Gary Palmer and Cameron Smith: Debt > Dollars = Disaster

  Every American who has a credit card has a credit limit. Usually that limit is based roughly on what the credit card company determines the cardholder can reasonably pay off given their income and assets. Recently, U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner announced that, in effect, the economic sky is falling in the United States because the federal government has maxed out its own credit card. As of May 16th, Secretary Geithner reported to Congress that the federal government had reached the statutory federal debt limit of $14.294 trillion. He further noted that, to avoid breaching the debt limit, the Treasury could delay payments to federal employee pension funds until August 2, 2011. Rather than suggesting the federal government live within its means by immediately looking for ways to cut back, Geithner suggested that Congress increase the federal government's credit limit.