Reagan on the Debt Ceiling

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Typically, I'm not one to praise Ronald Reagan, but for those that are, here's his view of not raising the debt ceiling and that consequences of the US defaulting on its debt:

“The full consequences of a default – or even the serious prospect of default – by the United States are impossible to predict and awesome to contemplate. Denigration of the full faith and credit of the United States would have substantial effects on the domestic financial markets and the value of the dollar. The Nation can ill afford to allow such a result. The risks, the costs, the disruptions, and the incalculable damage lead me to this conclusions: the Senate must this legislation before the Congress adjourns.”


http://www.washingtonpost.com/r/201...onal-Politics/Graphics/reagan_letter_0514.pdf
 
That was when the national debt was less than $1 trillion, it's now over $14 trillion.
In the words of the great philosopher, Bobby Dylan; Things Have Changed!

Democrats and the liberal administration are trying to SCARE people into thinking we are going to "default" if we don't raise the debt ceiling. That is hogwash and the people should simply reject the argument on principle. Failure to raise the debt ceiling means we would have to cut federal spending in other areas in order to pay our debt obligations to avoid default. That's exactly what we would do, and should do.
 
The debt limit has become somewhat meaningless to me....if the people holding our debts call in those debts and demand payment we will be bankrupt....right now, today......if we need to make a payment on the debt, pay it and take the money from another program and be done with it.....infinite borrowing is not the answer....robbing Peter to pay Paul us something we've been doing for decades....now Peter lives in Middleclass, Kansas and Paul lives in China...
 
why don't we build up the arms race, because reagan wanted that too...and dixie is right....his comment nearly 30 years ago has no bearing on what he would say now. just because he believed it at THAT time with THAT debt limit....does not mean he would support it now.

the repetitive raising of our debt limit has NOT at all helped our credit and our credit is not what was under reagan. if we continue to mindlessly raise the limit it will have the same effect as not raising it.
 
why don't we build up the arms race, because reagan wanted that too...and dixie is right....his comment nearly 30 years ago has no bearing on what he would say now. just because he believed it at THAT time with THAT debt limit....does not mean he would support it now.

The consequences of not raising the debt ceiling are the same today as they were in 1983. Nothing has changed on that front.

the repetitive raising of our debt limit has NOT at all helped our credit and our credit is not what was under reagan. if we continue to mindlessly raise the limit it will have the same effect as not raising it.

Hilarious. In December 1983 the interest rate on a 10 year treasury note was 11.83%. Currently, it is at 3.15%. We have a far far far way to go before the creditworthiness of the United States is as poor as it was when Reagan wrote that letter.
 
The consequences of not raising the debt ceiling are the same today as they were in 1983. Nothing has changed on that front.



Hilarious. In December 1983 the interest rate on a 10 year treasury note was 11.83%. Currently, it is at 3.15%. We have a far far far way to go before the creditworthiness of the United States is as poor as it was when Reagan wrote that letter.

it doesn't change the fact the debt is far, far greater and the fact our credit is not as good. you can spin all you want, but the facts are the facts. you're welcome to your OPINION of what reagan would say today, as i am....but don't pass your opinion off as fact.
 
it doesn't change the fact the debt is far, far greater and the fact our credit is not as good. you can spin all you want, but the facts are the facts. you're welcome to your OPINION of what reagan would say today, as i am....but don't pass your opinion off as fact.

Given that we can borrow at a 3.16% interest rate now as compared to almost 12% when Reagan wrote that letter, your claim that our credit is not as good is dumbassery of the highest degree.

And I'm not offering an opinion on what Reagan would say today, I'm simply offering what Reagan said about the consequences of not raising the debt ceiling and that his assessment is spot on.
 
Given that we can borrow at a 3.16% interest rate now as compared to almost 12% when Reagan wrote that letter, your claim that our credit is not as good is dumbassery of the highest degree.

