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Democrats Pass Temporary Debt Ceiling Extension With No Vote Error Margin
Tim Geithner and Ben Bernanke can both sleep well - the Great American Ponzi ("GAP") can continue for at least one more month, courtesy of Senate Democrats who all, with the exception of Evan Bayh, voted to raise the debt ceiling by $290 billion to $12.4 trillion. 59 Democrats all did their job in pretending that an exploding budget deficit is nothing to write home about, as there is this thing "called the printing press" yet with 60 votes needed America could have been on the verge of its first ever technical default. The savior: Republican George Voinovich of Ohio, who voted against party lines, and 39 other Republicans, and voted "for" unlimited printer cartridges.
From AP:
The Senate's rare Christmas Eve vote, 60-39, follows House passage last week and raises the debt ceiling by $290 billion. The vote split mainly down party lines, with Democrats voting to raise the limit and Republicans voting against doing so. There was one defection on each side, by senators whose seats will be on the ballot next year: GOP Sen. George Voinovich of Ohio and Democratic Sen. Evan Bayh of Indiana.
Obama must sign the measure into law to prevent a market-rattling, first-ever default on U.S. obligations. The government piled up a record $1.4 trillion deficit in 2009 to counter a meltdown in financial markets and help bring the nation out of its worst recession in seven decades.
With the exception of Voinovich, Republicans uniformly derided the bill, though they routinely supplied votes for eight previous increases totaling $5.4 trillion under President George W. Bush.
Voinovich, who is retiring, said he voted "yes" after Majority Leader Harry Reid agreed to consider amendments when the Senate takes up the matter again next month. Bayh told the Senate Budget Committee in November that he would oppose an increase in the limit unless Congress commits to a strict new debt-fighting plan.
Had this measure not gained the necessary 60 votes, the resultant market pandemonium would have been a sight to behold, as the ponzi would have been finally forced to unwind. Yet if Voinovich is replaced with a "money printing" hawk, and if Bayh remains steadfast in his opposition to spiraling out of control sovereign debt, the Democrats, and US CDS shorts, may well be out of luck on January 20, when the measure will be subject to a revote. If at that point the plan to expand the debt ceiling to the critical $13+ trillion fails, the stock market rally will promptly hit the rewind button.
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Welcome to the USSA
In deed Comrade! Indeed! Perhaps this second act of Sen. Coned-ya-bitch of Ohio will prove to some here in Ohio that the R & D are merely different sides of the same coin. Every Republican and every Democrat will take their turn to push the vote of their banking masters and go against the “party-line”, especially when they are on their way out the door of public life and into the private consultancy world of the bankers. How nice to see this vote, along with the TARP and bailout votes. It simply confirms the fact they care not for anyone’s interests but their own. The raping and pillaging of the People has been done while peasants fight amongst themselves as to who is the bigger Liberal or Conservative when in fact it matters not. These fights over incremental differences that have no basis of needed argument in our Federal government. The constitution does not allow for what they do and what they do just splits the party over issues that should not even be discussed at the Federal level. If our elected Federal officials would only stick to the constitution then we would not have the public so eagerly arguing and supporting the notion that things would be better if only THEIR party was to have more power. Until that lexicon is crossed by your average soccer mom and fat balding football watching fathers, then this path will be continued.
The debate whether The Elites are practicing class warfare should be mute by now. Got elitism?
It was nice of Voinovich, who won't have to face the voters, to swap his vote with Bayh, who will. That way Evan can look principled and fiscally responsible to conservative Indiana voters, even though Evan is a relentless military hawk who never has a problem voting for war appropriations, never mind the cost. Another stunning piece of political theater in the ongoing Morality Play staged by our elected, bought-and-paid-for representatives.
We just got 60 hmmmmmmmmm No votes are ...phony counterpoint
"and voted "for" unlimited printer cartridges"
I hope they went with genuine HP cartridges rather than those cheap no name knock offs. Even if my dollars lose purchasing power on a daily basis I'm still quite proud of the paper and printing product the Great Nation is cranking out in unlimited quantities.
Nah, I think they went with those refillable ones from China...the ones which contain traces of lead and wears out after a couple of weeks. But honestly, its good to use inexpensive ink on worthless paper such as the greenback.
