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US Treasury Secretary Yellen: "We would emerge from this crisis as a permanently weakened nation"
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SAUL LOEB / AFP
US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has again urged Congress to raise the debt ceiling.
In an opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal, Yellen wrote that if the United States could not meet its obligations, it would trigger a historic financial crisis.
"We would emerge from this crisis as a permanently weakened nation," Yellen wrote.
The creditworthiness of the USA has so far been a strategic advantage.
A crisis caused by US government insolvency would worsen the economic damage from the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, stir markets and plunge the US economy into recession.
Millions of jobs would be lost and interest rates would rise permanently.
In her text, Yellen did not mention a point in time for the occurrence of insolvency.
However, it had previously announced that this could threaten as early as October if the Treasury Department had exhausted its payment reserves and extraordinary borrowing capacities within the framework of the $ 28.4 trillion mark.
Republicans in Congress have so far refused to raise or suspend the debt ceiling.
House spokeswoman Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat, pointed out that Congress raised the debt ceiling three times with bipartisan approval during the Trump administration.
She expects that this will also be the case this time.
House Democratic leader Jim Clyburn said Democrats may have to push through the debt ceiling without the help of Republicans.
mik / Reuters
