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.
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.
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.
