Countdown: two days til disaster

We are now two days from the United States defaulting on its debts, if Congress does not pass some debt ceiling increase that the president can sign.

At the end of the day, it seemed things were at an impasse.   The House Republicans tried once again to craft a bill that would give them a little something that they could claim had made all this government shutdown worthwhile.    And they didn't even have enough votes to pass that, because Ted Cruz and Jim DeMint, from his perch at the Heritage Foundation, told conservative House members not to support it.

Reportedly Harry Reid and Mitch McConnell are close to an agreement that can pass the Senate.   Supposedly it will contain some token change in Obamacare to give Republicans a little face-saving but otherwise be meaningless in changing the program itself.

Now, as of an hour ago, word is leaking out from House Republican staffers that Boehner is saying that they will bring whatever the Senate crafts to a House floor vote.

So maybe this will all be solved in time to avert the disaster.

But this has already hurt us pretty badly in the global economic circles.   Our dysfunctional government has shaken the world's confidence in our government and its responsibility to its creditors.

And, as Chris Hayes keeps asking:   "What has it all been for?"    We could have gotten this same agreement 2 weeks ago, if John Boehner had brought the first Senate bill to the House floor for a vote.   And we would have avoided the effects of the government shutdown and on our global reputation.

All because of a small band of people determined to dismantle our government.   And a weak Speaker of the House who wants to be able to say he did everything he could to battle Obamacare.

The truth is, he did;  and they lost.  They have lost big time.  Obamacare survives almost unscathed.    Republicans are already paying a huge price in the polls:   74% disapprove of their handling of this.

Ralph