The head of the International Monetary Fund says failure to raise the U.S. borrowing limit could damage the global economy. In a speech in New York, Christine Lagarde says U.S. political leaders need to show the same “political courage” that European leaders demonstrated last week when they agreed on several new measures to address Greece’s debt crisis. President Barack Obama and Republican lawmakers are at an impasse in negotiations to raise the nation’s $14.3 trillion borrowing limit. The federal government is at risk of defaulting on its debt after Aug. 2 if an agreement isn’t reached by then. Lagarde says a default or downgrade of U.S. debt “would be a very, very, very serious event not just for the United States but for the global economy at large.”
This week’s question: Will Congress and the White House agree on a plan to raise the debt ceiling before the Aug. 2 deadline?
