Good morning
As a general observation, the business news really slows down over Christmas. Probably because most business news consists of “and this person said THIS” – and all said people are now on holiday.
Luckily, December 31 is looming large on the US horizon. So at least there’s one news story to keep me commenting…
The headlines:
- Geithner warns.
Link: 4 days.
The treasury secretary, Timothy Geithner, has written to Congress to tell them that he has more bad news… Not only will the automatic tax increases and spending cuts kick in on New Year’s eve; but he’s also going to hit the Debt Ceiling. On, like, Monday.
Tim is going to take “extraordinary measures” like suspending treasury sales and “accounting”*. This is going to create $200 billion of headroom (apparently), and would last about 2 months in normal circumstances.
Then there was the word “default” thrown around.
It’s going to be an exciting New Year.
*How ironic that “accounting” is an extraordinary measure. I know that’s not quite what he meant – but still.
That’s all for now.
Have a good day.
