Los Angeles CA, September 26 (LCR Coin Inc.) The United States was officially $20 trillion in debt on September 8, 2017. On that day, President Trump signed a bill extending the debt ceiling until December 8, 2017. The debt ceiling is the limit mandated by Congress that dictates how much debt the federal government can carry at any given time.

More than half of that $20 trillion debt was added within the last ten years. After the debt ceiling has been reached, the U.S. Treasury Department can no longer issue Treasury bills, bonds or notes.

At that point the Treasury can only pay bills with tax revenues, as they are received. If enough revenue to pay the nations bills is not received, the Treasury Secretary must then choose which bills will be paid.

In the meantime, the Treasury has had to raid federal pension funds since March to keep from issuing new debt to pay the nations' bills. The measure that President Trump signed included an extension of government spending through December 8th as well.

That's why there was no discussion of shutting down the government in September as had been rumored. Of course, the discussion has merely been postponed until December.

Today we received another reason to buy physical Gold and Silver as a hedge against uncertainty and it comes via the Korean Peninsula. North Korea’s foreign minister announced today that President Donald Trump had declared war on North Korea.

The White House spokesperson denied the United States had declared war and called the suggestion “absurd.” The U.S. had flown Air Force B-1B Lancer bombers escorted by fighters east of North Korea on Saturday as a show of force.

“That operation was conducted in international airspace, over international waters, so we have the right to fly, sail and operate where legally permissible around the globe,” said Pentagon spokesman Colonel Robert Manning.

The fly-by followed a war of words between Trump and Kim Jong Un last week over North Korea's nuclear and missile programs and that led to the following statement by North Korea's Foreign minister Ri Yong Ho.

”Since the United States declared war on our country, we will have every right to make countermeasures, including the right to shoot down United States strategic bombers even when they are not inside the airspace border of our country."

That may sound like a strange threat but that is exactly what happened nearly 50 years ago when North Korea, in 1969, shot down an American bomber flying near its country killing all 31 Americans aboard.

The incident happened on President Richard Nixon's watch and he was reportedly so incensed at North Korea that he nearly ordered a nuclear strike. North Korea has never apologized for the killings, nor has it been punished.

Being prepared for a similar incident considering the current climate may be a wise decision. “With all of the uncertainty out there, now is the time to add gold and silver to a portfolio,” said David Beahm, president of Blanchard and Company, in May.

“Both metals performed exactly as they should have during the 2008 financial crisis and they will do the same during the next crisis, wherever it comes from,” said Beahm. So when you're ready to join the savvy investors who leverage tangible assets to both increase and preserve their wealth call LCR Coin at (800) 830-5578.