debt

One thing governments show us over and over again is their promises are almost always broken. This should concern us greatly since the “war” on COVID-19 will bring many promises from Congress that will never be realized but will cost us a lot of money anyway. Our federal government promised to balance the budget every …

The federal debt numbers have become so absurdly large that almost no one but mathematicians really appreciates them. Even before our nationwide COVID-19 panic attack, we were heading for yet another trillion dollar deficit. Before the dust settled, 30 million Americans had filed for unemployment, those fortunate enough to have jobs were figuring out how …

Serta Simmons has foiled efforts by Apollo Global Management, which is run by billionaire Leon Black, to stop a controversial debt restructuring in a precedent-setting move that could roil the debt markets. New York State Supreme Court Judge Andrea Masley ruled over the weekend the mattress seller could move forward on a plan to restructure $1.95 billion …

Citi Field, which has been closed due to the coronavirus, has been slapped with a “junk” rating amid fears that it won’t be able to pay its debts. Ratings agency Standard & Poor’s on Thursday downgraded Citi Field from an investment grade “BBB” rating to “BB+”, or junk status, saying it may need to tap …

There is hesitation among the political class as to what must be done to pay down and eliminate this debt. At around $22.5 trillion, the United States national debt sits at 106 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP). There is no disputing that this gigantic debt will someday become due and payable. However, there is …

The nation’s biggest mattress maker is in danger of becoming a coronavirus casualty this summer — and it’s the company’s private-equity owners that have made it vulnerable. Serta Simmons — a 150-year-old manufacturer that controls nearly 40 percent of the US mattress market — is facing a liquidity crunch as its retailers struggle with state-ordered …

Millions of Americans are missing payments on credit cards and car loans as the coronavirus pandemic squeezes consumers’ wallets, data shows. Nearly 15 million credit cards, or about 3.2 percent of the nation’s accounts, were in “financial hardship” status in April, according to figures from credit-reporting company TransUnion. That means the accounts were frozen, in …

Germany tried paying people for not working after WWI. It didn’t turn out so well. Massive government debt, sky-high unemployment, the economy frozen, idle workers receiving payments from the government. This might sound like COVID-19, but I am actually talking about post-World War I Germany. If your high school history teacher skipped this story, here’s …

The Congressional Budget Office on Friday announced that the federal government would likely run up a $3.7 trillion deficit due to the effects of the coronavirus pandemic on the U.S. economy and massive spending for relief efforts. The government will add over $2 trillion to the national debt in the remaining six months of the …

If you can’t pay your credit card because you lost your job owing to the coronavirus pandemic, your card company might help. Depending on the card, the issuer might let you skip a month, waive fees or extend your credit line. Banks, the big credit card issuers, are “working to identify and assist affected clients …