So your assertion is that the gun the GOP is pointing at the US economy isn't a big deal because the economy has a bulletproof vest on? Or you think that the D

So your assertion is that the gun the GOP is pointing at the US economy isn't a big deal because the economy has a bulletproof vest on? Or you think that the Democrats are to blame for not capitulating to a hostage-taker's demands? I'm not a trained economist, so I can't weigh in on the "how big a deal is this really" conversation. But I know how the debt and the debt ceiling have been explained to me, and it sounds as though the "debt ceiling" should not exist. It is not a budgeting item. It is an arbitrary constraint that now only exists to allow the Republicans to play chicken with the world economy. Want better spending habits? Want federal budgets tied to fiscal caps? Write a bill that requires debt to be factored into budgets at the budget building stage. No one should get to tell the Treasury to stop payment on things we've already told citizens and bondholders we would pay for. Of course, building a budget on an annual basis is too much for Congress, too, which is why we should radically transform our federal government. Articles 1,2 and 3 need a rewrite. I digress.