I cannot wait for the new year to begin. All the pesky limits will be reset to Zero.
the destruction is picking up speed at an exponential rate...
with advance apologies for 'wrong time and place':
directed at ZH staff: it makes me a little sick every time I see the huge Ally Bank banner ads on this site. I know you guys have expenses, and they are willing to pay, but this contradiction is so blatant and damaging that it really makes me question if *some* motives have been compromised around here...
Ally is paying ZH government money to run huge ads promoting ludicrously high CD and deposit rates, which they can only offer, again, because of government money.
(Ally is the former GMAC Financial, which applied to become, and became, a bank to to tap into bailout money (like many others). I believe they got $6bil to start. They have $5bil in TARP outstanding, and $7.4bil outstanding in FDIC backed TLGP securities. Not to mention close to 250 separate FDIC backed CD issues.)
Meanwhile this is absolutely killing the well-run, sound community bank. Either they lose deposits to the higher rates offered by Ally and the like or they try to keep them by offering the same high rates. Offering the same high rates effectively kills their net interest margin (where the traditional bank, without billions is TARP and a huge Capital Markets presence, makes money), or forces the bank into high risk assets to make up for the high cost of funds.
Ally proudly boasts "Member FDIC" at the bottom of their banners (and TV/print ads). You betcha. The sound, non-government supported banks are seeing their slim profits for the next 3yrs+ effectively wiped out due to higher FDIC insurance costs to cover losses at banks like Ally, and to allow banks like Ally offer the very same high rates that are putting them out of business in the first place.
Ally is about as deceptive as they come -- "GMAC? that wasn't us, we're a *new* bank" is what they want you to believe. Meanwhile their motto is "Ally. Straightforward."
ZH staff - I don't like the contradiction. It feels msm to me. Certainly does not jibe with the manifesto, which I first read nearly 1yr ago.
The content in the middle column still seems unbiased and free of political comstraint, but when flanked by two Ally ads on each side - essentially an action shot of TBTF killing off the unchosen - I have to wonder how deep advertising has compromised the mission.
Straightforward it certainly is not.
What ad? I use adblock, and don't see ads. Try it.
Nice. In other words you ensure that those who work hard to bring you this content, won't be compensated in any form.
Do you stiff your waiters too?
Support the site- hosting isnt free. Turn off the blocking once in a while and click the ads.
Talk about missing the fucking point, which I thought was a valid one...
I may be wrong but I think ZH has zero-control when it comes to which particular ads are displayed. It's just a revenue generating program, abstract in nature so ZH can focus on their core competency.
But you have control if you browse with Firefox.
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1865
"with advance apologies for 'wrong time and place"
You should have stopped right there. I fully agree with your opinion regarding Ally bank and completely disagree that you should be holding ZH responsible for running the adds. Please, get real.
ZH, like just about every other "small" web site, sells it's space and has no control over content. I have been on right wing, left wing, religious and conspiracy web sites and they have all displayed contradictory adds. Do you wish to focus on the web site content or the advertisement?
The revenue from the adds supports the content. And at this point, ZH says they are running a loss (which I believe), so should they take even more money out of their pockets because you don't like the adds? Please!
This is the way it works in this world and until it's different, don't kill the messenger simply because you don't like his or her clothes.
I use ad-block (and firefox) -- neither are available at my work, so I see them there.
not killing the messenger either - I've been here since Nov 08 and have even contributed to content through a regular (daily) ZH contributor. just pointing out a glaring contradiction.
every day the Ally ad takes on deposits thru a click on ZH, it kills off a little bit of non-gov't manipulated capitalism... doesn't seem this is the place for that - that's all.
I realize ads support the content. this was not about ads, but about one ad. an ad from a company that embodies the reason why ZH exists. a company to this day, more than ever, contributing to the problem and fully under the double-standard.
This site spends 60% of its posts pointing out moral hazards, double-standards and conflicts of interest. The irony was too thick.
I'm a big boy, I understand it's the way the world works -- definitely how CNBC/msm works... not how I recall ZH working, 6, 9, 12mos ago -- but I suppose even here I need to be realistic - sh!t ain't free.
