CNBC’s Erin Burnett on National Debt: ‘The Problem is Our Revenue’
Appearing on Monday's NBC Today to discuss the debate over reducing the nation's debt, CNBC host Erin Burnett declared to co-host Matt Lauer: “The problem is our revenue, what the government takes in, in taxes. What you pay every month out of your paycheck is way smaller, in fact, it's only somewhere around $2 trillion a year.” After Lauer asked about the relationship between government spending and the debt, Burnett acknowledged: “They are related, but really, to tackle this issue, we do have to tackle entitlements. When you look at Medicare and Social Security, it's 40% of our budget.” However, she quickly denounced Republican attempts to use a raise in the debt ceiling to cut such spending: “Those are the questions we have to answer, but not through playing chicken on the debt ceiling.” Near the end of the segment, Burnett remarked that the United States is “…a very wealthy country. If you look at our assets, we could pay down the debt tomorrow. We choose to borrow because we can borrow at incredibly low interest rates.” By “assets,” Burnett seemed to be referring to the income of all Americans (unless she plans to auction off the Statue of Liberty to pay our bills). Here is a full transcript of the April 11 Today segment: 7:13AM ET MATT LAUER: Let's try to explain it more. Exactly what is the debt ceiling and why does it matter to you? Here to explain, CNBC's Jim Cramer and Erin Burnett. Good morning to both of you. JIM CRAMER: Good morning. ERIN BURNETT: Good morning. [ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Dealing With the Debt Ceiling; How Does Government Borrowing Affect the Economy?] LAUER: Who wants to take the shot at this? What is the national debt ceiling? JIM CRAMER: This is how we – our nation pays its bills, but we borrow money to pay our bills. It's not like you and the mortgage, we're you can continue to borrow, you get one shot at it and if we don't raise the debt ceiling, then we're going to default. You just have to look at what Greece is doing, these countries – Portugal. These are countries that are all on the verge of default. And they can't borrow, then high rates.
Posted by
on April 11, 2011. Filed under