Fed Secretly Preparing for Doomsday

"Notfallplanung läuft"

Fed bereitet US-Pleite vor

Fed Secretly Preparing for Doomsday

Fearing the worst, the Federal Reserve is actively preparing for the possibility the US may default on its $14.3 trillion debt.

Plan to deal with the unthinkable

The Federal Reserve is actively preparing for the possibility that the United States could default as a deadline for raising the government's $14.3 trillion borrowing limit looms, a top Fed policymaker said on Wednesday.

Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank President Charles Plosser said the Fed has for the past few months been working closely with Treasury, ironing out what to do if the world's biggest economy runs out of cash on August 2.

"We are in contingency planning mode," Plosser told Reuters in an interview at the regional central bank's headquarters in Philadelphia. "We are all engaged ... It's a very active process."

Plosser said his "gut feeling" was that President Barack Obama and Congress will come to an agreement to increase the Treasury's borrowing authority in time to avert a default on government obligations.