Monday, May 16, 2011

US Hits Debt Ceiling Today

The US federal debt will hit its legal limit today yet, according to CNN, Congress doesn't seem to have any plans to raise it.

What is the debt ceiling?

It is a $14 Trillion cap set by Congress on the amount of debt the federal government can legally borrow. It has been raised 74 times since 1962.

When the ceiling is reached, the US Treasury has no authority to borrow more money. As such the US is in danger of defaulting on its debts, unless the US Treasury Secretary (Timothy Geithner) picks and chooses which debts to pay and which to sit on.

Even if he manages the "debt shuffling", the damage done to "Financial Brand USA" will be immense.

It is now up to Congress to sort this out, lest the USA end up defaulting before Greece does.

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