Few think that Congress won't at some point raise the debt ceiling, which is a good thing because the consequences could be disastrous. In fact, one economist believes the scenario would be worse than the lowest point of the financial crisis. "Failure to raise the debt limit would likely be more catastrophic to the economy than the 2008 failure of Lehman Brothers and would erase many of the gains of the subsequent recovery," said Beth Ann Bovino, chief economist at S&P Global Ratings. A failure to raise the debt ceiling would trigger a government shutdown, which in turn would lop $6.5 billion from the economy for ... (full story)