Beyond a default: Catastrophic calculations
Posted in Main Blog (All Posts) on July 16th, 2011 4:35 am by HL
Beyond a default: Catastrophic calculations
It’s easy to understand why the government will have more trouble borrowing if it fails to pay its debts. It’s a bit harder to see why ordinary Americans, the city of Pittsburgh, hospitals in Iowa, or medium-size corporations will have more trouble borrowing.
But they will.
And their trouble borrowing is the primary way a default, or even something too close to it for the market’s comfort, could deal a body blow to the economy.
Lawmakers dispute TSA’s definition of ‘sensitive’ information
The Department of Homeland Security has complained to Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) about what it says was an inappropriate disclosure of sensitive security information to the media by the House oversight subcommittee that he chairs.
That drew an angry response Friday from the head of the full committee, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), who called the assertions “meritless” retaliation for congressional efforts to address “TSA deficiencies.”
Joseph B. Maher, DHS deputy counsel, wrote Chaffetz in a letter dated Wednesday that “sensitive security information” provided by the Transportation Security Administration was illegally disclosed to the media.
‘Green card lottery’ blunder comes as program’s future is in question
For Olivier Millogo, there was one last chance to hit this year’s jackpot.
He’d been lucky the first time in May, winning a prized slot in the State Department’s “green card lottery” and a chance to live and work legally in the United States.
But 12 days later, the 36-year-old from Burkina Faso was crushed when federal officials discovered a computer problem with the drawing and canceled the results. A second drawing on Friday brought no good news for him.