My company runs hundreds of websites and we use ad networks, the most common is Google AdSense. These ad networks "spyder" the page to find out what the content is about and then serve and ad that matches the content. So because this is a financial blog, it serves financial ads. Also, you as a user are IP targeted, so they will send users who view the site numerous times, the lowest paying ads. Now Zero Hedge could request specific ads or categories of ads be blocked, but that is a time consuming effort when their focus is to bring good commentary and content.
Suggesting we've been easier on GMAC and the Treasury / Administration since Ally ads (which are on Google Ad Sense as well, by the way) have gone up?
Look a little deeper. The government and Ally are funding a site (us) that not only hates just about everything they stand for, but actively opposes those principals at every turn. I think it's quite ironically wonderful. In fact, the taxpayers are, in effect, paying us to complain about taxpayer funded bailouts and zombie banks. It's magnificent! I suppose we could send those dollars to bonuses if you preferred.
What part of the manifesto, exactly?
I also want to point out that there isn't a single member of senior staff here, or, actually, there isn't anyone at all at Zero Hedge who even draws a salary. Let me said that again. Zero Hedge has a "0" in the salary line of SG&A. While we might consider some other models (perhaps a premium subscription section with no ads?) we can only rely on the absolutely amazing and selfless generosity of the senior staff (and reader donations) for so long.
Pretty much every dollar that comes in goes:
1. To servers / IT.
2. To infrastructure / FOIA / legal.
3. Uh... we're out of money.
You know, we try to make it a point not to beg for donations. We could probably double the take by posting a whining appeal here every once in a while but that feels unseemly, (I hate Sally Struthers) so we don't bother. Having said that, you could always donate more, you know. I suppose we could do something like "sell" ad zones to the readership... such that with enough donations we'd kill one or more of them or something. But, then, that feels rather grating as well.
In the end we don't pay much attention to the ads. Except that we get a huge kick when Google puts Citi ads next to our devastating panning of Citi's continued existence because key-words match up.
Loosen up. I'm just as bitchy no matter who covers 0.5-1.0% of my monthly phone bill with the ad revenue left over after we pay our bloodsucking ISP.
You rock Marla!
I knew I should check back for your rebuttal.
Not to take away from your points regarding the evils of GMAC, I think you need to work on your sense of irony.
And with respect to killing off the "well-run community bank" - I'm not an expert but when the $hit jumped off last year and I started spreading out assets I was amazed (after a little research) at how many local banks were up to their necks in the same crap as the big ones. Those that weren't were seeing a big influx in new accounts from what I could tell.
Besides, the thought that big banks or even my tax dollars are helping to fund ZH gives me a warm fuzzy.
If you don't want to see Ally, Then donate like we all used to back when this place was a blog before ZH got banned by google. I am okay with the Ads, at least some of my tax dollars are supporting our movement!
I checked it out. I hope ZH gets paid.
I hope you drive an American built ford, gm or chrysler. Your rant about subsidized banks is no fucking different than tax payer subsidized non union plants in the south. No pensioner costs and engineered back home in the low cost socialized medical care countries where importing American cars doesn't happen. Dont get me started...
Either way. Oil hitting $77 again and 3.78 10y yield pretty much are a choker. So for the sake of lifting stocks a couple of notches,they are reinflating oil,and inflation fears are resurfacing(irrelevant of how true are these,bond traders want to make money and they have the chance). So what is next year GDP once oil hits $100 and yileld climbs to who knows where(of course eventually the fedd will monetize,but what about oil and commodities?)
Too many Emperors, too few clothes.
Where are the Philosopher-Kings?
every new year day, my paisan walk the streets downtown holding a candle and looking for an honest man
hey, vishnu, what's a matter for you. you reincarnate lots of times but nobody know-a you
jesus born once and nobody forget him
World economy better grow by trillions per year to backstop this new debt
Which is worse? The unlimited number of times the Congress raises the debt ceiling, or the unlimited hypocrasy of the Republicans to pretend they are fighting our fiscal destruction, after they made it worse under GWB.
I notice that NOW, when the Dems are raising the debt ceiling, you refer to it as "Congress." However, when the other side of the isle is resonsible you call them out: "Republicans pretending - yadda, yadda..."
When is everyone gonna get it: BOTH SIDES OF THE ISLE SUCK!!!
