Austan Goolsbee Quotes

I think what's important to understand is if the United States hits the debt ceiling and is unable to pay its debts, the consequences will be immediate and dramatic.

Defaulting on our [national] debt is defaulting on America.

It is simply science fiction fantasy to say that, if you do not raise the debt ceiling, that everything is going to collapse.

Nobody wants to put the creditworthiness of the United States in jeopardy. Nobody wants to see the United States default. So we've got to seize this moment, and we have to seize it soon.

Not raising the debt ceiling is not an automatic trigger for a default.

I think at the end of the day we have to raise the debt ceiling, because America pays its bills.

The American people were really not 100% convinced that this idea of default was really going to occur, and I think the media, current company excepted here, did not help in that regard because they confused the American people about what default actually meant.

I don't know of any of us that want to see any kind of default happen.

The debt ceiling at some point has to be raised. I don't think there's anybody that questions the fact that if we ended up getting in a situation where the U.S. government was sending out IOUs like the state of California did at one point, that ends up creating quite a brand problem for our country.

I certainly don't want our nation to go into default, but at the same time, I'm very concerned about our ongoing debt problem.

There is absolutely no way that the U.S. will ever default on its debt. We are not going to do that.

The tenor of the comments as we got closer and closer to August got dominated by 'Wouldja please get this over with' and not let us go into default.

The thing is, Obama is right that it would be a calamity for the government to default on its debt by not meeting its obligations. Such a thing has never happened and can't be allowed to happen.

We believe that it is very important that we have hopefully averted what would have been the most substantial headwind of all, which is a default for the first time in our history, and that that will contribute to a more positive environment that we hope will allow for greater growth and job creation.

I do not want America to default on its debt.

The debt ceiling is not something to toy with.

The interest on our debt is going to collapse this country.

America is not better off than it was $1.8 trillion dollars ago.

We have to deal with the nation's debt.

Yes, we can pay the interest on the debt. We can renew the $500 billion worth of bonds that are coming due. We can mail out our Social Security checks. We can make sure those Medicare claims are honored. We can pay our military. We can protect our veterans. But when you get beyond that, the soup gets a little thin.

During the 2016 presidential campaign, candidate Donald Trump pledged to eliminate our national debt 'over a period of eight years.' Now two years into his administration, our national debt has increased, surpassing $21 trillion for the first time in American history.

The United States has never prioritized or failed to pay any obligation when due during a debt limit impasse. Despite the institutional risks and the lack of clear legal authority, we assume that Treasury will attempt to prioritize payments in a last-ditch effort to avoid default.

The Obama administration's large and sustained increases in debt raise the specter of another financial crisis and large future tax increases, further chilling business investment and job creation.

Well, I think what we need to remember is that budget deficits can impede economic activity.

There's no debt limit in the Constitution.