By Phil Stewart
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan, July 30 (Reuters) - It is unclear if the United States will be able to pay troops on time in the event of a debt default, the top U.S. military officer told troops in Afghanistan on Saturday.
Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the U.S. military's Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Pentagon officials were working hard to plan for a potential default but cautioned that the circumstances were extraordinary.
"So I honestly can't answer that question," he told troops at Kandahar air base in southern Afghanistan, as several expressed anxiety over budget wrangling in Washington.
Potentially suspending pay to U.S. forces waging wars in Afghanistan and Iraq is an extremely sensitive subject in the United States and Mullen acknowledged that many troops lived paycheck to paycheck.
"So if paychecks were to stop, it would have a devastating impact," Mullen said, answering questions from troops.
If U.S. defaults, lawsuits await
ReplyDeleteBy Erin Geiger Smith and Carlyn Kolker
NEW YORK, July 29 (Reuters) - If the United States stops paying its bills, who can sue?
Potentially, at least, it's a staggering answer: In all, the U.S. government cuts about 100 million checks a month, including to Medicare and Social Security recipients, bondholders, and government contractors. Anyone whose check from the government was not paid on time could try to file a lawsuit, and legal experts say it is not unimaginable that aggrieved parties would be tempted to turn in substantial numbers to the courts if their situation gets dire enough.
http://www.trust.org/alertnet/news/if-us-defaults-lawsuits-await/
<span>Last days of the American Republic :Chalmers Johnson.</span>
ReplyDeleteVaa cheers what he thinks portends our demise - whether gradual or immediate. Yet he can't understand why Americans don't care for him or his kind. Really?
ReplyDeleteFYI, we don't care how angry you are. Well just send more drones your way, if need be...
" Well just send more drones your way, if need be..."
ReplyDeleteand there you have it - the American answer to all problems. Keep paying your taxes to the military-industrial complex, flem.
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ReplyDeleteFYI, we don't care how angry you are.</span>
A lie. Otherwise you'd not be so deseperate to post on this blog.
<span>Well just send more drones your way, if need be...</span>
Well then next time someone tries to blow off your ass don't come here and complain, asshole!
TGIA, very surprised by your comments. Expected better from you.
ReplyDeleteI am evil, stupid, don't research anything, don't know anything? You are better than this.
VAA, I don't remember your background.
I am pro muslim and pro British and am hurt that some of you allege otherwise.
Flemming, I have known a lot of Reagan conservative republicans over the years. None of them behave the way you do. Reagan always had meticulous manners, good taste, decency, honor and character. If you love Reagan, please emulate his example.
I think that VAA and TGIA are well intentioned [even thought TGIA just threw me under the bus.] But they are not yet as well informed as they could become.
I regard <span><span>Chalmers Johnson as a sectarian racist. He wants America to stab every friend and ally America has in the back. He wants to manipulate other countries so that America can free ride off their efforts.</span></span>
He wants to impose sanctions on the whole world so that the world and America enter great depressions and hopefully America's share of global GDP falls more slowly. He typifies the ugly American.
Oh, Bush was deeply reluctant to send drones to Pakistan and only really started in 2008 because Barrack Obama advocated for them and pushed for them. Bush only authorized a small number of strikes against Takfiri. Bush was afraid of the Pakistani Army and not without cause.
ReplyDeletePresident Obama, by contrast, has sharply increased the number of drone strikes and has even conducted a few missions without Pakistani army permission.
Anan..you'd greatly raise in my estime (below zero) if you could stop, for a moment, PONTIFICATING and trying desperately to sound like a compassionate "teacher" or sage of sorts who's there to guide others out of the recesses of darkness into the beaming light of wisdom and knowledge. The pretensious, "authoritive" tone you adopt, especially when you feign to know what others want or do not want (Israel wants this! The Palestinians want that! Syria on the other hand wants that! fleming isn't a muslim hater! Etc. etc. You always happen to just f*$#g know!)..
ReplyDeleteYeah, stop that!