When is everyone gonna get it: BOTH SIDES OF THE ISLE SUCK!!!
This bears repeating.
It is not Democrat vs Republican. They are both phucking lame idiots. The lack of leadership in the USA is simply amazing. This country has turned into a Saturday Night Live skit.
Q: Why doesn't Al-Qaeda blow up D.C.?
A: Because they hate America.
If only you knew how entangled they are....
Q: Why doesn't Al-Qaeda blow up Wallstreet?
A: Because they haven't gotten their bonuses yet.
Sounds like a non-event. Gov needs money to continue there dominance over all markets. The rest of the world is now folding their cards. Apparently ma and pa sixpack have a new investment strategy. Instead of buying lotto tickets they are now buying T-bills. Midwest convenience stores are selling them directly from the lotto machines...
http://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/z1/Current/z1r-5.pdf
See footnote 1. "Households" include hedge funds.
IOW, the Squid dumps its holdings of GSEs - these same "households'" holdings of GSEs have gone from $840B in Q3 2008 to $68B a year later - onto the Fed, who in turn helps them monetize Trashuries. God's work indeed.
Still too close. Just a little shift and they
won't be able to do another. They should
have done more this time. The election
season is on and we might see a dream
come true next year. END IT.
Too many balls for the Fed thugs to keep juggling. They are going to drop some in 2010. Oil looks like it is heading back to 80, for example.
i don't trade oil and don't pretend to be an expert on this by any means.
that said, it will be triple digits sometime in 2010 if for no reason the fear or actual realization of certain geopolitical events.
Gold, 1105 from a 1075 drop. I'm feeling ya there.
All depends upon the steepness of the decline curve.
Every bit of production data I'm seeing at TOD is suggesting a material C&C peak in 2005 with an all-liquids peak in 2008.
If we fall sharply, this will get incredibly ugly in a real hurry.
The fiat bulls may not have understood that these ghost tanker fleets they claim are storing oil are doing so in anticipation of something. Nothing I have seen anywhere suggests other than that production has fallen off the peak plateau. Oil may go into backwardation as a result.
Here's an analysis from TOD: http://www.theoildrum.com/node/5979
The 'washed' consensus that the market turns down end of January would seem to dovetail quite well with rumours coming to the pablum narrative near you that the debt ceiling will not be expanded without one helluva fight...
There's a lot of important legislation that needs to be passed soon. This debt limit will be reached soon, right in the middle of other huge legislation.
Oh yeah, cnbc, The Call, or today being called The Sqwall, reported about an hour ago that death panels, officially known as one of these three entities (IMAC, IMAB, IPAB) are indeed in this health care bill.
You know the ones that were just recommending all the different b.s. cost savings because these things were unnecessary as told to them by flawed statistical model's that were devleoped to give the answer these facist malthusians wanted.
You know like no mammograms for under 50, or prostate screenings, and about 10 other things from their 1st decision making ability. I.E. This is what they will do. Develop b.s. statistics to find more 'cost savings' by reducing care.
Yep, death panels will now be a part of the American Gov't.
Oh well we can get the congress to repeal that. Whoops I guess maybe we can't. (even if it's unconstitutional) In this bill it states, the House and Senate will be 'out of order' if they try to repeal this 'portion' of this bill.
Remember Obama didn't say he wanted more healthcare, he said he wanted to bend the cost curve.
This was the 'most essential' thing in the bill. Hell Obama would've sacrificed everything in the bill, only to pass a bill ONLY CONTAINING THIS PROVISION. This is what he was after with this so called 'reform'.
One pissed off democrat who WANTS REAL SINGLE PAYER HEALTH CARE.
Man oh man are we screwed.
Yet because they didn't raise the ceiling much further. (the reason, because we have to, because we're still bleeding, and because we still haven't spent the trillions that REALLY NEED to be spent). We're going to spend it whether we first waste 20-50-100-1000 trillion on bailouts or not.
We have to get there from here, and it's going to take trillions. Therefore pussyfooting this is only going to hamstring us later.
Instead of doing what's needed, we're going to have to be dealing with these two issues, Cap and Trade, another extension of the debt limit, at a time when we need to be fighting for the return of Glass/Stegall, American Credit System, New Bretton Woods, HBPA of 2007, and La Rouche 4 powers plan (with many more needing to be done after these huge legislation).
