Debt cCeiling / Deficit Discussion

“We are closer to that [fiscal and economic] brink than we have ever been before. We cannot risk this kind of financial and economic brinksmanship on the debt; at the same time we do have to address the fiscal crisis looming with the deficit in the long-term. That should be a sober, sensible discussion with leaders of both sides willing to make some painful choices to get our financial house in order. Doing it under the threat of blowing up the American economy and the global economy just for the sake of it is the wrong way to negotiate.”

More on the debt ceiling

“What we hope to see coming out of that [White House] meeting is people putting patriotism before politics.” In terms of the national deficit, “We are facing a long-term financial crisis ... both sides are going to have to come together to address that, but doing it through...the debt ceiling...is a false premise that is putting the economy nationally and globally at risk.”

Political Gamesmanship

As the debt ceiling looms, politicians are “playing chicken with the full faith and credit of the United States. … We have 43 US Senators who say that the economic welfare of American citizens… means nothing to them in terms of the political gamesmanship.”