Obama Ready to Reconcile Over Spending Cuts and Tax Hikes but Rules Out a Shift From Debt Ceiling Stand
In his weekly tapped address to the nation, President Obama said he was willing to find a middle path with the Republicans on the issue of spending cuts and tax increases in coming weeks; but ruled out any compromise on the debt ceiling issue.
“I will not compromise over … whether or not Congress should pay the tab for a bill they’ve already racked up,” said President Obama.
“If Congress refuses to give the United States the ability to pay its bills on time, the consequences for the entire global economy could be catastrophic. The last time Congress threatened this course of action, our entire economy suffered for it. Our families and our businesses cannot afford that dangerous game again,” added Obama in his weekly recorded address to the nation.
The president also said that political brinkmanship at this juncture would only stall the fragile economy, recounting how policy logjam in 2011 debt ceiling fight adversely affected the economy.
“Our economy can’t afford more protracted showdowns or manufactured crises,” said Obama while adding “the messy brinksmanship in Congress made business owners more uncertain and consumers less confident.”
Meanwhile, Republicans continued to hold their ground—which is slashing entitlements and other “wasteful expenses”. Dave Camp (Rep. Michigan) on behalf of the GOP said in a weekly public address, “We must identify responsible ways to tackle Washington’s wasteful spending.”
The Treasury has just enough money to pay back its obligation until March and if lawmakers in Washington fail to raise the treasury’s present borrowing limit, then the world’s largest economy would not only make a historic default but trigger panic in the global financial markets.
The national debt breached $16.4 trillion (which is the debt-ceiling limit set by congressional leaders) in the last week.
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Post Written By: Ed Liston
Ed Liston is a senior contributing editor at TheStockMarketWatch.com. An active market watcher and investor, Ed guides an independent team of experienced analysts and writes for multiple stock trader publications. He is widely quoted in various financial publications on the Internet. When Ed is not writing about stocks, investing in stocks, talking about stocks, or otherwise doing something stock related, he likes to go sailing and fishing in his yacht.
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