Congress made a deal to avoid the fiscal cliff, but you don't
actually think we're done with 11th-hour partisan battles that bring the
country's finances to brink of ruin, do you?
Of course we're not. Sometime in the next six weeks, the Treasury
won't have enough money pay the government's bills. Prevented from
borrowing more because of the self-imposed debt ceiling, we'll face two
options: Either Congress must agree to raise the debt ceiling, or
something awful will happen.
Confused? Here's what you need to know.
What is the debt ceiling?
Before 1917, Congress
literally had to approve each new debt issuance, deciding on the bond's
maturity, its interest rate, and what the money was specifically to be
used for.
This became too burdensome on the eve of World War I, when the
government needed to quickly spend a lot of money without stumbling over
administrative rules. So, in 1917 Congress passed the Second Liberty
Bond Act, which provided authority to issue new debt with relaxed
restrictions on the maturity and redemption of bonds being issued. (more)
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