….the debate is a clear loss for America as a whole. Here’s how Christine Lagarde put it:
There was a positive bias towards the United States of America, towards Treasury bills. That was the case historically. And the current crisis is probably chipping into that very positive bias.
That very strong confidence that generally led to a flight to quality and investment in Treasury bonds is slightly eroded at the moment. I mean, it was unheard of, only six months, to imagine that the United States could be under negative watch by the rating agencies.
So here’s what I’m wondering: is there some way of quantifying the cost to the US of simply having this debate? Is there a way of taking Lagarde’s “positive bias” and giving it a number, in terms of say basis points of reduction on US borrowing costs?
We got a short one-page letter from our investment adviser on Saturday saying they are advising all their clients to immediately get their money out of Treasuries and other federal and state securities and bonds. So that is what one part of the market is saying at this point, irrespective of what Congress may do.
[url=http://anglicanprayer.wordpress.com/2011/08/01/usa-debt-ceiling-crisis/]Prayers[/url].
for me, the economic reality seems pretty simple: if I was to go into debt over a 30-year period, I am assuming that the debt would be paid off over that period to justify projects that stimulate the economy, such as roads, education, technological innovation, etc… If I am continually spending more than I take in over a fifty-year period, doesn’t that really mean that I am spending more [url=http://cashadvancesus.com/][b]cash advance[/b][/url] than I am producing through my investments in these economic-stimulus federal programs? Doe that also not mean that I am slowly going into bondage to my creditors, and will someday have to make an accounting of what I have done? What we really need is a Medical Pricing Transparency Act. Healthcare is one of the few industries in which service providers are not required to publish their rates BEFORE providing you with services. Why is that? Well, maybe because if people could compare prices between hospitals, doctors and other health care providers *gasp* the competition for customers might actually force prices to shrink. Maybe if Congress forced health care providers (not just the Insurance companies, but the people actually providing the services) to publish their rates for various medical services, we might be able to control some of these astronomical costs.