And I'm not offering an opinion on what Reagan would say today, I'm simply offering what Reagan said about the consequences of not raising the debt ceiling and that his assessment is spot on.

prove our credit is better now nigel.....you haven't, so i suspect you know you're wrong, but you will blather about percents in the hopes someone believes you

and yes, you are offering the opinion FOR TODAY....else you wouldn't have said it.
 
The consequences of not raising the debt ceiling are the same today as they were in 1983. Nothing has changed on that front.



Hilarious. In December 1983 the interest rate on a 10 year treasury note was 11.83%. Currently, it is at 3.15%. We have a far far far way to go before the creditworthiness of the United States is as poor as it was when Reagan wrote that letter.

actually, we have a long way to go before our creditworthiness is as GOOD as it was when he wrote that letter........paying back about 13 trillion's worth of a long way to go.....
 
the Bernanke legacy....

st-louis_sm.jpg


http://shibecapital.com/research/2011/02/charts-commentary-of-long-term-trends-in-markets/
 
prove our credit is better now nigel.....you haven't, so i suspect you know you're wrong, but you will blather about percents in the hopes someone believes you

and yes, you are offering the opinion FOR TODAY....else you wouldn't have said it.


I have already proven our credit is better now. You just don't understand what the hell you are talking about.
 
The debt limit has become somewhat meaningless to me....if the people holding our debts call in those debts and demand payment we will be bankrupt....right now, today......if we need to make a payment on the debt, pay it and take the money from another program and be done with it.....infinite borrowing is not the answer....robbing Peter to pay Paul us something we've been doing for decades....now Peter lives in Middleclass, Kansas and Paul lives in China...

NO ONE can just 'call in our debt'. NO ONE. Hell, most of the treasury bonds out there cannot even be called by OUR government. They are NON-CALLABLE.
 
Given that we can borrow at a 3.16% interest rate now as compared to almost 12% when Reagan wrote that letter, your claim that our credit is not as good is dumbassery of the highest degree.

And I'm not offering an opinion on what Reagan would say today, I'm simply offering what Reagan said about the consequences of not raising the debt ceiling and that his assessment is spot on.

the ONLY reason our interest rates are that low is because the Fed is playing games with QE1, QE2 and other shenanigans .... that's right.... I called shenanigans.

Also, the interest rate comparison you use is not an apples to apples comparison of the two time frames. To compare the two, you have to look at where our rates are in both time frames relative to the rest of the world. That said, you are correct, Reagan inherited a far worse mess than Obama did. Thanks for reminding everyone of that. Yet Reagan's policies led to growth in the economy. Obama's have led to a continued sputtering and an increasing likelihood of another recession.
 
no you have not....and all you have is the "i'm right because i say i'm right"

yawn

He has interest rates we pay, but they set those in the FED, it would be the same as matching up interest rates for your mortgages some in the 70s paid upwards of 14% and higher for their mortgage, those same people today would be paying 6% and lower, even those without the best credit.. Saying that interest rates are the same thing as credit rating shows a misunderstanding, it certainly doesn't prove "better" credit now than we had then.

The reality is our credit was recently downgraded due to the S&P indicators not believing the US has a healthy interest in paying their debt. We haven't paid a dime of our debt since 1962, not one iota of our money has gone towards debt reduction, why would we start now?
 
He has interest rates we pay, but they set those in the FED, it would be the same as matching up interest rates for your mortgages some in the 70s paid upwards of 14% and higher for their mortgage, those same people today would be paying 6% and lower, even those without the best credit.. Saying that interest rates are the same thing as credit rating shows a misunderstanding, it certainly doesn't prove "better" credit now than we had then.

The reality is our credit was recently downgraded due to the S&P indicators not believing the US has a healthy interest in paying their debt. We haven't paid a dime of our debt since 1962, not one iota of our money has gone towards debt reduction, why would we start now?

i know...i just want him to fess up :)
 
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