There is much about the US fiscal melodrama that is a farce. Unlike other debt crisis, this one is totally self-inflicted. It is a crisis of choice not necessity. The misconstructions have been repeated so many times that they have taken on a life of their own. October 17 most certainly does not represent the deadline on a US default. The US debt ceiling was hit several months ago and the Treasury Dept has been taking extraordinary measures since to avoid hitting the debt ceiling. It is these measures Treasury Secretary Lew indicated were going to be exhausted no later than Oct 17. That means that they may already be ... (full story)