U.S. Regime Plans Nearly $2 Trillion Debt Limit Hike
December 14th, 2009Via: AP:
Democrats plan to allow the government’s debt to swell by nearly $2 trillion as part of a bill next week to pay for wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. The amount pretty much equals the total of a year-end spending spree by lawmakers and is big enough to ensure that Congress doesn’t have to vote again on going further into debt until after the 2010 elections.
The move has anxious moderate Democrats maneuvering to win new deficit-cutting tools as the price for their votes, igniting battles between the House and the Senate and with powerful interest groups on both the right and the left.
The record increase in the so-called debt limit — the legal cap on the amount of money the government can borrow — is likely to be in the neighborhood of $1.8 trillion to $1.9 trillion, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., said Friday.
That eye-popping figure is making Democrats woozy but is what is needed to make sure they don’t have to vote again before next year’s midterm elections. The government’s total debt has nearly doubled in the past seven years and is expected to exceed the current ceiling of $12.1 trillion before Jan. 1.
Democratic leaders say they will try to raise the ceiling to nearly $14 trillion as part of a $626 billion bill next week to pay for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and other military programs in 2010. The bill doesn’t include the additional $30 billion President Obama is expected to seek early next year to pay for his 30,000-troop buildup in Afghanistan but it might carry an added $50 billion to pay for a six-month extension of unemployment benefits and health care insurance subsidies for the long-term jobless.
$30 Billion, $626 Billion, $2 Trillion, $14 Trillion…
At what point do these numbers lose any real meaning (if they haven’t already)? I just don’t understand how other countries can take an objective look at our financial situation and not call bullshit.
– Mike Lorenz
There is a bogus assumption that is driving the entire system: Americans will consume more forever.
$14 trillion??? haha
The scam will last as long as the U.S. Treasury can find enough suckers to participate in its Ponzi scheme/debt auctions. “Trillions” will have a tangible meaning when those auctions really start failing.
China holds the kill switch.