United States of America eSeries: 'We have, frankly, nowhere else to go'

'We have, frankly, nowhere else to go'

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September 28, 2021

Stephen Collinson and Caitlin Hu

'We have, frankly, nowhere else to go'

It's a game of chicken with the global economy.

The United States is heading for a cliff over the need for Congress to lift the ceiling on how much the US government can borrow. If things go wrong, the reverberations will be felt far beyond US shores.

Since the US government spends more than it takes in through revenues, a debt default would force it to stop paying out — so military salaries, government retirement payments and other benefits would dry up. And if the US can't pay interest on its debts, the rates it pays to borrow money will probably rise — meaning that mortgages, car loans and credit card bills would also go up. Millions of Americans would probably lose their jobs and the slowing pandemic recovery would crash. Since the stability of US debt is the bedrock of the global economy, a default by Washington could plunge the rest of the world into crisis.

The unthinkable nature of these consequences is why Washington's warring politicians, generally after a period of brinkmanship and concession wringing, generally bite the bullet and vote in the dead of night to raise the debt ceiling. But this time is different.

Republicans are refusing to play ball because they say President Joe Biden's Democrats are on an-out-of-control spending spree that will balloon the national debt — currently standing at nearly $29 trillion. Their position is deeply hypocritical. For a start, Democrats voted with the GOP multiple times to raise the debt limit under Republican presidents. But more than that, the debt limit must be raised to pay for obligations that the Republicans themselves incurred by voting for massive tax cuts that favored the rich under then-President Donald Trump. It's as if the country went on a tear in Las Vegas for a week and refused to pay the credit card bill.

But Republicans want to wash their hands of the responsibility and accuse Democrats of bankrupting the country, as Biden pushes a $4 trillion bid to reshape the economy to help less well-off Americans. Because so much is at stake, they know that the Democrats will have no choice in the end but to pass the debt limit increase on their own -- and pay the political price.

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The world and America

Germany's left-leaning Social Democratic Party won the largest share of Sunday's vote.

Afghanistan and Myanmar withdrew from the UN General Assembly speaking list.

A man was charged in the murder of London teacher Sabina Nessa.

And French President Emmanuel Macron was hit with an egg.

Meanwhile in America, a State Department spokesman tested positive for Covid-19 after attending the United Nations General Assembly.

Musician R. Kelly was found guilty of racketeering and sex trafficking.

And NBA legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar called for unvaccinated players to be kicked off teams.

After a weeklong volcanic eruption, lava destroyed a village church in Todoque on the Spanish island of La Palma on Sunday afternoon. (Reuters)

'We have, frankly, nowhere else to go'

"Governments acting alone cannot overcome the problems facing our world," Canadian Foreign Minister Marc Garneau told the UN General Assembly on Monday, drawing on his own bona fides as former astronaut to make his point. "I have realized... that we all come from the same place and that we have, frankly, nowhere else to go, and that we must find a way to get along with each other," he said. "Space offers the unique perspective of seeing beyond one's own national borders."

Vaccinating children

It's the moment that could transform the pandemic, at least for lucky developing nations that have plenty of vaccine shots.

Pfizer/BioNTech says it is days away from asking US government regulators to authorize Covid-19 vaccines for some children aged 5 to 11. The rise in cases and hospitalizations among kids has caused anguish for parents as children head back to full-time school — many of them for the first time since the pandemic erupted. The situation is likely to get worse as autumn weather sets in and more people stay indoors in Northern states. And while Covid-19 deaths among children are still very rare, an explosion in pediatric cases sadly means more tragedies are likely to occur.

Covid-19 vaccines have been available for most American adults for nine months, but the delay in approving them for kids has been caused by the complexity in assessing the correct dosage level. When children eventually do get vaccinated, it will mean more than just a huge sigh of relief for families. Many parents who have gotten their shots have been loath to return to the fullness of normal life — trips to restaurants, travel, going back to the office -- for fear of exposing their unvaccinated kids to the coronavirus.

The emotions stirred by children are also likely to fuel new uproar over pediatric vaccines among anti-vaxxers, conspiracy theorists and those who have seized on vaccine skepticism to advance their own political agendas. Fierce rows over masks in schools are already proof of that.

But in rich countries, vaccinating children will represent a step toward the moment when Covid-19 becomes just another hazard of life rather than one that dominates every activity.

Thanks for reading.

On Tuesday, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and top military generals will testify about Afghanistan before the Senate Armed Services Committee. The United Nations meets to promote the International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons.