The US government reached the limits of its borrowing capacity in March and is fast approaching the point at which it will no longer be able to pay all its bills. What’s the big deal?
The government today clinched a deal with the Greens to scrap the debt ceiling, in exchange for undertaking to provide detailed information and schedule regular parliamentary debates on the subject. The…
The spectacular story ran for a nanosecond. Kevin Rudd had allegedly done a deal for daughter Jessica to get preselection for the seat he is vacating. It would have been the ultimate Ruddism. Jess immediately…
The US government shutdown is in its second week, but attention in the country has shifted elsewhere: to the looming debt ceiling crisis. On October 17, the US runs out of money to pay its bills. Both…
Financial markets must be confident that the US will not default on its sovereign debt, otherwise those markets would have plummeted by now. But is that confidence justified? Markets participants are comforted…
Most commentary on the US government shutdown concerns the apparent disregard some pigheaded Republicans have for the harm it could do to the American and global economies. While the shutdown will likely…
Barack Obama opened his fourth state of the union address to Congress with words from another Democratic president, John Kennedy: “The Constitution makes us not rivals for power but partners for progress…
In the midst of genuine economic and political challenges, Tea Party Republicans have been hard at work generating additional problems. From the debt-ceiling showdown that cost the US its AAA credit rating…
As we check our political calendars, many look to November 6 as the crucial date that will determine the future direction for US politics and the nation’s ailing economy. But in policy terms, it is January…