-- a little too hard. [ applause ] well -- in a letter to john boehner, the treasury secretary, jacob lew government will run out of money in just three weeks. you know, i'm no financial whiz, but we're $16 trillion in debt. doesn't that mean we already ran out of money? [ laughter ] like, $16 trillion ago? no, we're not running -- we are out of money. [ cheers and applause ] oh, how about this? how about this? the post office is now asking for a three-cent increase to 49 cents for first class mail. they say it's needed because fewer and fewer people are using the post office and they're losing money. see, that's government thinking. only the government would think, hey, i know how to attract more customers. let's raise the price. [ laughter ] of course. that should bring droves of people in. yes, of course. [ applause ]

we heard today from secretary jacob lew that there's less cash on hand that they saw. the debt ceiling thing is going to hit before we think. we could have a perfect storm. we could have the government shutdown at the same time that we are facing a complete exhaustion and default and bank credit suisse said they were looking towards a market impact of the debt ceiling debacle as early as october 10th. now, we're talking about two weeks, and they are doing nothing. the president needs to take control of this, get off his high horse and stop saying no negotiate and begin negotiation so they can end the washington exemption and the keystone pipeline is another thing the president can offer that would mean a lot. >> i think it's outrageous that the president doesn't want to participate in these negotiations. you worked for bill clinton who was, you know, he would roll up his sleeves and get involved in the major budget decisions. the major budget decisions in the clinton years were done during the debt ceiling negotiations, just like in 2011, done during the debt ceiling n

treasury secretary jacob lew has set october 17 is the so-called date for the debt limit.at actually happens on october 17 as we look ahead to this debt limit that all? guest: assuming that date is correct, it is the date in which the federal government can no longer borrow. at that point it will still have some money, approximately $30 billion, just kind of cash sitting around. it can use that cash to pay for bills as they come in. of course, that money will eventually be exhausted. the projection by the congressional budget office is that $30 billion will be gone by month. of the what jacob lew is saying is that we need to raise the debt ceiling so that the u.s. can borrow what it needs to pay its bills. explain how the payment system works. it is not that a set amount of money goes out on a different day, but that different voles are guest: due on different days. guest:-- on different days. guest: it is like your own household. you could have bills due on the first of the month or the 15th of the month, whatever the date is. outgo is notnd the perfectly synchronized. th