Think about it. We would still be in the economic situation we are now, only without this arbitrary debt ceiling that has the Republican's drawn into the debate to stay below this "ceiling".

The country would still in the deep doldrums and people would still be suffering with no jobs and low paying jobs and high prices and high taxes, but it would all be on Obama's doorstep because the Republican's have been out of power, until they wrested control of Congress only, and only recently. The "debt ceiling" debate is having the effect of drawing the Republican's into the debate and of even having the lame-stream media depicting them as the villains in he debate.

This is clouding the "where's" and "why's" and "how's" of what happened to get us to this precipice in the minds of the public, who do not pay particular attention to the everyday minutia of beltway politics as those on this forum.