Are people who warn of serious consequences in case of a U.S. default exaggerating? Not according to economist Sergio Sebold, who tells readers of Jornal Do Brazil of the dire consequences which will ensue if America fails to maintain the reliability of the world’s sole ‘zero-risk asset’: U.S. Treasury bonds. For Jornal Do Brazil, economist Sergio Sebold writes in part: Ever since the Declaration...

Our political Quote of the Day #2 comes from Andrew Sullivan on (guarded) reports about what is a possible debt ceiling limit deal: The good news for the economy: there will be no further debt ceiling moment until after the next election. It’s not done till it’s done, of course. And the magic moment will be when Boehner tries to sell this to his caucus. But this is a good sign that we will postpone...

Richard Florida attempts to answer this question in The Great Reset: The world is undergoing the largest wave of migration back to cities in history; markets are listening to the needs and wants of Generation Y; and Seattle will become an epicenter of ideas and creative energy. How will new housing products respond to this convergence? In Richard Florida’s book “The Great Reset,” he theorizes that a new,...

This of all weekends might not be the time for this, but as George Will piles on with a column arguing that “government and the sectors it dominates have made themselves ludicrous” and “opened minds to the libertarians’ argument,” someone should defend a beleaguered political system that has kept this country the most free and prosperous in the world for centuries. In the 1950s, best-sellers like “The...

Watch the Senate debate the debt limit ceiling live: Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Here’s a cross section of reporting and blog commentary on the debt limit ceiling crisis, including the latest development: that with time quickly running out before the U.S. slips into a politically-derived default there are reports that a compromise may soon be at hand. –National Journal: Here are the outlines of a debt-ceiling deal that congressional leaders and the Obama White House are firming...

Well, if we see President Obama sporting a black turtleneck over the weekend, perhaps that will signal the Apple has purchased the U.S. Government. U.S. balance now less than Apple cash Steve Jobs is now more liquid than Uncle Sam [snip] As Republicans and Democrats continue to work towards a compromise to the country’s debt ceiling crisis, the U.S. Treasury Department said on Thursday that Washington now...

Olle Johansson, Sweden This copyrighted cartoon is licensed to run on TMV. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.

ABC News is reporting that Congressional sources tell them Democrats and Republicans have now reached a tentative deal on raising the debt ceiling limit — which is no assurance that it will pass but increases the chances that there will be enough votes to avert what most experts predict would be a catatastrophic debt default that could decimate the American and world economies: Here, according to Democratic...

Gibberish and Manure by Will Durst The situation on Capitol Hill has become so confusing we’re going to need a nuclear physicist with a googleplex of serially connected molecular microscopes to precisely explain what is happening. Instead, you got me. This whole debt-ceiling debate has made rush-hour gridlock on the 405 look like a romantic excursion in Central Park on a bicycle built for two. Nonetheless,...

When House Republicans supported raising the debt ceiling limit: when George W. Bush was President:

Obama has said no to the nuclear/14th Amendment option – just ignore the debt ceiling. But what if he doesn’t have any choice?  It really doesn’t matter if it’s right or wrong but how the SCOTUS would react.  Jeffery Rosen takes a look at just that. The most likely reaction might be to refuse to hear the case deciding that no one had standing.  Obama and the country win.  But what...

As I have noted here, future historians will not look back on 2011 and say it was the golden age of American leadership — in Congress or in the White House. Our second political Quote of the Day comes from The New Republic’s Jonathan Chait who gives this take on our inept and self-absorbed political establishment: The political assumptions here turned out to be badly wrong. The main problem is that...

Cardow, The Ottawa Citizen This copyrighted cartoon is licensed to run on TMV. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.

George W. Bush’s Imperial Presidency is long gone, as Barack Obama pleads with the nation. “There are a lot of crises in the world that we can’t always predict or avoid,” he tells Americans after being missing in action all week. “This isn’t one of those crises… “If you want to see a bipartisan compromise, make a phone call, send an e-mail, tweet. Keep the pressure on Washington and we can...

When the Super-Rich Cry, “Class Warfare!” by Michael Winship I ran into my friend Jeff Madrick a few weeks ago. Like a rabbit out of a hat, or so it seemed, he whipped from his coat a copy of his new book, Age of Greed. He gave the book to me and I’m grateful. It’s a compelling and worthy read. Jeff’s an able journalist; an excellent and cogent storyteller in a field that often...

This hasn’t been a easy time for President Obama, nor one that makes reelection look like a snap. But the past several weeks have given Congressional Republicans equal ownership of the economy and that can’t be bad. One New York Times analysis looks like this: If anything positive for Mr. Obama has emerged from this week’s debt and deficit turbulence, it may be that Republicans are acquiring...

How bad is the American economy, and California’s economy in particular? This bad: There are fewer undocumented immigrants in California – and the Sacramento region – because many are now finding the American dream south of the border. “It’s now easier to buy homes on credit, find a job and access higher education in Mexico,” Sacramento’s Mexican consul general, Carlos González...

The Massachusetts economy grew at an annual rate 4.3 percent from April to June. That’s more than three times faster than the national growth rate: The UMass report showed that Massachusetts added 41,300 jobs in the first half of 2011. The state’s unemployment rate fell in June to 7.6 percent, down from 8.3 percent late last year…. The report, published by the UMass Donahue Institute in collaboration...

in his weekly address, President Barack Obama says time is running out on averting a debt ceiling default. And he contends the Republicans wasted precious time on Speaker of the House John Boehner’s plan, which pass without a single Democratic vote and was swiftly killed in the Democratic controlled Senate:

The clock is now ticking on a debt ceiling limit compromise but can there be one in a political climate where “compromise” is now a dirty word and talk show Rush Limbaugh let the Repulbican faithful know that compromise is akin to being a loser since winners never compromise? (Tell that to the politicos throughout American history who have compromised to create legislation with widespread support...

Adam Zyglis, The Buffalo News This copyrighted cartoon is licensed to run on TMV. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.

In Washington, they are reenacting a famous magazine cover, the National Lampoon of January 1973 with a gun pointed at a dog’s head and the caption, “If You Don’t Buy This Magazine, We’ll Kill This Dog.” The dog is the American economy, and Sarah Palin is urging her Tea Party friends to pull the trigger, with a Facebook post to “remember us ‘little people’ who believed in them, donated to their...

The US House has just passed the Boehner bill by a 218-210 margin. The odds of it going any further are about the same as my odds of playing power forward in the NBA.

John Boehner is in the same spot he was in a week ago, when he walked out of budget negotiations with President Obama. He doesn’t have the votes. The difference this time is that he doesn’t have the votes for his own plan, not the president’s. (Editor’s UPDATE: There is a chance Boehner’s plan will pass tonight but it has been refurbished in a way so that more than ever it is...