john maddente | midwestern clarity

The official position of this blog remains that the United States does not have a revenue problem, it has a spending problem .   I spoke with  Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner at a local Town Hall Meeting last April about an idea advanced by Tim Pawlenty to avoid default without raising the debt limit.  The U.S. Treasury has the power to sequence (i.e. prioritize) payments when bills come due.  So debt holders can indeed be paid first to avert default and buy time while a budget patch is passed.  The idea has been roundly ignored or dismissed as impractical.  Of course, the U.S. government also  has over a trillion dollars worth of other assets much of which could be liquidated to pay bills, but that's another post. Guy tilling soil in front of Financial Temple - Wikipedia The debt markets have not been as restive as the equity markets.  Bond markets know that the administrati...