Thread: Debt ceiling

Re(1): 'Debt ceiling: Battle heats up', CNNMoney.com, Jeanne Sahadi

Will reaching the debt ceiling cause a government shutdown? Not necessarily.
A government shutdown occurs if lawmakers fail to appropriate money for federal agencies and programs.

By contrast, if the debt ceiling is breached, Uncle Sam would still have revenue coming in that could be used to fund the government, Penner noted.

Of course, if it can't borrow, the government will need to raise taxes or cut spending to continue to meet its obligations in full.

James, on where to cut spending...

How about inflation adjusting each department spending to FY2008.

FY2008 Expenditures: $2,978,664
FY2008 Expenditures (2010 Dollars): $3,027,085
FY2011 Projected Revenue: $2,425,725
Resulting in a Projected Deficit of: $601,360

The Obama Projected Deficit is: $1,416,195

So, James, in one fell swoop I have wiped out $814 Billion in this years deficit.

Thats a nice start, eh...

GOP Takes Aim at Lawmaker's Budgets
http://money.cnn.com/2011/01/05/news...dget/index.htm
[Well, looks like the GOP is proposing 5% cuts to the legislative budgets first. Very Smart!
Ok, the water here can be pretty bloody awful (we've gotten brown water before), but if you don't like it create an office pay in pool for the Deer Park bottled like the rest of us.]

The problem with that 2008 budget is that is has the Afghan and Iraq wars off-budget. I am not against the idea, however, if consideration of this problem is taken into account - in other words, 2008 budget + discrete amount of money for Afganistan and Iraq = 2010 budget.

I agree with you Boghie, but if we reach the debt ceiling before any spending cuts are legislated, we are stuck. Cuts need to be done now. Looks like it may be starting.

Concur on the timing SilverBird...

It would be both childish and embarrassing to avoid the reality of a growing debt ceiling. I don’t want an equivalent of a stupid attack like that which occurred over the extension of the Bush tax code. But, some hardball should be played.

By the way, SilverBird, I NEVER use budget numbers. I use the ‘Monthly Treasury Statement’. Those are actual numbers and have ALWAYS included war expenditures. So, to take expenditures back to FY2008 using the MTS includes war expenditures. And that means something. I think we can cut my own employer – the DOD.

Finally, I don’t want to hear about Congressional salary cuts. I want tens or hundreds of billions to be cut. You can find those cuts here:

Money values are the difference between FY2007 and FY2010 in 2010 dollars...

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE: $40,989
DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE-MILITARY: $111,571
DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION: $23,320
DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY: $9,698
DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES: $149,968
DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT: $12,411
DEPARTMENT OF LABOR: $123,075

There is no need for this bloat. And, it wasn’t paid for.

Give me 1/4th of this bloat as a spending cut and we can talk in good faith.

Till then, good luck getting my backing.

Originally Posted by Silverbird

GOP Takes Aim at Lawmaker's Budgets
http://money.cnn.com/2011/01/05/news...dget/index.htm
[Well, looks like the GOP is proposing 5% cuts to the legislative budgets first. Very Smart!
Ok, the water here can be pretty bloody awful (we've gotten brown water before), but if you don't like it create an office pay in pool for the Deer Park bottled like the rest of us.]

The problem with that 2008 budget is that is has the Afghan and Iraq wars off-budget. I am not against the idea, however, if consideration of this problem is taken into account - in other words, 2008 budget + discrete amount of money for Afganistan and Iraq = 2010 budget.

I agree with you Boghie, but if we reach the debt ceiling before any spending cuts are legislated, we are stuck. Cuts need to be done now. Looks like it may be starting.