IMF Chief Calls Out Republican Debt Ceiling Truthers
Source: ThinkProgress
As the U.S. nears the final date to raise the debt ceiling, a chorus of Republicans have downplayed the hard deadline and insisted the Treasury can prioritize its commitments to debt interest payments and to critical programs. But on Meet the Press with David Gregory, International Monetary Fund managing director Christine Lagarde debunked the claim that creative accounting would solve anything.
Lagarde likened the consequences to the financial market crash in 2008, warning that failure to increase the ceiling by October 17 would send the U.S. economy into a tailspin. That lack of certainty, that lack of trust in the U.S. signature, it would mean massive disruption the world over and we would be tipped again into massive rupture, she said.
GREGORY: You know, there are some figures in our government and congress, Senator Rand Paul, others who say, you know, this is overstated. The treasury can do things and that the concept of default is hyperbole.
LAGARDE: But creative accounting is not the solution. And markets know that. The counterparts to the United States know that. And when you are the largest economy in the world, when you are the safe haven in all circumstances, as has been the case, you cant go into that creating accounting business. You have to honor your signature, you have to give certainty to the rest of the world, and you have to make sure that your own economy is consolidating that welcome recovery that we have seen in the last few days because it impacts the entire economy.
-snip-
Read more: http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2013/10/13/2775031/imf-chief-calls-debt-ceiling-truthers/
BootinUp
(47,152 posts)JBoy
(8,021 posts)Expert says A. Dumbass says B. The news focuses on the "disagreement".
Enthusiast
(50,983 posts)Actually it's on display 24/7.
Justice
(7,188 posts)markets and counterparts will think. Media should be talking about that and not about what Rand Paul thinks.
Berlum
(7,044 posts)Ruby the Liberal
(26,219 posts)Gregory should be embarrassed. He cites Rand Paul the eye doctor to Christine LaGarde the MD of the IMF? Maybe I should see if my Dentist wants to do my taxes for me next year.
Jim Lane
(11,175 posts)That's about as much as you can hope for from the MSM these days.
Ruby the Liberal
(26,219 posts)Point taken. Anyone with a voice is given equal footing/credibility with the lemmings.
Marthe48
(16,963 posts)According to Lagarde, and even Dimon, if teabaggers don't fund the government, it'll destroy the world economy. OWS doesn't want the economy to go forward the way it is, but I think that they are less extreme than the teabaggers. OWS wants it fixed so the majority benefits. Teabaggers want to close it down so everyone suffers.