Letter: 'Default' and the debt ceiling
Photo credit: Howard Schnapp | Pearl Kamer of the Long Island Association addresses a corporate-growth group in Hempstead on Thursday. “If the country defaults on its debt ... it’s going to kill our economy,” she said. (Jan. 10, 2013)
Pearl Kamer, chief economist at the Long Island Association business group, told Newsday, "If the country defaults on its debt obligations . . . it's going to kill our economy" ["LI recovery seen at risk," Business, Jan. 11].
I wonder, since you use an ellipsis in the quote, what was left out? Did Kamer actually blame the "debt ceiling" as a reason to default on debt servicing? If so, that makes no sense.
The United States pulls in a lot more money than it pays out to cover debt servicing. The country can't default unless President Barack Obama decides to violate the law.
Dan Martin, Babylon
Editor's note: The writer is an accountant.