Wasn't it just yesterday you WANTED me to believe that fleming isn't a Muslim hater, "he's just teasing us" when in fact he doesn't deny it and is actually proud of it. THIS is what I'm trying to talk about! Why should you know better than the person himself or others who have been at the receiving end of his incredibly unbriddled expressions of hatred and racism? What compells you to dispense this shit?
ReplyDelete<span>I think that VAA and TGIA are well intentioned But they are not yet as well informed as they could become.</span>
ReplyDeleteYou see! You always know what others' intentions really are! Poor us could become much better informed if we listen to the supreme guide who knows everything! Unsufferable!
Ok, how about this? We are angrier at Arabs and Muslims than they are at us. It's why we kill so many of them with impunity, just about every day, in their own countries all over the world. It's why we are such unshakeable supporters of Israel.
ReplyDeleteWe have the means to express our anger in any number of ways. Drone missiles, fighter jets, aircraft carrier battle groups, spy satellites, all these are expressions of our anger. You can hurt us, but we can destroy you.
Bush was afraid of the Pakistani army? Lol Those incompetent boobs coulnt find the worlds most wanted man 10 blocks from their west point. Pakistan's army is a joke!
ReplyDeleteFlemming, who is Osama Bin Laden. Who helped build him up in 1980 and for what purpose. What is the Islamic International Front that Osama Bin Laden founded and was supreme commander of and what were its component organizations?
ReplyDeleteI know you have little to no interest in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Al Qaeda and Taliban linked organizations, Takfiri, or any country outside America. But they attacked America on 9/11. They are not just a threat against "FOREIGNERS."
Who created the Taliban and for what purpose?
After 9/11, America, NATO, UN and the world didn't go after the most powerful perpetrators. Why?
Flemming, very few Americans share these sentiments. And America doesn't act the way you imply.
ReplyDeleteAmerica isn't at war with Islam. Over a dozen muslim countries have troops in Afghanistan to help the Afghans fight the Taliban and Al Qaeda. Do you want to murder them too? Do you want to kill the 171 thousand Afghan National Army which are killing so many of humanity's worst enemies?
Talk to "REAL" Americans about Israel/Palestine. You will find that most Americans have no interest. They just want the two of them to dissapear off the map and leave America and the world in peace. Most Americans get sick to the stumach when the topic is even brought up. Most Americans are certainly not interested in fighting for Israel "FOREVER" for worthless slices of land. There is an old saying. "Quiet simply dear, I don't give a damn."
Your immoral wars have bankrupted you. America the insolvent, the destitute, the impoverished, the once important power that is now a country that lies somewhere north of Brazil...
ReplyDelete<span><span> We are angrier at Arabs and Muslims than they are at us. It's why we kill so many of them with impunity, just about every day, in their own countries all over the world.</span>
ReplyDeleteAnd you're proud of being a son of a bitch of a psychokiller who enjoys impunity? Interesting but not surprising. Well good luck then because I have news for you. I don't havee much hope for your chances. Your drones, missiles firepower that you send their way will be of no help. To the contrary. Your ass will be comprehensively kicked and your super power will be brought down to size as it should. You, profusely bleeding from every hole in your body, will be put on your knees and will be made to beg for mercy. You don't know whom you are up against. True not my side but I have enough knowledge of who and what they are. Better quit while you can. Those people have nothing to lose and everything to gain. Exactly your OPPOSITE!
Good luck fleming asshole. You're going to need it. Ah yeah. That was your last post. You reached your use by date. I can tell by the smell. I'll have to throw you way. Good bye.</span>
r.s. America was never as globally affluent and globally influential as Americans imagine. Delusions of grandeur.
ReplyDeleteYou are right that Brazil is now a superpower.
Please define "immoral." Wars haven't been that expensive as a percentage of GDP.
What has happened is that US technological innovation has slowed and American has become increasingly big government, protectionist, borderline socialist. America is more anti foreign and anti foreign business. This is the more proximate cause of America's problems.
Which wars did you think were immoral? You use plural. So please elaborate.
<span>A cheerleader for imperial wars with the graceful moves of a hippopotamus..</span>
ReplyDeleteI can't believe this idiot. and that facist dummy.
ReplyDelete