Tuesday 5 July 2011

What's happening in Greece and now the States

I was shocked to hear on the news that United States is close to defaulting on its commitment to keep down its debt.


What is the debt ceiling exactly? It's a cap set by Congress on the amount of debt the federal government can legally borrow. The cap applies to debt owed to the public (i.e., anyone who buys U.S. bonds) plus debt owed to federal government trust funds such as those for Social Security and Medicare. 


Read here 
 
"The European debt crisis has threatened the very existence of the Euro, but the United States has had its own potentially cataclysmic event lying in the weeds: the potential of a default if the debt ceiling is not raised by August 2. If such an outcome occurs, the most profitable positions to take would be long gold, long Swiss Franc against currencies such as the Australian Dollar, New Zealand Dollar, and Canadian Dollar.
 
The prospect of a default by the United States would destabilize the global economy. With both political parties deeply entrenched in their respective doctrines, and the Euro-crisis temporarily put on hold, the market’s collective eye is now set to fixate itself on the debt crisis evolving in the United States. 

Does anyone understand how serious this is - presumably what will happen on Aug 2 is that Congress will again raise its ceiling. "

Sounds like the world's finances are skating on thin ice .

Should we be taking precautions regarding our finances and the health of our banks to deal with collapse.

Can anyone enlighten me?

I suggest that the markets are jumpy as illustrated by the 25% rise in the price of gold over the last year 

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yes spend it or give it away.
Treat your nearest and dearest.

Geoff Dellow said...

The dilema is then:

Who takes care of you when you're not able to cope.

We're responsible for taking care of ourselves in my book.