Not Raising the Debt Ceiling: A Crisis, If We’re Lucky, a Historical Calamity If We’re Not
Now let’s translate that into English. All sorts of financial institutions fund their day-to-day operations with ultra-short-term borrowing. Repurchase agreements (or “repo”) are the most common type. Here’s how it works. A bank “sells” something for cash, but agrees to buy it back at the end of the day — hence, repurchase — for a little more than it got. So, for example, say a bank sells a Treasury bond for 95 cents on the dollar, and buys it back for 96 cents at the end of the day. Again, notice the difference between what it gets and what it pays for the collateral. That’s the interest rate on what is really a secured loan. Okay, but what does this have to do with the debt ceiling? Well, the repo market isn’t set up to tell if a Treasury bond has defaulted