Instead we'll be fighting this battle over how we can't or shouldn't raise it, at a time when that position, doesn't amount to a hill of beans in the bigger scheme of things.
What's worse than a hurricane we face? The nuclear bomb about to go off. Screw the hurricane, we have bigger fish to fry.
I hate to bust into a perfectly good rant, but what exactly makes you think that the statistical models were bogus? Logic suggests that there must be a break-even point for any medical test - otherwise, why don't we start breast cancer screenings at puberty? Previously, we believed that break-even point fell here, now new evidence suggests it falls somewhere else.
Not to mention the fact that even if you are correct in the slightest way about this being a "death panel", all that this change does is take the "death panel" out of the shadowy sausage machine inside the insurance company and put it out in the bright light of day where we can all scrutinize it's decisions.
The significance of today’s actions is that the prostituting senators who gave Obama the votes for health care HAD to give him the votes for the debt extension. This underscores the basic truth that the budget offices lie and the Democrat leadership lies that health care will be budget neutral.
These people are living on the edge. Look at the facts; they had to redo the GDP, which was totally based on government employment pulling it out. You tell me how you can use debt and everything is going to be all right. It’s either going to bend or break.
It’s a turning point. There is a time when it’s too far. And this is it. It’s being leading up to it for about three years. Now we’re at the point where there is no such thing as a moderate Democrat. Since Obama needed all of them, you can look at each of them and say, you had veto power over this. All you had to do was not vote; Obama needed every single vote and every crooked deal (Voinovich/Bayh) he could think of for his State of the Union speech.
And we have an America that can’t pay for it.
It’s a gamble gone too far. They don’t have the money; they don’t have the support. For one thing, it means the nation is at the Democrat Welfare State High Water Mark--the point where it begins to flood.
What now? You go in and you drive them back—with a few Republicans but primarily with Independents who gave them the power because of the war. Now you MUST take the power away. When you have something’s that’s a MUST, then it WILL be done.
The bottom line: the world is not a cyclical place. It’s linear. It doesn’t just keep going around in circles. It gets to the point you either drown or you get out of the mire and fix it. That is the lesson of history. This is Louis XVI. When it gets excessive, the heads roll.
Voinovich did not vote for health care but he voted to pay for it..with the debt.
From the post:
"Yet if Voinovich is replaced with a "money printing" hawk, and if Bayh remains steadfast in his opposition to spiraling out of control sovereign debt, the Democrats, and US CDS shorts, may well be out of luck on January 20, when the measure will be subject to a revote."
This doesn't make sense because the election is not until November 2010. Voinovich, barring any good fortune for taxpayers everywhere, will still be in the Senate for the vote next year.
It is my understanding Voinovich will retire from the Senate in 2011 when his current term expires, but I don't know. However, if the Voinovich vote is replaced by a NO on raising the debt limit, the Democrats will just have to buy another one. Maybe the cost will be high but they can keep going until they get a seller. After all, the other side of the aisle is not all made up of James Madisons.
They really do not understand what they have destroyed.........
The Financial Times Man of the Year - Lloyd Blankfein
How fitting, to mark the high tide of the will to power of the Anglo-American banking cartels. No better symbol of hubris, of the overreach driven by a pathetic insensitivity and sociopathic greed, of the cult of ego and the darker impulses of the human heart, that creates nothing.
Honoring the man as the epitome of 2009, a man whose bank helped to precipitate one of the greatest financial crises of the century, and used it as a means of profit for their own ends, no matter what damage was caused in the process, what corruption was required to undermine the nation's well-being, therein sowing the seeds of your own eventual destruction.
And no better day for it, than on the eve of the commemoration of a renewal of a life, of genuine value, of the perennial movement of the human spirit from the images and the shadows, a turning away from stench of corruption and decay, into the light.
"For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, but lose himself?
The man of the year indeed. King of the ash heap of history.
http://tinyurl.com/ycj9noz
Hey, what was wrong with Bernanke that FT didn’t like him? Or was it Time that missed the boat?
After Time picking Bernanke as the Man of the Year, FT’s pick of Blankfein as Person (a little pc here) of the Year will shine a little more light on Blankfein. People need to know who Blankfein is. But I can’t believe FT said some of the things it did.
