Economics
Government Shutdown Dance Was Just a Warmup: Jonathan Alter
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The root canal Americans experienced over the averted government shutdown may seem painless compared with the operation that’s coming: debate over raising the debt ceiling followed by House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan’s plan to overhaul the government.
The political fates of President Barack Obama and most of Congress depend on the outcome. While the stakes for the 2011 budget skirmish has been over a few billion dollars, the next fight -- over the debt ceiling -- is about several hundred billion. Then, Ryan’s proposed rewrite of the nation’s social contract will be about several trillion dollars.