Leaders | The budget bust-up

Forget the shutdown. America’s real fiscal worry is rising bond yields

Watch Wall Street, not Washington

Uncle Sam pouring petrol on and setting fire to a bonfire of debt — Image: Satoshi Kambayashi

Sep 28th 2023

AMERICA’S CONGRESS is once again locked in a battle that could shut down the government—and once again the fight is a costly addition to the country’s economic problems. If Congress and the Biden administration do not strike a deal to fund the federal government, from October 1st it may need to furlough employees and freeze non-essential payments. House Republicans cannot even agree among themselves about what spending cuts to demand of the Senate and the White House, with hardliners seeking to sabotage a bipartisan deal struck in the summer.

This article appeared in the Leaders section of the print edition under the headline “Watch Wall Street, not Washington”