Joe Biden could be tempted to reach for the platinum coin
On Monday night -- and with a Thursday deadline to fund the government bearing down -- Senate Republicans blocked a bill that would have suspended the United States' debt limit. The move puts the country at risk of default, thereby potentially tanking the economy and delaying payments to millions.
This at the same time President Biden and Democrats are advancing a make-or-break effort to pass a multi-trillion-dollar, 10-year economic and climate package.
Debt limit negotiations continue -- but Biden does have an ace in the hole if Congress doesn't suspend the debt limit.
Due to a technicality in the law, the Treasury Department can print a platinum coin and assign a huge value to it -- say, $1 trillion -- and sell it to the Federal Reserve Board. This would get around the need to borrow.
Such a move would be ridiculous, of course, but the whole standoff on the debt is ridiculous. If Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and the Republicans insist on pushing it, Biden could well decide to get out the platinum coin.
In the United States, Congress authorizes spending and sets taxing levels, and then separately sets a limit on how much the country can borrow. The debt limit we are about to hit was due to actions of both parties. Much of the recent increase in the debt was incurred by pandemic spending that had overwhelming bipartisan support. But the new spending under President Biden is only a small part of this story.
The tax cuts pushed through earlier by former President Donald Trump and a Republican Congress also played a large role.
Congress has regularly raised the debt limit to allow the Treasury to borrow the money needed to pay our bills, but once again the Treasury is hitting the limits of authorized borrowing. There is some uncertainty about when this will happen, mainly because of the irregularity of tax collections, but the department predicts that it will be some time in mid-October.
If the debt limit is not increased by then, the government will be unable to borrow to cover its normal expenses, including Social Security payments, salaries for government workers and interest payments on the debt.
The debt limit is not a sacred principle in the Constitution. It is simply a quirk in the law that was put in place in 1917 to facilitate borrowing to pay for World War I. It is absurd that it now leads to these high-tension showdowns.
If the debt ceiling/continuing resolution bill is not approved, much of the government will have to shut down on Friday. This will include national parks and museums, the Social Security Administration, which processes new benefit claims, and much of the rest of the government. Essential services will be maintained, but close to 60% of the federal workforce may not be working on Friday.
A shutdown would be a major problem for the country. Even a short shutdown will cause major obstacles for an economy already struggling to overcome pandemic-related shortages.
But as bad as a shutdown will be, failing to increase the debt ceiling will be even worse. It means the government will not be able to pay its bills, including pay for soldiers, Social Security checks and interest on government bonds.
This is a game of chicken.
Mitch McConnell wants the Biden administration to pay a big price to get him on board on increasing the debt ceiling. We have been in this situation before.
In 2011, McConnell forced President Barack Obama to accept large cuts to the federal budget. These cuts both crippled several important government agencies, such as the Environmental Protection Agency, the National Park Service and the Justice Department, and slowed the pace of the recovery.
Which brings us back to that platinum coin. Pulling that out of his back pocket may not be an ideal outcome for Biden, but it is better than letting tens of millions of people go without Social Security or paychecks, and it's also better than agreeing to wreck the economy to get Republican support for allowing the government to work.
While American workers are being forced to get vaccinated or loose their jobs members of Congress are making a killing the stock market investing in the drug companies making them.
10 Most Popular Stocks Owned by Congress in 2021
Here's what Congress is currently invested in:
Organization Total Investors Minimum Investment Maximum Investment Apple Inc 79 $9,654,688 $38,853,590 Microsoft Corp 66 $6,777,342 $23,462,249 Bank of America 59 $2,146,215 $5,659,133 Walt Disney Co 52 $2,124,962 $8,104,907 AT&T Inc 49 $1,222,407 $2,821,355 *Pfizer Inc 47 $2,630,444 $8,206,395 *Johnson & Johnson 47 $2,545,111 $4,688,062 General Electric 47 $647,604 $1,390,563 Exxon Mobil 45 $6,688,238 $23,178,183 Alphabet Inc 45 $2,656,348 $6,543,273
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Nope, it's your hypocracy that is showing. You worship a "man" who screws over hard working contractors on a regular basis. And you seem okay with it. Plus, donny boy is the only president in recent memory who actually bent over for two specific dictators. Kim and Putin!! And you also seem okay with that too.
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