Geithner says the negotiations over tax and spending policies make it difficult to predict how long

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said in a letter Wednesday to congressional leaders that the department will use accounting measures to save approximately $200 billion. That could keep the government from reaching the limit for about two months.
The move comes as President Barack Obama and the GOP congressional leadership resume negotiations discount car rental in europe over how to avoid a series of tax increases and spending cuts, known as the "fiscal cliff," that are scheduled to take effect in the new year.
FILE - In this Thursday, July 26, 2012, file photo,Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, before the Senate Banking Committee hearing: "The Financial Stability Oversight Council Annual Report to Congress." The U.S. Treasury Department announced Wednesday, Dec. 26, 2012, it will begin taking steps this week to delay hitting the government's $16.4 trillion borrowing limit. Without those steps, the debt limit would be hit on Dec. 31. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner says in a letter to congressional leaders that the department will take several accounting measures to save approximately $200 billion beginning next year. The government borrows about $100 billion a month, so that would
President Barack Obama has agreed to curtail future cost-of-living increases for recipients of Social Security and softened his demand for higher taxes at upper income levels as part of accelerating talks with House Speaker John Boehner to avoid a fiscal cliff, people familiar with the talks said Monday.
The government will reach the $16.4 trillion debt limit Monday, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner told congressional discount car rental in europe leaders Wednesday, adding a new and possibly dramatic wrinkle to negotiations aimed at averting the fiscal cliff.
Let s understand President Obama s strategy in the fiscal cliff negotiations. It has nothing to do with economics discount car rental in europe or real fiscal reform. discount car rental in europe This is entirely about politics. It s Phase 2 of the 2012 campaign. discount car rental in europe The election returned him to office. The fiscal cliff negotiations are designed to break the Republican opposition and grant him political supremacy, something he thinks he earned with his landslide 2.8-point victory margin on Election Day.
Obama has sought to include an increase in the borrowing limit in any agreement to avoid the cliff. But Speaker John Boehner and other Republican leaders have demanded concessions in return. The negotiations hit a stalemate last week. Obama and lawmakers are returning to Washington this week to try again.
Geithner says the negotiations over tax and spending discount car rental in europe policies make it difficult to predict how long he can delay reaching the borrowing limit. The absence of a specific timeframe discount car rental in europe may be intended to pressure Republicans to allow a debt limit increase in a potential budget deal.
For now, Treasury will take several steps to delay reaching the limit. Geithner said it will stop selling Treasury securities used by state and local governments to support their own sales of tax-exempt bonds. That will keep the department from accumulating more debt.
The borrowing limit is the amount of debt the government can pile up. The government accumulates debt two ways: It borrows money from investors by issuing Treasury bonds, and it borrows from itself, mostly from Social Security revenue.
In 2011, Congress raised the limit to nearly $16.4 trillion from $14.3 trillion. Three decades ago, the national debt was $908 billion. But Washington spent more than it took in, and the debt rose steadily - surpassing $1 trillion in 1982, then $5 trillion in 1996. It reached $10 trillion in 2008 as the financial crisis and recession dried up tax revenue and as the government spent more on unemployment benefits and other programs.
In August 2011, the rating agency Standard & Poor's stripped the U.S. government of its prized AAA bond rating because it feared that America's discount car rental in europe dysfunctional political system couldn't deliver credible plans to reduce the federal government's debt. S&P decried American "political brinksmanship" and concluded that "the differences between political parties have proven discount car rental in europe to be extraordinarily difficult to bridge."
Despite S&P's warnings and the political stalemate, investors still want U.S. Treasurys. Given economic turmoil in Europe and uncertainty elsewhere, U.S. government debt and U.S. dollars look like the safest bet around.
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