Lotta Ins Lotta Outs: Not Our First Default and The Other Hot Dog

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Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Not Our First Default and The Other Hot Dog

The debt ceiling discussion has been the talk everywhere the last couple of weeks. However, this wouldn't be the first time the US defaulted on our debt. It has happened several times before.

Default Now, or Suffer a More Expensive Crisis Later: Ron Paul

Debate over the debt ceiling has reached a fever pitch in recent weeks, with each side trying to outdo the other in a game of political chicken. If you believe some of the things that are being written, the world will come to an end if the U.S. defaults on even the tiniest portion of its debt.
In strict terms, the default being discussed will occur if the U.S. fails to meet its debt obligations, through failure to pay either interest or principal due a bondholder. Proponents of raising the debt ceiling claim that a default on Aug. 2 is unprecedented and will result in calamity (never mind that this is simply an arbitrary date, easily changed, marking a congressional recess). My expectations of such a scenario are more sanguine.
The U.S. government defaulted at least three times on its obligations during the 20th century.
-- In 1934, the government banned ownership of gold and eliminated the right to exchange gold certificates for gold coins. It then immediately revalued gold from $20.67 per troy ounce to $35, thus devaluing the dollar holdings of all Americans by 40 percent.
-- From 1934 to 1968, the federal government continued to issue and redeem silver certificates, notes that circulated as legal tender that could be redeemed for silver coins or silver bars. In 1968, Congress unilaterally reneged on this obligation, too.
-- From 1934 to 1971, foreign governments were permitted by the U.S. government to exchange their dollars for gold through the gold window. In 1971, President Richard Nixon severed this final link between the dollar and gold by closing the gold window, thus in effect defaulting once again on a debt obligation of the U.S. government.
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Yesterday, I posted a piece on the world's most expensive hot dog. Today, I give you Gus, a very different hot dog. Animal videos seem to always put a smile on my face.

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I know I have mentioned this before, but silver continues to be manipulated on the COMEX. This video shows how 1/3 of all silver mined in the world was traded in 1 minute last Tuesday. Over $10 billion in 1 minute.

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I was also turned on to a great weekly piece called, "Things that make you go hmmmm..."
It's put together by Grant Williams. If you would like to subscribe to it, just go to this link. It's free and full of good content.
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Here are the word clouds from Obama and Boehner's speeches last night. I think these things are really cool. 2200 words from Barry and 930 from John. If you didn't see hear the speeches, these are the transcripts.