“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.”