through this a number of times over the last 10 or 12 years this is as bad as it s gotten and people should be very concerned about this because i don t see either side letting up. there s not as much cushion here. i would imagine markets start to get concerned earlier about a debt limit crisis than it would about a government funding crisis. i know people are just starting to wake up to this, but this is a very serious issue. i think you re right. really quickly, we don t have a lot of time but what exactly are republicans demanding to raise the debt limit? what do they want? they don t have a price. they want democrats to use the fast track reconciliation process, a 50-vote threshold to raise it. chuck schumer says that would be difficult and convoluted and risky, but they can do it that way and i m not clear why it would be difficult, convoluted and risky. republicans have dug in because they feel democrats are not