, Columnist
Why Debt Ceiling Worries Are Way Overblown
The House Freedom Caucus is talking tough, but they have no leverage.
Rather straightforward.
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The debt limit panic being led by Paul Krugman and budget experts Stan Collender and Edward D. Kleinbard is probably all for nothing. Absolutely every incentive is for Republicans in Congress to bite the bullet and increase it by the fall deadline (by the end of September, or perhaps mid-October), and absolutely every incentive is for the president to sign on the dotted line. Nor are there any obvious insurmountable obstacles to getting it done. This is basically a very easy task that would take monumental stupidity or ineptness or both to get wrong.
And the bad news? Have you seen this Congress and this president? If anyone could screw it up ... but, really, they probably won't.