unthinkable

"The world’s financial system could face losses equivalent to that of Lehman’s failure by August 15, and then again on the fifteenth day and the last day of every month until default is rectified,” says one chief economist. more...

World markets have behaved until now as if it were inevitable that Congress would raise the debt ceiling *before the Treasury Department exhausts its ability to pay all of its bills in early August. The breakdown of negotiations Friday has jolted that sense of equanimity, the New York Times...