On the recordJuly 18, 2011
I thank my colleague from Arizona. He said a couple of things that I would like to pivot off of. They certainly struck a chord with me. First, the notion that markets deal with perception, as opposed to always reality. I thought it was a brilliant example of Fort Knox, should the gold be taken, the press release versus the actuality of that gold being taken. It reminded me of a conversation I had just today on the airplane as I headed backed to Washington from my southern Indiana district. I was sitting next to someone who dealt in the financial markets, and I asked him a fairly pointed question. I said, you know, the media, in recent days, in recent weeks, has really sort of ratcheted up attention, even anxiety with respect to the debt limit debate and whether or not the debt ceiling is, in fact, going to be raised, what is going to be attached to a debt ceiling vote. And I certainly understand this. I take this vote very seriously and have factored into my calculus of voting for and against various measures, the interest rate response we might see. But the funny thing is there hasn't really been much of an interest rate response. For all the hemming and hawing about what might happen should we not raise the debt ceiling by August 2, there hasn't been an interest rate response. And I find that amazing. And so I asked my friend why he thought that was, and he put forth one idea.…





