В понедельник 16 мая бюджет США достиг потолка, в связи с чем госсекретарь Казначейства Тимоти Гейтнер послал в конгресс следующее информационное письмо:

I am writing to notify you, as required under 5 U.S.C. § 8348(l)(2), of my determination that, by reason of the statutory debt limit, I will be unable to invest fully the portion of the Civil Service Retirement and Disability Fund (“CSRDF”) not immediately required to pay beneficiaries. For purposes of this statute, I have determined that a “debt issuance suspension period” will begin today, May 16, 2011, and last until August 2, 2011, when the Department of the Treasury projects that the borrowing authority of the United States will be exhausted. During this “debt issuance suspension period,” the Treasury Department will suspend additional investments of amounts credited to, and redeem a portion of the investments held by, the CSRDF, as authorized by law.

In addition, I am notifying you, as required under 5 U.S.C. § 8438(h)(2), of my determination that, by reason of the statutory debt limit, I will be unable to invest fully the Government Securities Investment Fund (“G Fund”) of the Federal Employees’ Retirement System in interest-bearing securities of the United States, beginning today, May 16, 2011. The statute governing G Fund investments expressly authorizes the Secretary of the Treasury to suspend investment of the G Fund to avoid breaching the statutory debt limit.

Each of these actions has been taken in the past by my predecessors during previous debt limit impasses. By law, the CSRDF and G Funds will be made whole once the debt limit is increased. Federal retirees and employees will be unaffected by these actions.

I have written to Congress on previous occasions regarding the importance of timely action to increase the debt limit in order to protect the full faith and credit of the United States and avoid catastrophic economic consequences for citizens. I again urge Congress to act to increase the statutory debt limit as soon as possible.

16 мая начался так называемый “debt issuance suspension period” (период приостановки выпуска долга).

Это период экстраординарных мер, которые позволят отсрочить наступление дефолта до 2 августа, что даст конгрессу в теории дополнительное время на завершение работы по увеличению лимита госдолга.

Перечень экстраординарных мер в переводе можно прочитать здесь.

Кстати, никакой QE3 не может быть запущен до тех пор, пока не будет сверстан план заимствований Казначейства США на 2-е полугодие. Такой план даже теоретически не может сверстан, пока не утвердят увеличение лимита госдолга.

В пятницу 13 мая Тимоти Гейтнер ответил на письмо сенатора Беннета относительно бюджетных и экономических последствиях отсутствия решения по увеличению лимита госдолга.

Тимоти Гейтнер во вторник 17 мая, выступая в Гарвардском клубе заявил:

There is no way of knowing how long financial markets will give the American political system to get ahead of this problem," Geithner said in prepared remarks for delivery to the Harvard Club in New York. "When confidence turns, it can turn with brutal force and with a momentum that is very difficult and costly to arrest."

Geithner, who is in the midst of intense negotiations with congressional Republicans over a budget, said a Republican-backed version in the House of Representatives "will not pass the Congress, now or in the future."

He urged lawmakers on both sides to work on a plan that will bring deficits down "gradually but dramatically" over a three-to-five-year period. The intent would be to get the budget deficit down to below 3 percent of GDP from the current level of about 10 percent.

"If we put our deficits on a path to get them below 3 percent of GDP by 2015 and hold them there, with reforms that politicians commit to sustain, then the federal debt held by the public will peak in the range of 70 to 80 percent of GDP, and then start to fall," Geithner said.

He said "debt caps" were needed to force politicians to take the actions needed for the country to begin living within its means.

"To do this, we are working to negotiate a multiyear framework of debt caps and targets, with a substantial down payment of specific cuts and policy reforms," Geithner added.

Ситуация с госдолгом США настолько серьезна, что либо конгресс США решит ее, либо столкнется с риском, что ставка заимствования для страны возрастет очень существенно. Республиканская версия бюджета не пройдет конгресс ни сейчас, ни в будущем, - заявил Тимоти Гейтнер.

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Обновление следует.... 1.1, 1.2., 1.3. и т.д