How Much Will We Need to Borrow?

Butthead Model Found

Geithner: If Treasury could ask for only one more debt ceiling increase, the amount we’d request “would make you uncomfortable”

At a Capitol Hill hearing today, South Carolina Republican Rep. Trey Gowdy asked Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner a thought-provoking hypothetical question. The congressman wanted to know:

“If this were the last debt ceiling request you could ask for … the final one and you had to make it large enough for all current and future obligations, what would the request need to be?”

Not surprisingly, Geithner didn’t have a ready answer, but Gowdy didn’t let it go. At last, Obama’s only remaining original Cabinet member admitted, “It would be a lot. It would make you uncomfortable.”

Those meanie Congressional Republicans, quizzing those poor administration flacks over things that just aren't any of their business...