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The Fed prepares for default

Published: 21 July, 2011, 19:58

The US dollar's worth could be going down the drain.

The US dollar's worth could be going down the drain.

TAGS: Crisis, Obama, Politics, Currencies, China, USA, Banking, Government Spending, Finance


Are you wondering what the federal government will do if and when the United States runs out of money in two weeks? So are they.

Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank President Charles Plosser said on Wednesday that his financial powerhouse has been working alongside the US Treasury to try to figure out a game plan for a default, which could come if Congress can’t agree to raise the debt ceiling by August 2.

"We are in contingency planning mode," Plosser says in a sit-down with Reuters this week. "We are all engaged. … It's a very active process."

Active or not, the process will have to outline what plans will need to happen in order to keep disaster to a minimum. The New York Times goes as far as to call the talks “doomsday plans in case the clock runs out.”

As of today, only 12 days are left on that clock.

The Treasury had previously placed a default as an unlikely consequence, noting that the debt ceiling has been raised numerous times during the last several administrations. After months of talks gone fruitless, however, the clock is ticking down to a default that is looking more and more imminent.

Should the US default, the country will technically run out of money. Unable to pay back its creditors the $14.3 trillion it would owe, the US dollar would decline in value, leading to an economic downturn worldwide. Earlier this week, China’s State Administration of Foreign Exchange urged the US to figure out a way to avoid default, begging America to get “responsible.”

"It could be very bad. At some level we don't really know what the consequences could be. It could be very serious. It could be less serious. Do we really want to run that experiment?" says Plosser.

Last week, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said a default would be “catastrophic” to the international financial markets.

So far Moody’s, Standard & Poor’s and Fitch have all threatened to downgrade the States’ credit rating if a compromise isn’t come to shortly.

"There are a lot of people working on what we would do and how we would do it," Plosser says.

President Obama met separately with both Republican and Democratic lawmakers on Wednesday, though no deal has been set in stone yet. The president led five consecutive days of discussion last week before giving a White House press conference on Friday where he said that the “log jam” would be broken up in a matter of days.

+4 (4 votes)
 
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Beverly (unregistered) July 27, 2011, 05:10
+1

Why is RT playing along with the US govt's political theater?  The debt ceiling always gets raised when needed.  As for default, it ain't gonna happen.  The US government will never default on its bonds because they are payable in its own currency. Regardless of whether the debt ceiling is raised, the Federal Reserve will continue to purchase the Treasury’s debt.

 

Behind the posturing from Obama and Congress is their desire to gut safety net programs such as Social Security and Medicare/Medicaid.  Republicans have always hated these programs and want to cut them as well as privatize Social Security to enrich Wall Street.  Obama is their ace in the hole to do so as he is a neoliberal/conservative posing as "progressive."  Obama set the wheels in motion for safety net gutting by saying early in his tenure that all social programs were on the table for reduction.  To add fat to fire, Obama convened a Deficit Reduction Commission chock full of Republicans (named Social Sec hater #1 Republican Alan Simpson as chair) and neoliberal Dems who've had designs on gutting Soc Sec and Medicare and privatizing the funds. 

 

To further scare/fool the public, the ratings agencies are threatening a downgrade of US credit.  As with Greece, this measure is a ruse to force people to accept austerity measures - austerity for the masses, prosperity for the banks. 

PotFace July 24, 2011, 10:30
+1

It seems sadly ironic that money is what served as the foundation for American might, and yet, it's going to be the catalyst for its death at this rate...

Soccer Coach July 23, 2011, 19:02
+1

someone wrote in #1

I believe everyone knows that the debt ceiling will be raised again....that or some war/catastrophe will cancel it.

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Yes, but what about the element of suspense, political points gained, publicity!  :) And so the circus continues. 


Anybody who believes that either Republicans or Dems are there for America must be on drugs.