This counter needs a swift kick to get it spining again

From CNS News - a milestone of sorts:

150 Straight Days: Treasury Says Debt Stood Still at $16,699,396,000,000
Every business day since May 17, the U.S. Treasury has published a daily statement claiming that the federal debt subject to the limit set by Congress closed the day at $16,699,396,000,000�about $25 million below the legal limit.

Monday, the Columbus Day holiday, according to the Daily Treasury Statement released today, marked the 150th straight day that the Treasury has said the debt subject to limit was stuck at $16,699,396,000,000.

On May 17, the first day the debt closed the day at $16,699,396,000,000, Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew sent a letter to House Speaker John Boehner stating that since the Treasury was about to hit the debt limit he would begin to use �extraordinary measures� to prevent it from doing so. These included, among other things, suspending investment of the Civil Service Retirement and Disability Fund in U.S. Treasury securities, and redeeming securities already held by this fund.

�In total, the extraordinary measures currently available free up approximately $260 billion in headroom under the limit,� Lew wrote then.

But in that letter, Lew described the unpredictability of the Treasury�s flow of funds to explain why he could not predict exactly when the extraordinary measures would be exhausted.

Well that's one way to halt the increase of debt. Not a sane way but...