…he has also steered Goldman adeptly through the crisis, betting correctly that the global investment banks would survive the turmoil (with government help) and not be dismantled by regulators. Instead, his bank has stuck to its strengths, unashamedly taken advantage of the low interest rates and diminished competition resulting from the crisis to make big trading profits.
For all of these reasons, both positive and negative, the Financial Times has chosen Lloyd Blankfein as its Person of the Year.
Perhaps more than pointing out who Blankfein is, his selection by FT points out who FT is. Had it been picking men of the year in the days of Jack the Ripper, it apparently would have been hard pressed not to pass up that opportunity. From now on we know whose side FT’s on. It’s not the financial times, it’s the investment banker times
"may well be out of luck on January 20, when the measure will be subject to a revote."
looks like the SEC halfed those pesky transaction fees just in time (effective 01/15).
churn to earn to stop the burn
Can someone here PLEASE WRITE ABOUT THIS???
http://activerain.com/blogsview/1243528/is-the-fdic-killing-short-sales-
FDIC's loss-sharing agreements actually EXPEDITE foreclosures and gift profits to new bank owners!!!
Can someone explain why the U.S. would have to go into default in the event of no debt ceiling increase? Why wouldn't the U.S. simply have to stop issuing more debt? In other words, wouldn't no extension to the debt ceiling increase make the Treasuries outstanding even more valuable since no more can be issued, therefore forcing yields down?
It would be illegal for the Treasury to issue debt above the limit. However, if the US were to stop issuing new debt, it wouldn't have cash to pay its ongoing obligations (SS, Medicare, defense, and every other check that gets cut 24/7 for everything the government does. It also wouldn't be able to pay interest on the debt. If any of this were to occur, trading in treasuries would seize up, preventing even refunding - floating new bonds to replace old. Failure to pay current bills would be a default, just as much as a failure to pay interest or repay maturing bonds.
Even the hint of a default would crater treasury prices and yields would soar.
I wouldn't be too hard on Voinovich, the R's wanted to make political hay by voting no. But they didn't want to be blamed for the US defaulting, which is the way Dems would have spun it. Voinovich was probably asked to vote Yea since he's not up for election.
the higher the ceiling, the more certain the suicide
now who's jumping first?
I wonder if the Senators looked at the deficit estimates for FY2010 from Treasury?
http://fms.treas.gov/mts/mts1109.pdf
If you look at Table 3, you will see that the deficit is projected to be $1.502T. However the revenue projections are way too optimistic, based on OCT and NOV data. So the deficit could be $200B greater = $1.702T compared to $1.415T for FY2009. That would be a deficit increase of 20% from FY2009 to FY2010. Also, these estimates exclude any Health bill costs or 2nd stimulus. Another exclusion is if Social Security is no longer a surplus for FY2010.
If the number of work days = 258 in FY2010, then every work day we would have to sell $6.596B in Treasuries just for the FY2010 deficit alone.
If in total we have to finance $4.5T (this is a conservative number) of debt for FY2010, then every working day we have to sell $17.441B in Treasuries. So why would you buy US Treasuries when the Obama administration produces a 20% yearly increases in deficits for 2010, and his budget generates no surpluses for 10 years?
The new year will be very interesting.
Mark Beck
But if Peter Schiff takes Chris Dodd's seat in CT (and he's leading him in the latest Rasmussen) we could get the votes we need to stop the insanity.
Or at least slow it down.
But if Peter Schiff takes Chris Dodd's seat in CT (and he's leading him in the latest Rasmussen) we could get the votes we need to stop the insanity.
Or at least slow it down.
Dodd isn't the only Democrat Senator in trouble for 2010. It's pretty early to handicap the races but based on early polls and the candidates, Dems are in trouble in Arkansas, Colorado, Nevada, North Dakota, and Pennsylvania. There are also some races that look to be competitive that would normally be easy wins for Democrats: Delaware, Illnois, and California. There are probably fewer competitive GOP seats. Even Gregg's seat in New Hampshire has the likely GOP candidate up, and Dems thought that would be an easy pickup.
