Why the Debt Ceiling Matters — and What to do About It

History Lessons that Apply to Contemporary American Crises—Like the Debt Ceiling

Dr. Tiemann was the invited speaker at the Business Management Discussion Group meeting held on Monday, February 4th in Santa Monica, California. His talk was entitled “Why the Debt Ceiling Matters – and What to do About It.”  This talk provided the historical precedents and background for how it was that the federal government’s debt—and its commitment to always provide payment upon it—became the foundation of America’s financial system.

Dr. Jonathan Tiemann spoke for about an hour and discussed the initial establishment of federal debt and its guarantees, while presenting a number of “cryptic and mystical-looking images” (some of which were taken from items in Dr. Tiemann’s personal collection) representing forms that money and debt took in the early years of our country’s founding.  These included a two-dollar “Continental,” which was paper currency issued in 1776 by the Continental Congress. The Continentals quickly lost their value for reasons that relate to today’s debt ceiling debate.

You may peruse through the pages of Dr. Tiemann’s presentation by clicking on the below image.  If you are interested in having Dr. Tiemann present this talk to your organization, please use our contact page to let us know.

(Click on the image to download the presentation.)