Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

ask ian

Ian Bremmer takes a look at the week's top stories in geopolitics.

Presented by

sponsor_image

US debt limit: default unlikely, dysfunction probable

Ian Bremmer shares his insights on global politics this week on World In :60.

Is the United States at real risk of default over the debt limit?

I say no. More importantly, the markets say no. Investors certainly aren't concerned about it. But of course, the fact that investors aren't concerned about it is part of the reason why the politicians will get closer to breaking the debt limit without an agreement. It's good that Biden and McCarthy are finally talking to each other, but in the near-term, if June is really the X date, the date where you would hit a default, what looks more likely, since there's not enough time to really agree to anything, is they punt for a few months with a very short-term extension, and then you're still in the same soup. And some level of credit crisis is probably required to make the deal painful enough that McCarthy feels like he can get away with it, not lose his job, Biden, get away with it, and not lose political support in the election. So that's the dysfunction of Washington around the debt limit.

Keep reading...Show less

More from ask ian

GZERO Series