Emperor Nero ensconced in Washington

The pols are certainly having a ball in Washington, taking each other to the edge on the US debt ceiling. Every day we hear that a new deal may be in the offing only to find later that they are as far apart as ever. This is a collective Nero fiddling while Rome burns. A debt default, or even fear of it, would for starters wreak havoc in the repo market, widely used by the banks for funding. Then we have the Chinese and Japanese getting jittery about their holdings of Treasuries and thinking of new ways of not buying them in future. No doubt, this IS a very important debate. At some point soon America must confront the fact that its deficit is way too high. Both entitlement spending cuts and tax increases are unavoidable. My leaning is towards the former and the Democrats, Obama in particular, know this too. But taking it to the edge like this reinforces thoughts about American incompetence. When you're in America it seems like such an organised society but the debt overhang and policy paralysis make it seem that the country has really lost the plot. The QSL is from WTOP in Washington DC heard in Cape Town way back in 1968. The revenue stamps show that I had to pay a few cents because Granville didn't cough up enough for the postcard!