Michael Hiltzik: With the debt ceiling fight, Congress and Trump are playing with fire — again
People who get a kick out of watching children at play must love the spectacle staged in Washington every time the issue of the federal debt ceiling comes up. But they're the only ones.
For most responsible onlookers, the spectacle is nerve-racking. Taxpayers face higher government costs and suspended programs. People who provide services to the government for pay, including public employees, get stiffed. Investors fret over the possibility that a federal default on its debt will produce a surge in interest rates and a stock market crash and a long-term crisis of confidence in the safety of U.S. government securities. Economists worry about potentially cataclysmic effects on global financial systems.
Most politicians wish, in their hearts, that the debt ceiling would just go away. Yet it's still with us, despite universal judgment that
