If only they had listened last April when I first posted this!
A blast from the past:
BusinessWeek cover, April 18-24, 2011 - Don't play chicken with debt ceiling; chicken image by Jan Hamus/Alamy
Not every one of the Bloomberg Businessweek covers has been a hit, but a lot of them are — vastly more entertaining since Bloomberg took over the old workhorse magazine.
This one packs a political punch along with visual excitement.
And it’s right. Do any Republicans pay attention to the finance and business worlds anymore?
Articles inside are informative, too — see Peter Coy’s article, and did you see the article on the debt ceiling issue and the views of past Treasury secretaries?
Hey! Republicans! Stop playing chicken with the nation’s credit, will you?
Businessweek graphic from April 18-24, 2011 issue - click for larger view at Businessweek site; chicken image by Jan Hamus/Alamy
Millard Fillmore's Bathtub 
The debt ceiling is usually raised on a simple, straightforward bill that raises the debt ceiling and does nothing else. Until the Carter administration, while a few people would carp about the total spending, it was always done simply, on a non-partisan basis, to preserve the legacies of George Washington and Alexander Hamilton and honor those legacies, and the nation they established.
There is no victor from not getting the debt ceiling raised. It would be calamity. Shame on those Republicans who decided to play politics and get a “deal” for not ruining the credit of the United States.
Can anyone say they have not been treasonous?
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There have been so many opportunities to raise the debt ceiling, all the way back to last December when the Bush tax cut extensions were being debated over. If there’s no deal by August 2nd, both Congress and Obama will be looking back ruefully at opportunities missed.
The only victory I can see out of losing the debt ceiling is getting some meaningful redesign of Congress. Congressional dynamics have become nothing more than theatrical over the past two years. Sadly, the economic and geopolitical costs will far outweigh any benefits from fixing a Congress that can’t pass a debt ceiling raise.
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