Robbing Peter to pay Paul The pain will return harder, longer and stronger until this debt ceiling is managed. Chip Somodevilla via Getty Images As the US crashed into the $31.4 trillion debt ceiling yesterday, the Treasury Department began taking what it called “extraordinary measures” to prevent the government from defaulting on its debts and sparking an economic crisis. What does that actually mean? These measures are a series of deep-cut accounting moves that allow the Treasury to continue making its payments. They include: Suspending reinvestments into government funds for retired federal employees, such as the Civil Service Retirement and Disability Fund. Selling existing investments in those funds to free up more outstanding debt. And while these measures definitely aren’t ordinary…they probably aren’t so “extra,” either. The Treasury has resorted to them more than 12 times since 1985, including during the last debt-ceiling standoff in 2021. St...
Comments
Post a Comment