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In The Balance

In the Balance: The Spectre of Debt

05/10/2013

The Spectre of Debt

BBC World Service - In the Balance, The Spectre of Debt

Republicans and Democrats will need to agree to raise the limit on the amount of money the US can borrow. But is the US government shutdown a bad sign of what's to come?

Later this month Republicans and Democrats need to agree to raise the limit on the amount of money the US can borrow.  That's necessary not just to keep the American government running but also to ensure it can pay back its debts. But is the US government shutdown just a prelude of what's to come? And if the two sides can't agree, just what's at stake for the world economy? Our guests this week are Adair Turner, the former chairman of the UK's Financial Services Authority; Lucrezia Reichlin, Professor of Economics at the London Business School, and Linda Bilmes,  Lecturer in Public Policy at Harvard Kennedy School. Plus our resident comedian Colm O'Regan is just back from New York where he found people distinctly underwhelmed by the shutdown.

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