In unusually frank comments on issues that could sway markets, Obama warned that investors should be worried.
“This time’s different. I think they should be concerned,” he said.
“When you have a situation in which a faction is willing potentially to default on US government obligations, then we are in trouble.”
Obama said he would not negotiate until lawmakers pass a temporary financing bill and raise the debt ceiling, but that after that he would be “prepared to have a reasonable, civil negotiation around a whole slew of issues.”
The president warned it would set a terrible precedent to allow lawmakers of any party to hold a White House to ransom over the government’s borrowing limit.
“Absolutely I am exasperated, because this is entirely unnecessary,” Obama said.
Hopes of an early exit to the shutdown are fading.
“Most of the time you can see an end game,” Republican Senator Johnny Isakson told MSNBC. “Right now, there’s no end game in sight.”
Some signs of incremental movement did emerge, however.
Democrats pledged to appoint negotiators to thrash out a long-term budget – provided Republicans agree to an immediate six-week federal spending measure with no anti-Obamacare provisions.
Earlier, Obama had gathered a group of high flying CEOs, apparently hoping they would pressure Boehner to pass a temporary funding bill.
Goldman Sachs boss Lloyd Blankfein warned that America was on dangerous ground by flirting with not raising the debt ceiling.
A previous period of brinkmanship on the issue badly hit the US credit rating.
“There’s a precedent for a government shutdown, there’s no precedent for a default,” he said after meeting Obama.
The fallout has already caused Obama to shorten his long-planned Asia trip, scrapping stops in Malaysia and the Philippines that were due to begin this weekend, so he could attend to the crisis at home.
About The Author
