大象传媒

Forget Greece, could the United States default on its debt? President Obama warned this week that the government could run out of money in just over a month. The country has more than $14tln of debt and the government needs to borrow more to keep paying its bills. But Congress has to approve that, in order for the "debt ceiling" to be raised. That is proving politically problematic, because the Republicans and the Democrats can't agree. So, come the 2nd of August, the United States could find itself in unfamiliar territory, that of being financially embarrassed. Lesley Curwen is in Washington looking at this home-grown debt crisis. She talks to Rodrigo Valdez, a senior advisor at the International Monetary Fund, Diana Furchtgott Roth, a former chief economist at the US Department of Labour during the George W Bush era and Dean Baker, who is the co-director at the Centre for Economic and Policy Research.