And just like that, Americans can rest a little more easy when it comes to their pending economic default and doom.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen suddenly changed the date of when the US would run out of money to pay its bills. In other words, default.
Previously scheduled for June 1, the prediction’s been changed to June 5.
Still, a whopping $132 billion is still due before the third day in June. Cash for veterans, Medicare, and social security are up first. Both some pretty consequential stuff.
Yellen says this will require billions of dollars in cash transfers, hurting the feds’ cash reserves.
This is the problem when the feds, or any government, have total control over printing money. It devalues.
“Our projected resources would be inadequate to satisfy all of these obligations,” Yellen said.
It looked like that for a day, a deal would be reached in congress to raise the debt ceiling. But Democrats are digging in their heals, opposing the work requirement the GOP wants for Americans receiving social benefits.
While Yellen’s extension provides a lifeline, her movement of the big date has some in congress question the validity of her power. And really, the validity of a chicken little style definitive default date. How real is any of this stuff, anyway?
Speaker Kevin McCarthy said Yellen is wrong about just how disastrous inflation would really get. He asked for a “a complete justification” from Yellen explaining how the US would automatically run out of cash by early June. He accused Ms. Yellen of “manipulative timing.”
All of this points to an interesting lesson. Are gold and crypto a surer bet? Catastrophe really seems be in the control of feds when it comes to dealing with American currency. But it might not mean anything at all.
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