debt ceiling

The White House in Washington DC, USA, is illuminated at night

The US debt ceiling is a form of self-delusion: a limit imposed on a borrower by the borrower itself. Australia had one until the Coalition and the Greens abolished it.

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A political war over raising the debt limit makes no sense for the opposition that has spent six years saying the national good cannot be held hostage to anti-debt hysteria, writes Geoffrey Garrett. 

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All second term presidents become lame ducks at some point. But recent events suggest Obama’s end may come sooner than imagined, writes Geoffrey Garrett.