I don't know about you but I sure am sick of worrying about the debt ceiling. I'd also say my contempt for the folks in charge of "the people's house" hasn't gotten any better over the last few months.
If the United States does hit the debt ceiling without resolution, it won't be a good thing for sure. But, its also a real arbitrary event that was put in place way back in 1917 as the Second Liberty Act. Incidentally the president and congress has modified the ceiling more than 100 times since then. A default means we can't pay our bills, hitting the debt ceiling means we won't pay. And although that is a huge difference I think if an agreement isn't reached we will probably see some real volatility to the downside in the stock and bond market. My guess/hope is this will be positively resolved.
We as a country should be worried about reducing debt and balancing budgets and hard decisions will have to be made on the spending side as well as revenue side of the ledger to make it happen and avoid a "real" default many years from now. I wish I was confident in the ability of our leaders to accomplish this but I am afraid we will need to be prepared for a near perpetual stream of debt ceiling tiffs.
I heard a quote the other day that I really liked. "Worrying doesn't take away tomorrow's troubles it takes away today's peace". That doesn't mean we don't have a plan it just means that we only can focus on what we can control which is our top priority every day here at Winn Financial Group. I know it can be hard, but please try not to worry. Breathe, meditate, pray, visit a park or a forest, hug a loved one or a pet and let it be.
There is an Icelandic phrase I just learned, Petta Reddast which is roughly translated, It's all going to work out in the end or don't worry, its going to be ok.
Petta Redast!
cw
