U.S. Default

     This article is about how the possibility of the United States defaulting on its debt sometime soon. As we all know, the United States government has shut down. This is happening for the first time in 17 years, which would have been back in 1996. The government shut down means that a majority of the government offices and agencies have closed and its employees are not working, however critical agencies and services are still operating.  This is all coming from congress's inability to make come to decisions over things such as the debt ceiling and the Affordable Healthcare Act.
     The deadline to raise the debt ceiling before we default is October 17. Default simply means failure to pay the debt (in this instance). The the ceiling is not raised, we would no longer be able to repay the debts. This sort of situation could be very bad for the U.S. economy, which is already very fragile. Back in 2011 during a similar situation, the U.S. credit ratings were damaged. This has a ripple effect which can result in volatility in the stock prices, and reduce the confidence of small businesses and consumers.
     Of course, in an economy like ours, the confidence of our businesses and consumers means everything. In our free market system the consumer influences much of the direction our economy takes, and the government serves as protector, regulator, and as the treasury. Obviously these days the government has pretty much dropped the ball. And if congress (and the rest of them) can't get themselves figured out soon, then the government is dropping the ball on its own foot.