I think there's something wrong...

Just my opinion......not everyone in USA thinks that increasing debt limit is a good idea. Current US government leaders seem to be under the impression that borrowing more or printing more cash will solve the issue. I think this only leads to devaluation of the monetary system both in the US and abroad. Seems to me that many countries are in same boat.....and the leaders might just need to be thrown from these boats. From my view....leaders don't have a clue what has happened economically to their countries and citizens......then again, they would only vote to raise their own payscale if they started to feel what the rest of us feel.

Marauder out.........btw.....you all still owe me tax^^

Well not only greece has that kind of problems in Europe ... Ireland also needed to borrow money and Portugal too. 120 bilions to grece 75 bilions to Ireland and 60 mil to portugal.
Spain is almost in the same situation and there are rumours they need around 500 bilions...
Europe is falling and who pays the build? Germany?? We all know you are the financial heart of Europe and i agree you guys should not pay the corruption that exist in banks and speculation of markets.
My country (portugal) already made 4 packs to reduce debts but the international tax of borrow money is bigger than 10% for 10 years. Our goverment doesnt know where to get more money from tax and minimum wage is around 500 € for over 75% of population. So tell me how can we survive???
USA has no money, China Economical grows is slowing down, spain is almost bankrupted... not hard to guess a new Financial crisis is near. First Europe , then America an finaly asia....

Thats the System Huor unfortunal the pride of powerfull nations in economic is now eating themselfes.

practical you can bet on the inflation for example. Buy a house today (somewhere where the house prices are raising) do not pay the borrowed money back but pay the interest. After about 20 Years your house price increased it´s value greatly but the money lost value because of inflation. If your House was rented, the lodger paid everything for you and the house is now yours with small debts on it cause the money itself is not that much worth anymore. If you make it a much bigger business you can compare it with nations behavior in spending money.

yeah, business
first of all... money never gets lost, it only ends up in somebody else pocket.

Making debts well... thats actually not the issue. Every country does it. The USA just has one big advantage over the european countries: No need for justification.
Does it hurt the USA?... not now... later for sure.
However the money is invested into economy which in the end might strengthen it. More taxes will flow back and the trade with other countries does increase. For the world economy it is pretty good.
Where does the money come from?
Banks, people, industry... I am confident that refunding such credits will be no big problem.
Question is if in a few years the resulting effects are high enough to deal with these debts. Maybe yes... maybe no.

Is printing money actually an option... partly yes... if you can live with the consequences. Inflation... contrary to my previous statement it very likely will makes trade with other countries more complicated as products from those countries are getting somewhat expensive. On the other side the USA could focus more on the export.
There are actually so many factors which makes it pretty hard to foresee how everything is developing.

In europe we have been confronted with similar problem. Just the contracts between the countries and our currency is limiting the options. Actually that is pretty good. Greece would be bankrupt meanwhile just like other countries.
That would be btw. the worst case scenario. It would mean that the € failed and this would lead to the worst economic crisis ever. The markets in europe would collapse followed by the markets in the USA and Asia. Investing a few hundred billion euro is currently the best option.
However this will only help to slow down the progress.
Changes in those countries have to be done. The economy in germany was relative stable all the previous years. We didnt notice much of a crisis here and today our economy is even booming eventhough we always paid the biggest amount of money to the EU.

Why is there such a difference between the european countries?
Well, a country which is wasting money in such a way that e.g. greece has done should be surprised about running bankrupt.
The amount of pension that is been paid by that country... thats a catastrophy.... in the past 10 years the pensions that were paid increased by at least 15% while in germany not much happened (just a few percent). Hey of course the pensions should increase...thats natural but a country which is almost bankrupt shouldnt do that. Pension with 58 years... thats possible in greece. Well, I have to work till 67.... slight difference.
I also would only get pension 12 times a year while in greece I would get it 14 times.

That is actually what pisses off the german people. We have no problem paying for greece. But we have a problem that the people over there are not willing to solve their problems. Instead of noticing that their problems are house made they go on the streets and cause trouble there. They want our money but they are not willing to do something for it.
And actually raising the retirement age to 60 is not really solving the problems. Put the initial retirement age to 62, the normal one to 65, reduce pension level to 50-55% (just like in other european countries -> 46% in germany) and their financial problems are solved.
I understand that we have different environmental conditions in the countries and i would never demand conditions such in germany. However... right now we have luxury conditions in greece. And it cant be that other countries have to finance such conditions.

Greece was downrated... I guess that was the next question.... ..... rating agencies.
There are many of them... they rate companies and countries in different ways... every agency has its different methods its different focus on special conditions. Even different rating systems. However... the results are mostly similar.

e.g. one rating agency takes the liabilities, the debts and then says "ok the company is making losses"
the other rating agency takes the liabilities, the debts and then says "ok actually the company is making losses but they invested into a new branch and raised its value and stability this way"

Economy is something complicated... everyone claiming to be good in it is a liar.
There is just one simple truth that matters for companies and countries... if you want growth then you have to invest.

might want to watch 'Inside Job'