Debt ceiling could be the ultimate October surpise
By Norman Leahy | Friday, February 24th, 2012 | PoliticsThere’s little doubt that sometime later this year, the federal government will, once again, hit its self-imposed debt limit. The only question, though, is whether that fateful day will come before or after the election.
Sen. Rob Portman’s office calculates that the credit card will be maxed-out in mid-October, just in time to for the issue to become the last, defining moment of the campaign.
Or maybe it will come just a bit later. The Hill points to a report from the Bipartisan Policy Center that estimates the debt limit will be reached in late November, leaving the messy fight of whether and by how much to raise the limit to a lame duck Congress.
Either way, the feds will have blown-through just over $2 trillion. Matters weren’t helped at all by Congress’ passage of both a doc fix for Medicare and by not paying for the extension of the payroll tax cut (money which working stiffs will very likely be putting directly into their gas tanks).
One day soon, we’ll run out of road to kick the can down. It won’t be a heartwarming “Where the Sidewalk Ends” moment. Think Wile E. Coyote:
Tags:
Contribute for Conservatism!
Share this post
About the author
Norm Leahy has written about Virginia and national politics online since 2002, beginning with One Man's Trash (OMT), and continuing through Bacon's Rebellion (both the blog and the e-zine), Sic Semper Tyrannis, NBC12's Decision Virginia, Richmond.com and Tertium Quids. He is the chief blogger at "The Score" and a producer of "The Score" radio show as well as being a Washington Post contributor.
Comments
5 Responses to "Debt ceiling could be the ultimate October surpise"
Another october surprise will be approval of keystone and an open spigot of the strategic reserves to drive speculators into negtive territory.. $1.99 at the pump. The fed and tresury news releases paved the way for Obama in 08. They are organized folks.. GOP has barely got a game on and its late february.. God help us.
So long as the Federal Reserve keeps debasing the currency, commodity prices, including oil, will continue to rise. And if Israel does attack Iran, as some speculate could happen this summer, then neither Keystone nor the SPR will make a dent in prices.
..and Obozo will play this like a fiddle come september..
sigh. I agree with Turbo.
Debt ceiling is october, the price of gas is now.
Will need to fill up to make a road trip to Outer Banks for breakfeast. Going to cost 10 cents a gallon more then when I last bought gas.
Wish I knew how much “Big Oil” gave to Barry’s 2008 election.
Have been telling people that “Big Oil” bought barry and that it is all barry’s fault for the rising gas prices which is why they should vote the corrupt Chicago politico out of office.
“Throw Them All Out” by Peter Schweizer; pages 100 and 101.
Paul Tudor Jones and Ted Turner — First Solar — $4,700,000,000
Leave your response
The comments section is for meaningful discussion. Readers are reminded to post comments that are germane to the article and write in a common language that steers clear of personal attacks and/or vulgarities.
Please take a moment to review our comment policy.