Here´s one not mentioned by Tim Geithner: I.e. a selective default. Fed (and no doubt China too), don´t get the interest due on the bonds starting NOW, or any principle paid at maturity. US´s "Full faith and credit" is for people (or government & corportations the US likes). But idea would not stem dollar out flow or debts even half as much as W. Adams claims: Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! i.e. Fed+China+OPEC+Russia = 10.8+7.2+1.7+1.0= 20.7% and of course Americans would need to produce and sell to import as the Dollar, over night, is no longer world´s reserve currency so deficits must abruptly end - as no one lends to the US anymore, with the exception of a few rich Americans. (I don´t think Warren Buffett, etc. could or would pay the current annual deficits.) US government workers, defense contractors, etc. would get paid in freshly printed dollars and only TIP holders would get higher interest. Holder´s of other US bonds have fixed amount claims. let´s guess the 75% of US debt is fixed and being paid still to Americans and American corporations (banks, surely). That is like a 25% reduction in interest out flow, but cost of the TIPs would be much higher as would be all things like social Security etc. that are inflation adjusted. After a selective default, the inflation would be terrible - at least 20% per year and no cheap goods would be coming from Asia. The collapse of the dollar I predicted to be on or before Halloween 2014 would surely come within a few weeks after the selective default.
Not the fully legal "platinum coin": Too bad - I own shares in two Platinum miners, the one in the USA is offsetting my loses on the one in S Africa.
Old Post 4, now deleted, was not on thread. It seems mainly to be a silly, unfounded attack on Obama´s IQ, which I don´t know but suspect it is higher than wellwisher´s by at least 35 points. After all Obama was the editor of the Harvard Law Review an honor which only one of the brightest of Harvard Law students in each class gets. Wellwisher was warned: "Edit your post to have it at least mention some things the Treasury can do to cope with the debt ceiling limit, or I will delete it." He did not so it is gone.
Although US´s annual revenue is about 11 times greater than the interest on the debt there is a serious scheduling problem, if treasury can not borrow as much of the tax revenue comes in during the first two weeks of April but before that (on 15 Feb 13 by treasury´s estimate): Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! and to quote some of the source´s text: Even just defaulting and then two weeks later paying off the un-paid over due bonds, will almost certainly drop the US´s credit rating and significantly increas the cost of servicing the debt. If the rating drops below "investment grade" there will be huge selling of US bonds as many current holders are required by law not to hold less than "investment grade" assets. Under this forced selling pressure bond prices may drop faster than you can say "Run on the dollar!"
I don't have data, but on about 4 days, (this Friday) we hit the debt ceiling again. Once again when people owing funds to IRS can hold them for two months more (until 15 April) and people due refunds are claiming them as soon as they get all the needed data (Report from their broker is often last and may even be revised). This puts stress on the Treasury and it needs to pull out all the accounting tricks it can. There is little public or press concern - we all know it will be "can kicking" time again soon. Wonder when we run out of cans or roads?
