The government’s debt ceiling standoff is a dangerous and needless game akin to walking on a busy street with our eyes closed, while putting Americans’ entire livelihoods at stake, according to former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers.
The debate over whether Congress will raise the debt ceiling, which limits how much the U.S. government can borrow to pay its bills, has been dragging on since January, when total national debt hit the current ceiling of $31.4 trillion. The government has been operating on “extraordinary measures” ever since, but those are about to run out, possibly as soon as June 1, after which the U.S. risks defaulting on its debt, imperiling government programs, financial markets, and the dollar’s role in the global economy.
