Pescod..monday
While it comes across as a bunch of lefties and righties
fighting like in kindergarten, there are a lot of people that
could seriously be hurt should they not make an agreement
and suddenly. Tough decisions would have to be made as
there would suddenly not be enough money in the American
budget to pay everyone.
CNN in an interesting article point out that besides all the
federal workers, salaries, military, etc., there is a long list of
people now on the American help list.
CNN writes, “One in seven Americans received food
stamps in April. That’s up nearly 10% from the year before
and the government is scheduled to send out $6.7 billion in
food and nutrition support…”
They continue, “Medicaid, the nation’s largest safety net
program now serves more than 60 million people...and is also
the primary payer for two-thirds of the country’s nursing
home residents. Some $50 billion in Medicaid and Medicare
payments are set to go out in August.”
Also housing. “Nearly 5 million low-income families depend
on vouchers or other assistance from the Department of
Housing and Urban Development to keep a roof over their
heads, but the $6.7 billion in payments in August could be at
risk.”
“Some 3.8 million of the long-term jobless are receiving
federal unemployment benefits, which could be halted if the
impasse isn’t resolved. They are scheduled to collect $12.8
billion in August.”
That’s a lot of people who are on support these days, but it
also brings up the other problem. An American budget that is
this far out of whack obviously needs some trimming or else a
huge deficit gets simply out-of-control.
So what happens if the Yanks default? Well, suddenly their
credibility as the rock-solid place to invest goes out the window...
the assumption is the American dollar drops, American
interest rates suddenly are half to a full percent higher and a
whole bunch of people get nervous in the markets.
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