol Police who responded to the incident are working without pay due to the shutdown – they are deemed essential and so remain on the job, but their pay is frozen.
ECONOMIC WARNINGS
In his speech earlier, Obama warned that as painful as the government shutdown was, a default caused by a failure to raise the debt limit would be dramatically worse for the economy.
Alhough some moderate Republicans have begun to question their party’s strategy, Boehner so far has kept them largely united with the small bills to reopen national parks, restore health research and other parts of the government most visibly affected by the shutdown.
The Tea Party Express, one of the anti-tax groups in the conservative Tea Party that has led the fight against Obamacare, sent an email to supporters on Wednesday evening saying that as many as 12 Republicans had indicated they were willing to “give up on the fight” and join Democrats in voting for a funding bill without conditions.
“We need your immediate support to put pressure on the weak Republicans to pass a sensible solution that allows America to avoid the Obamacare train-wreck, while fully funding the federal government,” the group said in its email.
The U.S. Treasury warned on Thursday about the “catastrophic” impact of a debt default, saying a failure to pay the nation’s bills could punish American families and businesses with a worse recession than the 2007-2009 downturn.
Major stock markets fell on Thursday, while the dollar dropped to an eight-month low over concern the budget standoff would merge with the coming fight over raising the U.S. borrowing limit.
The U.S. Labor Department on Thursday said the government’s September employment report, the most widely watched economic data both on Wall Street and Main Street, would not be released as scheduled on Friday due to the shutdown.
Despite the shutdown, Republicans have failed to derail Obama’s controversial healthcare law, which passed a milestone on Tuesday when it began signing up uninsured Americans for subsidized health coverage.
Obama blamed the shutdown on Republicans’ “obsession” with reversing healthcare reforms passed in the Affordable Care Act, but noted they had been passed by the House of Representatives and the Senate and been deemed constitutional by the Supreme Court.
“Last November, the voters rejected the presidential candidate that ran on a platform to repeal it,” he said on Thursday. “So the Affordable Care Act has gone through every single democratic process, all three branches of government. It’s the law of the land. It’s here to stay.”
(Reporting by Richard Cowan, Steve Holland, Jeff Mason, Susan Heavey, Jessica Wohl; Writing by Fred Barbash and Claudia Parsons; Editing by David Storey, Tim Dobbyn and Peter Cooney)
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Focus on debt ceiling as U.S. shutdown drags on; Obama cancels trip
Thursday, September 26, 2013
How Tip and the Gipper Handled the Debt Ceiling
My pal Chris Matthews has a well-timed book coming out next week. A quasi-memoir, Tip and the Gipper: When Politics Worked chronicles the odd-couple relationship that conservative icon Ronald Reagan and liberal workhorse Tip O’Neill developed after Reagan became president in 1981 and had to contend with the Democrat-controlled House that O’Neill presided over as speaker. Matthews was present at the creation of this pairing, serving as a young aide and strategist for the experienced, feisty, and crusty O’Neill. In fact, Matthews, as he explains in this gripping, behind-the-scenes, first-person account, was recruited as an O’Neill lieutenant by other Democrats seeking to bolster O’Neill’s national standing and touch up his media skills so the speaker could have a chance in the coming political warfare between him and the popular and telegenic 40th president of the United States.
The subtitle is something of a spoiler, giving away the moral of this story. It also proclaims the here-and-now relevance of this engaging patch of history, for yes, children, once upon a time partisan arch-rivals in Washington were able to fight fiercely over profoundly important policy matters, hurling tough words and concocting clever ploys to gain the upper hand, without threatening government shutdowns or financial crises, without hostage-taking, and without resorting to the most excessive rancor. More significant, amid these bare-knuckled battles, these two strong-willed political foes were able to put aside acrimony to craft the occasional compromise, such as an accord to raise taxes (to tame deficits), legislation to strengthen Social Security, and a jobs bill to counter the ravages of recession. Government was divided, but it sort of worked.
How Tip and the Gipper Handled the Debt Ceiling
Saturday, September 21, 2013
Tuesday, September 17, 2013
Treasury warns Congress not to wait til last minute on debt ceiling
U.S. Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew speaks about the economy at an event hosted by the Commonwealth Club of California at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California, August 22, 2013.
Credit: Reuters/Beck Diefenbach
Treasury warns Congress not to wait til last minute on debt ceiling
Sunday, September 15, 2013
VIDEO: Obama Vows No Debt Ceiling Negotiations
President Barack Obama said in an interview that he won’t negotiate with congressional Republicans over the U.S. government’s borrowing limit. Obama told ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos that he would not cooperate with House Speaker John Boehner’s demand for budget cuts in exchange for House Republicans’ allowing the government to continue paying its obligations.
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VIDEO: Obama Vows No Debt Ceiling Negotiations
Wednesday, August 28, 2013
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