This idea that somehow you can minimize the pain to the country, minimize the damage to our credit and our credibility by, in effect, not meeting your obligations, some obligations, while you meet others is, I think, mistaken.
Geithner argues against prioritizing certain payments over others to avoid default.
Share
More from Tim Geithner
I do not believe there is a credible argument to make that uncertainty about our fiscal deficits or uncertainty about the design of regulation in Washington today is having a material adverse effect on the American economy today.
I believe, as does the President, that there is no plausible way for us to address the many economic challenges facing the country, including our unsustainable fiscal deficits, without asking those most fortunate few to pay a modestly…
You cannot govern a country if you commit never to raise taxes on anybody, because things change, wars happen, crises happen.
The only way to restore fiscal responsibility and still preserve the commitments we need to make to our retirees and national security, is by a modest increase in the effective tax rate for the Americans who are in the best position to…
Other voices in this conversation
