Can you?
With much of the U.S. economy at stake, our Washington politicians are playing a very dangerous game with our national credit rating and ultimately our economy.
Both sides, Democrats and Republicans, are betting the other will blink first in what amounts to a game of economic Russian roulette. Failure to extend the federal debt limit within the next week will mean a first-ever credit default for the mightiest nation on the planet. If the debt ceiling isn’t raised – and raised within the next few days -- the federal government simply will be unable to meet all its financial commitments.
Some might not care, nor worry about the consequences.
But, a financial default by the U.S. Government will have catastrophic consequences for our economy. Unemployment will soar, interest rates will sky-rocket, and some businesses will fail. While the stock market has remained fairly stable in the face of the political jockeying in the past few weeks, confidence that a sufficient solution will be reached in time is eroding fast. Yesterday stocks dropped on news of another impasse among negotiators, and today stocks are down again.
Some financial analysts predict that even if the debt ceiling is raised to avoid default, a credit downgrade is still possible. A downgrade would also produce negative effects throughout the economy, albeit not as severe as would occur with an outright default.
It’s clear that our economy is headed toward the proverbial toilet unless our leaders find a way to adopt a sensible solution – one that puts the American people above politics.
