dagblog - Comments for "Paul Ryan Is Wrong About U.S. Bondholders"

We could teach them a lesson

Michael Maiello — Wed, 18 May 2011 19:05:18 +0000

We could teach them a lesson with a "progressive default."

Robert Reich pointed out

NCD — Wed, 18 May 2011 17:33:40 +0000

In reply to Paul Ryan Is Wrong About U.S. Bondholders

Robert Reich pointed out yesterday that 40% of US debt is held by rich Americans. The rich used to support the government by paying taxes, now they just loan it money.

Simply going ahead and paying

Peter Schwartz — Wed, 18 May 2011 17:30:49 +0000

In reply to Paul Ryan Is Wrong About U.S. Bondholders

Simply going ahead and paying all the bills would be an interesting end run around Ryan et al.

According to one economist

cmaukonen — Wed, 18 May 2011 16:37:02 +0000

In reply to Paul Ryan Is Wrong About U.S. Bondholders

According to one economist the debt ceiling itself maybe unconstitutional by the 14th Amendment.

Section 4 confirmed the legitimacy of all United States public debt legislated by the Congress. It also confirmed that neither the United States nor any state would pay for the loss of slaves or debts that had been incurred by the Confederacy. For example, several English and French banks had lent money to the South during the war.^[46] In Perry v. United States (1935), the Supreme Court ruled that voiding a United States government bond "went beyond the congressional power" on account of Section 4.^[47]Republican economist Bruce Bartlett argues that Section 4 renders the debt ceiling unconstitutional, and obligates the President to consider the debt ceiling null and void.^[48]

According to EconoSpeak the

cmaukonen — Wed, 18 May 2011 16:18:02 +0000

In reply to Paul Ryan Is Wrong About U.S. Bondholders

According to EconoSpeak the treasury should just ignore the damn debt limit since it has been automatically raised in the past anyway and Bush has ignored so many laws as well.

So, my proposal is that if the Congress is unable to come to some sort of reasonable deal that will allow a vote on raising the debt ceiling, Treasury Secretary Geithner should simply ignore the debt ceiling and continue to pay the bills as they come in, thereby avoiding any defaults or spending cuts or financial crises. The fact is, in the absence of any direct instructions from the Congress on which bills should be paid and which should not be in the face of crashing into the debt ceiling (surely we are not talking about paying no bills at all), he has no authority not to follow the instructions of the Congress in its latest budget, and spend what has been mandated. That will be the last coherent instruction from the Congress, and I say he should obey that in the absence of anything else more specific. Indeed, it will be the only responsible thing to do.

The post makes a lot of sense

Peter Schwartz — Wed, 18 May 2011 15:54:55 +0000

In reply to Paul Ryan Is Wrong About U.S. Bondholders

The post makes a lot of sense and so does cmauk.