DealJoe Biden announced over the weekend that he and Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy have reached a deal – “in principle” – that would pave the way for raising the debt ceiling and averting a US default on its debts. This must not be understood as the terminal point in a crisis that threatens the global financial markets many times more severe than the 2008 meltdown. It is at best only the starting point of a slow and grinding process to restore US borrowing as the reliable foundation of the global financial system. That wing seems willing to raze the financial system if only to strike a political blow at the Biden administration. Already, a number of hard right Republican congressmen have announced they will vote against lifting the debt ceiling – even if the details of the deal have yet to be threshed out.
