US debt ceiling, gov shutdown and Speaker of the House fight

Welcome to the Precious Metals Bug Forums

Welcome to the PMBug forums - a watering hole for folks interested in gold, silver, precious metals, sound money, investing, market and economic news, central bank monetary policies, politics and more.

Why not register an account and join the discussions? When you register an account and log in, you may enjoy additional benefits including no Google ads, market data/charts, access to trade/barter with the community and much more. Registering an account is free - you have nothing to lose!

Not much will actually be shut down though. These "shut downs" are mostly just political theater.
 
pmbug said:
Not much will actually be shut down though. These "shut downs" are mostly just political theater.
Click to expand...
That is spot on. Always has been Kabuki Theater.

HOWEVER <-- And that is a big "however", this time there was a hugely powerful being who told every single Congress-shamer who votes to pass the bill, THAT HE WOULD EXPOSE THEM PERSONALLY.

RINO's got bowled over. So did others. Sorta like Jeffrey Epstein in reverse: "Be good, or you will get spankies."

This time it is -- so far -- going to be different. Can you imagine the heated, sekrit meetings? The threats? Deals? And the clock is ticking...
 
Last edited:
Shut it down until Trump takes office. Trump should then demand a budget be passed instead of these CR's. Then we he gets the budget send it back with his line items that he wants deleted as well as a 25% cut across the board. Of course none of that will happen since he wants the elimination of the debt ceiling which means business as usual.

Government employees probably dont care about an extended vacation for the holidays. probably do most of their Christmas shopping with government credit cards anyway.
 
Love ya, Cg... but doesn't anything good happen in your world? Or do all the leaves always fall off your Christmas tree?

Stopping the wild spending while still keeping the motor running is something our Congress chooses NOT to do. And has so chosen for decades and decades. Congress just sends out money to buy new motors instead of refilling their gas tanks.

How do you stop this? The only way I see is what is going down now. This is a GOOD thing, not a bad thing.
 


Oh, the horrors! I guess those soldiers and sailors will just have to fund their own transgender mutilations.
 
Fatrat said:
Pet peeve of mine, when I worked for the feds, I was one of the people who had to come in no matter what...no free vacation for me.
Click to expand...


Me too. But let's face it. Absolutely nothing happens around Christmas time. I always volunteered to remain in the office between Christmas and New Years, letting others have the time off to spend with their families. Get in, drink coffee, do the crossword puzzle in the paper, take a long lunch, spend a couple of hours walking around the mall, go back to the office to answer a couple of emails, leave early. To me, that was always a very peaceful time.
 
I haven't had a Christmas tree in 20 years. I don't bother with that holiday. I cant afford it anyway since government spending has increased the cost of everything to live.

I am all for stopping the wild spending and will praise those who do so. However, eliminating the debt ceiling does not say we are going to get spending under control. Lowering the ceiling and forcing congress to cut spending would be appropriate.
Lets look at one example in the current budget. It was in the budget, not sure if it still is. The Francis key bridge funding for 8 billion dollars. this isn't even close to being based on any realistic numbers for the actual cost. It's mostly waste and fraud.
According to the search results, the Maryland Department of Transportation has announced plans to replace the bridge by the fourth quarter of 2028 at an estimated cost of $1.7 billion to $1.9 billion.
Click to expand...
So we go from under 2 billion to 8 billion. Thats 6 billion overpriced. If I got the contract I could pay whoever was going to build it double what they wanted and still walk away with 4 billion dollars. Thats insanity Uncle. It truly is.

So, over the next 4 years I will praise where it is appropriate and criticize where it is appropriate. At the end of th day though, it's just me venting and blowing off some steam. No one listens or cares anyway. LOL.

Merry Christmas to you
 

Let me explain the debt ceiling to you since it's pretty clear most of you have no idea what is going on.

As of now, there is no debt ceiling.

Let me repeat that for all of those "true conservative" supporters. As of right now, there is no debt ceiling.

The debt ceiling was suspended back in Jun of 2023.

As things stand now, as of Jan 1st, 2025, the debt ceiling will return, and it will be whatever it was when it was suspended plus whatever spending Biden and the dems did since June of 2023. That new debt ceiling is estimated to be hit by June of 2025 if not earlier.

What the CR wanted to do is push the redemption of the debt ceiling back for 2 years.

This would allow massive tax cuts that Trump wants to make. Things like no tax on tips, no tax on social security, no tax on overtime, a 15% tax bracket for companies who built here, and to stop the Trump tax cuts from expiring.

You see, the government idiots consider tax cuts as government spending. So if you do $4 trillion in tax cuts, the government considers that $ 4 trillion in spending.

The debt ceiling resumption on Jan 1st will make Trump have to figure out how to pass the tax cuts without going over the debt ceiling and triggering a default. Do you get it now?

By not moving the non-existent debt ceiling back two more years, the "true conservatives" just stopped you from getting more of your money returned to you by tax cuts and they kept more money in the government for a bigger gov. In effect, they just voted for the exact opposite of what they tell you they want and don't for a second think they don't know that.
 
It seems to me that all that is needed, is a one page Bill that declares the debt ceiling to be $XTrillion as of Jan 1st.

Why does it need to even be 150 pages long, let alone the original at 1500 pages?
.....or am I missing something? Lol


In fact, it needs to just eliminate the debt ceiling altogether.

Imho, if Congress authorizes spending on something, the authorization for the Treasury to issue debt to pay for that spending should be included within the Bill when it is enacted.

Edited to add: how is this debt ceiling bs any different than you deciding to buy something, but then telling your wife that she is not allowed to write a check to pay for what you bought when the bill for it arrives?

The debt ceiling really just seems like a failed attempt for a congress to try to control the spending of a future congress.
They should know by now that shit don't work.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Menu
Log in
Register
Cookies are required to use this site. You must accept them to continue using the site. Learn more…