Treasury picked Christmas Eve after the close of a shortened trading day and before the markets are closed for 3 days to announce that they have removed the caps on the money available to support Freddie and Fannie for the next 3 years. Without action by Treasury, their authorization to raise the guarantees for Freddie and Fannie from the current $200 billion each would have expired on December 31. With this solution they didn't have to put out a new number and they don't have to worry about raising it again. 3 years takes them past the next Presidential election.
Can Treasury get away with kicking a December 31 expiration of an authorization from Congress out 3 years? Most of the Senators and House members who would likely oppose this measure figure to be home for Christmas and next week and not in Washington for the weekend talk shows.
Treasury also relaxed the caps on the amount of MBS Fannie and Freddie hold so they won't have to be forced sellers in the near future.
http://www.nasdaq.com/aspx/stock-market-news-story.aspx?storyid=20091224...
We have seen Peak Democrats, Peak Bernanke, and Peak USA.
...all of which coulda ,woulda, been swamped, by the brand new ,shiny and clean carbon trading schemes , pushed for by the climate change lobby and you know who!
The carbon trading racket is the get out of jail ticket for this drunken,broke ,mugged and beaten ,bloated ,bald and infarcated ponzi of a global "financial" system.
A heart transplant ,if you like. A whole new lease of life for the players in this game.
Because this is the ONLY thing that will let them off the hook ,the ONLY way they can extend and pretend , until Ms Copenhagen's new baby is born with the umbilical stem cells that will let ugly 'ol Ponzi morph into Mr World!, inc.
Dont think that it didnt happen ,up there in the snow,just now, the families just bitched about the dowry ,is all.
Ponzi, the old devil, DID still manage to get a shot away with the lovely bride,in the confusion and that wasnt a snowflake running down her leg at the photo op.
Look for a quiet birth announcement around August next year.
Without debt to backstop capitalism, capitalism will collapse ! You fools !
zero hedge full of george w bush dick suckers
Let's say that the Government did hit the limit.
No social security checks, No VA checks, All war effort stopped and sent home. All payroll stopped on Government. No one is to do anything on Uncle Sam's dime until the limit is paid for.
The election brought Change.
The more things changed, the more they stay the same.
I think our Enemies should try hard to reduce Washington DC to rubble so we can re-elect a Government that will hold true to our laws and Constitution.
The way things are going we are wasting much time. One day... it may happen. I hate to say it.
One day it will be zero all through the land. Then we will see real change as the people sort out what to keep and what to throw away.
Congress used to have two choices:
Inflate or die.
Now they have one:
Inflate-and-die.
Death by a quintillion dollars.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bcc-TqvCXqU&annotation_id=annotation_775385&feature=iv
I suppose it's *possible* that all the Senate Republicans apart from Voinovich are dead-set against any extension of the debt ceiling, come what may. But *come on* - have you never heard of Washington kabuki? More likely, a) no-one in the Senate wants to be seen voting for the debt extension, because it's electoral poison among voters not named "Paul Krugman" but likewise b) no-one in the Senate wants to be seen voting *against* the debt extension *if that then causes the debt extension not to pass*, partly because the fiscal crisis and economic crunch which would swiftly follow would be unpopular with voters too. So quite possibly there are well over sixty *actual* supporters of continued ceiling extension in the Senate, including several potential Voinoviches - Republicans who want the ceiling to keep going up, but who are more than happy to let the ruling party take the heat for raising it. (And "several" quite possibly means "forty" here.) The Voinoviches are playing chicken with the Bayhs, the Southern and/or purple-state Dems who could do without being seen to vote up the ceiling either. Under these circumstances, in the unlikely event that an extension fails to pass it will be basically be by accident. And all this is probably happening under the eyes of the R and D Senate leadership: in fact, quite possibly under their control. It's a confirmed, uncontroversial fact that most of the Democratic no-votes in the House are controlled by Pelosi: carefully managed political treats which she doles out to well-behaved "Blue Dogs". This is how the sausage is made. Again, please don't take my word for any of this, go and follow it up for yourself - this is not wild fancy and speculation or tinfoil-hatted ranting, this is the mainstream, boring consensus DC punditry. So it's weird to see ZH fail to pick up on the likelihood of kabuki behind tight votes on unpopular measures, like this one.
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