Politics
US midterms could trigger a debt ceiling showdown worse than 2011
Key Points
Some readers, especially non-Americans, might wonder what the recurring squabbles in Washington over the debt ceiling and government shutdowns mean. That’s understandable. In virtually every country in the world, when the legislature approves a budget that results in net new borrowing of, say, 50 billion euros (US$55.8 billion), the government is thereby authorised to take on that debt to finance the budget.
Some readers, especially non-Americans, might wonder what the recurring squabbles in Washington over the debt ceiling and government shutdowns mean. That’s understandable. In virtually every country in the world, when the legislature approves a budget that results in net new borrowing of, say, 50 billion euros (US$55.8 billion), the government is thereby authorised to take on that debt to finance the budget.
Not so in the United States. There, the budget and borrowing authorisation are two...
[Image text:] THE NATIONAL DEBT IS
$39
TRILLION
AND GROWING
ERG
NN
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