The Fast Fix: Will we hit the debt ceiling? | The Fast Fix - Yahoo! News

The federal government will default on its loans in 20 days unless politicians can reach across the aisle and come up with a deal to raise the debt ceiling, a tall order at a time when the two parties couldn't be further apart.

The federal government will default on its loans in 20 days if the White House and congressional Republicans can't come up with a deal to raise the debt ceiling.

And, the two sides haven't been further apart -- publicly at least -- for months.

Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican who has established a reputation as someone willing to work across the partisan aisle, said this weekend that he'd bet against a deal getting done.

While the situation is decidedly fluid, there's lots and lots of pessimism about the prospects for a deal. If no deal is reached, the political consequences of default are chaotic and potentially cataclysmic for both parties.

President Obama was elected in large part on his promise to make the government work again. If he becomes the first president not to get a debt limit through Congress, it undermines that promise.

Congressional Republicans won the House majority in 2010 but did so without convincing the American people they were ready to lead. A default would be a major setback in their attempt to make that case.

I've always thought that fears that voters would take a "pox on both your houses" attitude would keep the default from happening. But, the deadline is getting closer and closer and the two sides are moving further and further apart. I see plenty of losers, but it's unclear who's winning here.

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via news.yahoo.com