I Feel Better Already

...after reading this:

But some lobbyists say it’s the market, not political maneuvering, that will ultimately force Congress’s hand. 

“At the end of the day, people won’t do this because they want to do this,” said Jimmy Ryan, a lobbyist whose clients include the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association and Citigroup. “They will do this because they are scared of what will happen if they don’t do it.”

and even better after reading this: 

Most people would rather not risk finding out and are hoping lawmakers can turn the framework into a bill that would raise the debt ceiling. But in recent days there has been growing attention on a few economists and financiers who have been arguing that it would be all right to miss the deadline — and even, a few of them say, default on payments to the nation’s bondholders.

These economists and traders argue that lawmakers need to focus on the nation’s long-term financial health rather than its current bind. They point to historical examples involving local and national governments that defaulted on some obligations, and said the short-term pain that befell those places when they tried to borrow again eased over time.

In the case of the United States now, they say such short-term pain would be worth it if it helped lawmakers achieve a sweeping plan to finance the country’s future — including costly programs like Social Security — without running such a large deficit. A few on the fringe even say the country would be better off if it wiped its hands of some or all of its debt because it might mean future generations of workers will not have to see taxes go up as much as they are otherwise likely to do.